Ex-Im Bank Approves $37.6 Million Loan For Gas Compression Export To Trinidad and Tobago; Supports 350 Jobs In Three States

(Ex-Im Bank) WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) announced today its approval of a $37.6 million direct loan to support exports by McDermott International Inc. and five American suppliers of natural gas compression equipment and technology for a United Kingdom energy project off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Bank's financing will support approximately 350 jobs in Texas, California, and Louisiana, according to bank estimates derived from Departments of Commerce and Labor data and methodology.

"I'm pleased that McDermott International Inc. and its suppliers won this project and will support so many American jobs," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "In a complex gas production project like this, U.S. engineers and high-tech manufacturers have a lot to offer. The Bank's financing helped pull these jobs to U.S. companies, instead of seeing them go to foreign competitors."

Under terms of the direct loan, Ex-Im Bank is supporting exports of U.S.-only goods and services to a $150 million project to construct and install a gas compression system on the existing Hibiscus Platform situated off the northern coast of Trinidad. The borrower is BG Energy Holding Limited, and the buyer is BG Trinidad and Tobago (BGTT), which is responsible for 46 percent of the larger project.

McDermott International Inc. was hired to provide the detail engineering, equipment procurement, unit fabrication, transportation, heavy lift and installation. The company is responsible also for start-up and commissioning. Houston-based McDermott International Inc. is an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) company that executes complex offshore oil and gas projects worldwide.

Five U.S. suppliers will manufacture or provide components for the project. SOLAR Turbines Inc., based in San Diego, California, is a Caterpillar Inc. subsidiary that produces gas turbine-powered compressor sets and pipeline equipment to transmit natural gas. Another U.S. manufacturer, Hudson Products Corporation of Sugarland, Texas, will export air-cooled heat exchanger equipment for the Trinidad project. The export supplier of valve controllers will be AWC Inc. (formerly American Warrior Compression) of Houston, Texas. Massive fabricated metal tanks and gas-scrubbers will be supplied by a small business, the South Houston-based manufacturer Gulfex Inc. The Louisiana exporter involved is Point Eight Power of Belle Chasse, a specialty provider of electrical power systems for offshore operations; Point Eight will supply instrumentation and switchgear.