LNG finance receives US aid

The Export-Import Bank of the United States will provide a rare - and bumper - US$2.95 billion loan to support sales by US contractors to the Australia-Pacific LNG project on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

The Ex-Im Bank said it will provide the loans to support supply from ConocoPhillips and Bechtel International, along with smaller contractors.

ConocoPhillips is the head contractor for the project. Origin Energy is the project sponsor and controls the coal seam gas fields that will supply gas to the plant.

The bank said, in a media release yesterday, that the transaction was "Ex-Im's second-largest single project financing in history." It is also the bank's first loan to support an LNG project in Australia.

Ex-Im Bank delayed the announcement so as to coincide with routine talks in Beijing with Chinese officials.

The Chinese Ex-Im Bank is also a lender in the project.

The US Ex-Im Bank typically supports the sale of aircraft to buyers in Australia, most recently by Boeing to Virgin Australia.

It has also provided loans and guarantees to much smaller resource exports.

The annual report of Ex-Im Bank puts its Australian exposure in 2011 at around US$500 million.