In what could be a hopeful sign for Guyana’s ambitious gas to energy project, the U.S. export credit agency on Thursday voted to approve a US$500 million loan guarantee for an oil and gas drilling project in Bahrain, testing a U.S. climate pledge to stop backing projects that expand the use of fossil fuels.
Reuters reported that the board of directors at the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) approved the project after voting last month to notify Congress about potentially supporting the expansion of an oil and gas field in the Middle Eastern country with over 400 new oil wells and 30 gas wells.
While EXIM’s loan to Bapco Energies would be out of step with the Biden administration’s pledge to stop public financing of fossil fuel projects overseas, according to Democratic lawmakers opposed to the loan, as well as environmental activists, the agency said the project includes measures intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters reported.