ExIm Okays Romania & Iraq Energy, Kazakh Rail Deals

The US Export-Import Bank Board of Directors has approved three transactions in the energy and transportation sectors, the Bank announced Friday.

1. Pre-construction engineering and feasibility studies for the potential development of two nuclear reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant complex in Romania.
2. Export of Wabtec locomotive and locomotive shunter kits to the national railway of Kazakhstan.
3. Repair and upgrade of operating gas turbines in ten locations in Iraq.

Romanian Nuclear Development

The first transaction approved is a direct loan for more than $57 million to EnergoNuclear S.A. to support pre-construction engineering and feasibility studies for the potential development of two nuclear reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant complex in Romania. The transaction, issued under ExIm’s Engineering Multiplier Program, will support an estimated 200 new jobs in Texas and Illinois.

SN Nuclearelectrica SA and China General Nuclear Power Corporation  signed the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the development, construction, operation and decommissioning of Units 3 and 4 of Cernavoda NPP in 2015.  In 2019, the previous energy minister said negotiations should stop by the end of the year and that Nuclearelectrica could build a single new unit by itself.  

In October 2020. Romania and the United States of America initialized an extended Intergovernmental agreement for cooperation in relation to strategic projects for Romania such as Cernavoda NPP Units 3 and 4, the refurbishment of Unit 1 as well as in other civil nuclear projects.

In May 2023, The U.S, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have pledged a cumulative sum of $275 million towards Romania's Small Modular Reactor initiative. This includes a $99 million Letter of Interest stemming from the U.S. Export-Import Bank's (EXIM) Engineering Multiplier Program. Additional support signals have come in the form of Letters of Interest from both EXIM and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), potentially amounting to $3 billion and $1 billion, respectively.

Kazakh Locomotive Works

The board also approved a $594 million loan guarantee to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway of Kazakhstan, to support the export of Wabtec locomotive and locomotive shunter kits to KTZ subsidiaries KTZ Freight and KTZ Passenger. Wabtec will provide NextFuel kits to convert the traditional diesel locomotives to LNG.  Wabtec will build the FLXdrives and convert the locomotives to LNG at the LKZ facility in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.   

The transaction will support an estimated 1,500 US jobs at Wabtec in the Western Pennsylvania region, and indirectly supports the rail-related supply chain.  Wabtec subsidiary GE Transportation is the largest producer of diesel-electric locomotives North America, believed to hold up to a 70% market share of that market

GE Gas Turbines for Iraq

The final transaction approved by the Board is a $240 million guarantee of a loan to the Ministry of Electricity of the Republic of Iraq to finance the export of GE Energy products to support the repair and upgrade of operating gas turbines in ten locations in Iraq.

Once completed, this project will help maintain an estimated 4.3 GW of power across the grid, sufficient to power approximately 1.4 million Iraqi homes.  Since 2011, GE has helped bring more than 14,000 MW of power online across Iraq. 

The transaction is estimated to support approximately 500 US jobs.  According to the company, since 2015 GE has secured over US $2.4 billion in financing for energy sector projects across the Iraq.