Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) is helping Melbourne-based Gasco Pty Ltd (Gasco), an Australian combustion and process engineering company, to fulfil its US$6.5 million contract to supply equipment to the Taweelah–Fujairah Gas Pipeline Project in the Middle East.
Gasco is supplying two fired heaters for a 240-kilometre gas pipeline from Taweelah (near Abu Dhabi) to Fujairah on the UAE’s east coast. Gasco will also supervise the erection and commissioning of the heaters and provide training.
Gasco’s client is Stroytransgaz, a Russian company which has won the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Taweelah–Fujairah pipeline.
EFIC, Australia’s export credit agency, is providing a guarantee to Gasco’s bank, ANZ, which in turn is issuing a performance bond to Stroytransgaz.
“As a condition of the contract, Stroytransgaz required the provision of a performance bond,” said Gasco’s CEO Nicholas Grzegorczyn. “EFIC and ANZ’s financial assistance with the bond supports our cash flow, frees up our working capital to deliver the contract and enables us to continue tendering for future projects throughout the world.”
The Taweelah–Fujairah Gas Pipeline Project, majority owned by Dolphin Energy Limited of Abu Dhabi, involves the production and processing of natural gas from offshore Qatar and transportation of the processed gas by pipeline to the UAE and Oman.
EFIC also recently assisted Gasco with a performance bond for a US$8 million contract to supply three hot oil heaters to a major Malaysian oil and gas company, for use in a large gas development project in Turkmenistan.
“Gasco has established a reputation for exporting engineering products and services to energy and construction clients around the world,” said EFIC’s managing director Angus Armour. “We’re pleased to build on our existing relationship with Gasco through this latest facility for the UAE contract.”
EFIC’s bonding and guarantee facilities can assist eligible Australian exporters to compete more effectively and confidently in global markets. ANZ’s Ringwood Business Centre in Victoria worked closely with EFIC to structure the bond and guarantee arrangements.