IDM Uses Ex-Im to Modernize Algerian Infrastructure

Ex-Im Bank News

IDM Equipment Ltd., a Houston, Texas-based manufacturer of oil-drilling rigs, recently entered into a joint venture with a Canadian company, Industrial Electric Rigs (IER), to repower 12 drilling rigs in Algeria. In order to facilitate the $27.5 million transaction with Sonatrach, Algeria’s stateowned energy company, IDM and IER turned to Ex-Im Bank and Canada’s export credit agency, Export Development Canada (EDC), to guarantee working capital loans.

IDM, which accounts for 98 percent of the joint venture, received a $5.5 million working capital guarantee from Ex-Im Bank for a JPMorgan Chase Bank loan to help the company expand production.

The 12 drilling rigs, which are part of Sonatrach’s Entreprise Nationale des Travaux aux Puits, are to be modernized with new power and control systems. Each rig power package includes four 1320 HP Caterpillar diesel engine-generators, a 320 KW emergency generator, and an electronic SCR powe control system.

IDM Equipment is a limited partnership founded in 1986 by Norman Myers and David Huntington to provide electrical and mechanical services to the oil-drilling industry. The company evolved from IDM Controls Inc., a supplier of control systems and automation services that was established in 1973. Ex-Im Bank has more than $840 million in exposure in Algeria, and has supported many U.S. exports purchased by Sonatrach during the last 30 years.

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