OTTAWA — Export Development Canada (EDC) announced it is providing a USD 48 million loan to Russia's Gazprombank to finance the purchase of Canadian-made systems that capture and process flared gas from Edmonton-based Thermo Design Engineering Ltd (TDE).

"Thermo Design's involvement in this project has great potential to significantly promote Canadian environmental technologies in Russia's oil and gas sector," said Benoit Daignault, Senior Vice-President, Business Development, EDC. "EDC's commercial support to Russian purchases of Canadian supply is built upon our partnerships in the Russian market, which have and will continue to open doors for Canadian companies in similar projects.

"EDC is a big supporter of Canada's leading-edge green technology sector, and these types of transactions help expand Canada's international reputation as a country that is developing innovative green solutions," added Daignault.

As EDC's financing partner in Russia, Gazprombank will provide the direct financing to the project operator to purchase the equipment from TDE. The project operator, ObGasProcessing, CJSC, is a subsidiary of Monolit LLC, member of the Roza Mira Group.

TDE's systems will allow the operator to capture significant amount of flare gas at a production site in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region, an important area for oil and gas exploration and production in Russia. As of January 1, 2012 Russian legislation will require complete elimination of flared gas at hydrocarbon production sites.

TDE's processing equipment has been developed for maximum efficiency by the extensive use of waste heat recovery and a state-of-the-art control system. The equipment will be fabricated in Canada and will be fully modularized for efficient shipping to the plant site.

EDC maintains a permanent representation covering all Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets out of Moscow, Russia, and regularly works with various financial institutions, local corporations and Canadian companies in the region. In 2009, EDC's business volumes in Russia and the CIS reached $1.26 billion.

Thermo Design Engineering Ltd is one of Canada's leading specialists in petroleum and natural gas process systems.

EDC is Canada's export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. For more information visit www.edc.ca.

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