$30-million loan for oil company approved in first operation with Costa Rica

To partially finance stage III of the Limón-La Garita Product Pipeline Project, the CAF today approved a $30-million loan for the Recope oil company destined for the construction of a 123-kilometer section of pipeline and five pumping stations at a total cost of $102 million. The loan has a term of 12 years with two years´ grace. The total coast of all three stages of the project is $120 million.

CAF Executive President Enrique García said that the loan was the first operation with Costa Rica since it joined the Corporation. It is also the first joint action in the strategic alliance with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which will also finance a $54-million loan for Recope through a co-financing agreement with the CAF in which the two development banks share the guarantees.

García said that the product pipeline would cover demand for fuel for the next 20 years from 2006 when the project comes on line.

The product pipeline project has three stages. The first from 1998 to 2000 covered 13 kilometers; in the second in 2002 and 2003, a further 39 kilometers were built; and the third stage, financed by the new approval, completes the last 123 kilometers of the pipeline which will transport 537 m3/h of gasoline.

Recope is a state-owned company, structured as a corporation under the supervision of the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Budget Authority and the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy. It is the only company in Costa Rica authorized to market crude and products.