Announcement of IFC Makes First Gas Pipeline Investment Fifteen Million US Dollars for Northern Colombia Project on December 7, 1976

International Finance Corporation 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. 202-393-6360 IFC Press Release Noa 77/10 Tuesday, December 7, 1976 IFC Makes First Gas Pipeline Investment $15 Million fqr Northern Colombia Project The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an affiliate of the World Bank, is investing $15 million in a $55 million project to build a 240-mile pipeline in Colombia linking recently discovered gas fields in the Guajira peninsula on the north coast with the industrial centers of Barranquilla, Cartagena and through hookup with an existing pipeline to Barrancabermeja. The IFC investment is its first in a gas pipeline project and consists of $2 million in equity and $13 million in loan. J.P. Morgan Interfunding • Corp. will participate in the IFC loan • Engineering and construction services are being provided by Construc- ciones Protexa S.A. de C.V., a major Mexican construction company. Financiera Banamex, a subsidiary of. Banco Nacional de Mexico S .A., is lending $27 million to the project. The loan will be guaranteed by Fomex, the Mexican export promo- tion agency, and is one of the largest transactions guaranteed by this agency to d2te. It is also the first service contract financing placed through Fomex. The pipeline will be operated by Promigas S .A., founded by a group .of Colombian companies, and will provide. a new source of natural.gas for m:>rthern Colombia. The new gas is needed to replace dwindling supplie~. from older gas fields. Th:f.s will result in an estimated net foreign exchange , . saving of $70 to . '.t!k,•' $80 million a year. Moreover, the new supplies of gas wi11 permit the develop- ment of additional industry in the area.' This project is sponsored by Gas Natural (, : ~mbiano S .A. and Corporacion Financiera del Norte S.A., both of Barranquilla, Colombia. The other major equity investors are Ecopetrol, the state petroleum com- • pany; Corporacion Financiera Colombiana S.A.; Corporacion Financiera del Valle S.A.; Corporacion Financiera Nacional S.A.; Cementos del Caribe S.A.; Corporacion Financiera Gran Colombiana S.A.; Construcciones Protexa; and IFC. (Any inquiries strictly relating to IFC's participation in this project should be directed to the IFC Information Office, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, Telephone (202) 477-6247.)