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The US Export-Import Bank is picking up the pace of its energy lending after the disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East, as it works to boost US exports of oil and gas.
John Jovanovic, president and chair of Ex-Im Bank, said that the bank had issued more loans in the past 12 months than during any period in its history, and turned a profit for the first time in a decade.
“We’ve been inundated with calls, from both American energy companies and suppliers, saying that they have opportunities to deliver American molecules, to help people that are facing pressure — so we want to be able to do so,” he said on the sidelines of the FT Commodities Global Summit.
Ex-Im Bank, founded in 1934 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, has recently taken on a more prominent role in helping to implement US President Donald Trump’s policies on energy dominance and minerals security.
The bank offers financing to American businesses to help them compete for sales overseas, especially when private-sector loans are not available.
The bank currently had about $30bn of transactions in the pipeline, Jovanovic added, out of a total mandate of $100bn to deploy.
The war in the Middle East, which has closed the Strait of Hormuz to most vessels, has left many energy-importing countries struggling to secure fuel.
Jovanovic said that, as a result of the huge disruption to global energy flows, the bank was working with existing customers to increase the size of their credit facilities and also working with new customers.
“There are many who for the first time, they are thinking about American molecules, American products, as a part of their procurement,” said Jovanovic. “They are looking to the US for energy security, and we want to be the tool that helps deliver that.”
The mandate of the Ex-Im Bank is up for renewal at the end of this year, and will require Congressional approval to be extended, typically for a further five or seven years.
Republican senator Kevin Cramer told the FT in February he had Trump’s backing for the reauthorisation legislation, saying lending from the bank could act as a “carrot” for trading partners alongside the “stick” of the president’s tariffs.
One of Ex-Im’s largest loans was a $10bn pledge to Project Vault, an American commercial stockpiling programme for critical minerals. It has also approved a $4.7bn loan to a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique.
