The European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term financing institution of the European Union (EU), announces a loan of ESP 20 billion (ECU 121 million)(1) made available to Compañía Española de Petróleos, S.A. (CEPSA) for financing expansion of the CEPSA Group's petrochemicals plants in Huelva and Cadiz.
ERTISA, a CEPSA Group company, will be increasing phenol and acetone production capacity in its Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) petrochemicals complex, through expansion of its existing plant and construction of a new facility. The project also provides for construction of a co-generation unit together with investment designed to uprate the capacity of the existing biological effluent treatment plant, thereby improving the installations' impact on the environment. In addition, CEPSA intends to install a new platformer unit and to boost paraxylene and sulfolane production capacity at its refinery at San Roque near Cadiz.
The project will enable CEPSA to cater for customer needs more efficiently. Furthermore, the fresh investment will pioneer state-of-the-art paraxylene production technology, making for a significant reduction in energy consumption.
The EIB was created in 1958 by the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community. Its task is to contribute to integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion within the Member Countries of the Union by means of long-term financing for capital investment designed to attain EU objectives. More rational use and management of energy as well as environmental protection count amongst these objectives. The Bank adopts a two-fold approach in the area of environmental protection: steering a growing volume of funds towards projects furthering this aim and requiring that each project submitted for financing meet national and European environmental regulations.Owned by the EU Member States, the EIB funds its lending operations through borrowings raised on the capital markets, where its bond issues systematically enjoy the top AAA rating.
(1) The conversion rates used by the EIB for statistical purposes during the current quarter are those obtaining on 30 September 1997, when ECU 1 = GBP 0.69, IEP 0.76, USD 1.113 and ESP 166.06.