Finance
The Trump administration closed a $480 million loan to the private, Texas-based Arena Energy to help boost oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was the energy department’s first closed loan supporting domestic oil and natural gas production, according to Reuters.
The department’s loan office was established in 2005, under former President George W. Bush, a Republican, to aid companies developing emerging forms of energy that had trouble getting loans.
The project will modernize 22 offshore platforms off the coast of Louisiana. At peak production, the project is expected to add up to 38,600 barrels of oil per day and up to 77 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to US energy production. By comparison, the US produces about 14 million barrels per day of crude.
The administration of President Donald Trump has made it clear it is willing to loan to long-established fossil fuel companies in order to boost US production of oil and gas.
