Bank to finance carbon-capture firm

Summit Power Group LLC, a closely held US power developer, said the Export-Import Bank of China will provide loans for about half of its $2.5 billion Texas project that will gasify coal for power generation while capturing 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

China Exim Bank is expected to loan "$1 billion-plus" to the Texas Clean Energy Project near Odessa, Laura Miller, Summit's director of projects, said on Thursday in an e-mail.

Construction, which will take three to four years, may begin early next year, she said.

Summit, based in Seattle, is seeking equity investors and is being advised by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, China International Capital Corp and Wellford Energy Group LLC, it said on Thursday in a statement. The remaining cost will be funded by $450 million in grants from the US Energy Department.

China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec Group, has won an engineering contract, joining Siemens AG and Linde Group in designing and providing equipment, Summit said.