UK export agency signs first loan deal in Africa for Ghana energy project

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Britain's credit export agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), signed its first direct loan deal in Africa on Monday, providing $310 million to GE Oil & Gas to supply equipment for an oil and gas project in Ghana.

UKEF's loan and credit facility is part of a wider $1.35 billion financing for the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) project, developed by Eni, Vitol Ghana Upstream and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

The $7.9 billion project will tap offshore oil and gas resources and provide fuel for gas-fired power plants in Ghana. Oil and gas production from the project is expected to peak at 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019.

UKEF said its loan was based on both project finance and reserve-based lending, a first for a European export credit agency. It is also providing $90 million in buyer credit, a type of bank guarantee.

The deal builds on an agreement signed in 2015 between UKEF and UK-headquartered GE Oil & Gas to provide up to $12 billion in financing.

The GE subsidiary, which won an $850 million contract to supply equipment to the OCTP project in 2015, manufactures oil and gas equipment at factories in Bristol and Aberdeen.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps. Editing by Jane Merriman)