Brazilian-Mexican joint venture Braskem Idesa is close to reaching full financing for the construction of the multi-billion Etileno XXI petrochemical plant in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

A spokesperson for Braskem tells GTR that the company expects final authorisations at the end of July, with loans from Export Development Canada (EDC) and Mexican development banks Bancomext and Nafin in the process of being signed.

According to the source, EDC will extend US$100mn to US$200mn, while Bancomext and Nafin will provide US$400mn.

Financing of US$2.6bn has already been approved by a consortium of development banks, including the Inter-American Development Bank (US$300mn), the International Finance Corporation (US$300mn), BNDES (US$700mn), and commercial banks (US$700mn).

Sace provided guarantee for an extra US$600mn loan extended by commercial banks, supporting contracts awarded to Italian corporates for the engineering and construction of what aims to be the largest petrochemical plant on the American continent.

The project, which requires an overall investment of approximately US$3bn, will consist of an integrated petrochemical plant, including one cracker for the conversion of ethane to ethylene and three units for the production of polyethylene.

Once fully operational, it will allow Braskem Idesa to produce up to 1 million tonnes of polyethylene per year and meet growing demand from the Mexican market.