WASHINGTON, March 14 Reuters The United States export credit agency on Thursday will vote on whether to back a 100 million loan for an oil and gas drilling project in Bahrain, testing a U.S. climate pledge to stop backing projects that expand the use of fossil fuels.

The board of directors at the United States ExportImport Bank is expected to approve the project after voting last month to notify Congress about potentially supporting the expansion of an oil and gas field in the Middle Eastern country with over 400 new oil wells and 30 gas wells.

The EXIM Bank39;s loan to Bapco Energies would be out of step with the Biden administration39;s pledge to stop public financing of fossil fuel projects overseas, according to Democratic lawmakers opposed to the loan, as well as environmental activists.

We urge you to take EXIM39;s mandate to consider the environmental impacts of projects seriously, and to start by disapproving new funding for oil and gas drilling in Bahrain, Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to EXIM39;s board members on Tuesday.

EXIM told Reuters in a statement that while it seeks to align with the administration39;s climate agenda it also complies with a rule that prohibits it from discriminating based solely on industry, sector or business.

The United States was one of over 30 countries that joined a pledge to end public finance for fossil fuel projects overseas at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in 2021.

But the United States, through its…