The US Trade and Development Agency will extend $296,000 to an engineering US company to conduct a feasibility study on modernizing the production facilities of the Asarel Medet plant. The agreement was signed by US ambassador Miles and Asarel`s CEO Latchezar Tsotsorkov. The study aims at reducing power consumption and raising the technological indicators of the company. The Russian equipment will be replaced by Western one. The whole modernization project is estimated at $15 to $20 M and is expected to be completed by year 2004. The engineering company to conduct the study will select a Bulgarian sub-contractor through a competition.