A recent study by Daphne Wysham from the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies shows that a significant portion of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation's (OPIC's) resources are helping support fossil fuel-driven development in developing countries, creating a dependence on fossil fuels in their pursuit of economic development. This financing is ensuring a long-term strategy that threatens the developing societies, as the climate grows more unstable. In late June, US corporations announced the signing of nearly US $2 billion in sales agreements, including some related to energy and the environment, during Clinton's nine-day China visit. The deals included a US $12 million contract with Phillips Petroleum Company to explore for coal-bed methane and a US $160 million contract with General Electric to provide steam turbines for a power plants. Wysham said, "These investments are sending China the exact opposite message our climate negotiators are sending, telling China: 'Let us help you burn as much coal as quickly and cheaply as possible.' This kind of investment is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of rising carbon dioxide emissions from developing nations." In 1997, over 76 per cent of OPIC's direct project financing was in the electric power generation and oil/gas development sectors, with a commitment of US $539 million in loans out of a total of US $707 million; 41 per cent of OPIC's entire assistance portfolio was committed to projects in the power generation sectors.