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August 2004
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"What's New!" is
a periodic update to keep you informed of the latest uploads onto
the ECA-Watch website. What's New! features a wide range of materials
related to the reform of Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) including
NGO publications and releases, news articles, commentaries and announcements
about the policies and practices of ECAs and ECA-financed projects
world-wide. If you would like to be added onto the recipients list
for "What's New!", simply sign up from the website, www.eca-watch.org
today!
Questions?
Email info@eca-watch.org
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Items:
1)
US ECA
Ex-Im Bank Under Pressure to Reconsider Peru ’s Destructive Camisea
Gas Project
2)
Seeking ECA Support, Shell’s Sakhalin II Project Threatens Whale
with Extinction
3) Dutch
Government Demands Iraq ’s ECA Debt for Mustard Gas Be Paid with
Aid Money
4)
US ECA Ex-Im Bank and Danish ECA Finance Gas Turbine Generator Sale
to Turkey
5)
Up to $135M Political Risk Insurance Granted by OPIC for Major Bolivian
Silver Project
6)
OPIC to Finance Botswana ’s First Coal Bed Methane Wells
7)
Venezuela Asks for International Arbitrator in OPIC Ruling
8)
OPIC Considering Funding More LNG in Nigeria
9)
Eco-Feminist Arundhati Roy Protests India ’s Destructive ECA-backed
Dams
10)
Czech Consortium Prepared to Build ECA-backed Bulgarian Nuclear
Plant
11)
New African Multilateral ECA Seeks Business
12)
UK ECA Threatens Engineering Group with Blacklisting for Saddam
Kickbacks
13)
UK ECA Seeks Oil Investments in Iran
14)
Canada ’s ECA Plans to Continue to Work with Company Convicted in
Lesotho Corruption Case
15)
Australian ECA Weighs in on Papua New Guinea ’s Prospects for Development
16)
Chinese Ex-Im Bank to Provide $116M to Uzbek Oil and Gas Sector
17)
Vietnamese Oil Refinery to be Financed via Japanese ECA
18)
German ECA Hermes to Protect Investment in Libya
19)
Ho Chi Minh City Gets Help from Japanese ECA for Waste Recycling
Plan
1)
US
ECA Ex-Im Bank Under Pressure to Reconsider Peru’s Destructive Camisea
Gas Project
July
20, 2004 – (Source: Friends of the Earth) As the Inter-American
Development Bank plans to bring the controversial Camisea Gas Project
in Peru to financial closure, the US Government is set to support
the project despite previous objections to financing it via US taxpayer
dollars due to negative environmental and social impacts.
Click
here for more on the Camisea controversy from OneWorld US (July
29).
2)
Seeking
ECA Support, Shell’s Sakhalin II Project Threatens Whale with Extinction
August
3, 2004 - (LA Times) ECAs from Japan, the UK, and the US that are
considering financing the Russian Sakhalin II oil and gas project
now face an International Whaling Commission (IWC) declaration that
the project threatens the Western Gray Whale with extinction. At
its annual meeting in June, 2004, the IWC said that the Western
Gray Whale is in “serious danger of extinction,” and that its protection
is “a matter of absolute urgency,” particularly with the onset of
oil and gas projects including Sakhalin II. According to Sakhalin
Environment Watch, “if only a few whales die, the point of no return
will be passed.” Another
article quotes the World Wildlife Fund on the IWC declaration,
“This is a wake-up call for Shell to pay proper attention to the
environment when planning major oil projects."
3)
Dutch
Government Demands Iraq’s ECA Debt for Mustard Gas Be Paid with
Aid Money
July
23, 2004 - (Expatica News, Amsterdam) The
Dutch government is demanding that the Overseas Development Ministry
bear the costs of materials for mustard gas that the Dutch company
Melchemie sold illegally to Iraq in 1985, but for which it never
received payment. The Dutch government plans to forgive part of
Iraq 's debt, which will be calculated as "aid" on the
budget of the Overseas Development Ministry. Environmental group
Both Ends said it was "sour" that forgiving Iraq 's debt
would come at the cost of overseas aid.
4)
US
ECA Ex-Im Bank and Danish ECA Finance Gas Turbine Generator Sale
to Turkey
July
16, 2004 – (Source: Export-Import Bank of the United States) In
the first instance of the Export-Import Bank of the United States
(Ex-Im Bank) co-financing with Denmark's Export Credit Agency (EKF),
Ex-Im Bank has approved a $60M USD loan guarantee to support the
export by US suppliers of three gas turbines to build a 154-megawatt
combined cycle power plant in Kayseri, Turkey.
5)
Up
to $135M Political Risk Insurance Granted by OPIC for Major Bolivian
Silver Project
August
2, 2004 – (PRNewswire) Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation of Idaho,
the world's largest primary silver producer and a growing gold producer,
announced that the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) approved up to $135M USD in political risk insurance
for Coeur's San Bartolome silver project in Bolivia.
6)
OPIC
to Finance Botswana’s First Coal Bed Methane Wells
August
13, 2004 – ( Business Day, Botswana) The
US Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced that it will
provide an $8.5M USD investment guarantee to the Kalahari Gas Corporation
to finance the purchase of equipment and drilling of coal bed methane
wells. Said US ambassador to Botswana Joseph Huggins, " Botswana
has no infrastructure for the extraction or end use of coal bed
methane, so this project truly represents a groundbreaking initiative
with regional, and local potential for growth."
7)
Venezuela
Asks for International Arbitrator in OPIC Ruling
July
21, 2004 – (US Newswire) Senior officials of the Venezuelan oil
and gas concern PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela, SA) have said that
the company's commercial dispute with the San Diego firm Science
Applications International Corporation (SAIC) should be put before
an independent international arbitrator, rather than be subject
to US political pressures. In mid-July the US Overseas Private Investment
Corporation decided in favor of SAIC in this matter, asserting PDVSA
and the Government of Venezuela had expropriated SAIC's Venezuelan
investments.
8)
OPIC
Considering Funding More LNG in Nigeria
August
2, 2004 – (This Day, Lagos) The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), is inviting Nigerian banks and foreign credit agencies,
including the US Overseas Project Investment Credit Agency (OPIC),
to participate in the funding of a $1.2B USD Liquid Natural Gas
(LNG) project to be located offshore Rivers State. The project,
the second tier of the Oso LNG project, is a joint venture between
the NNPC (49% share) and Mobil (51% share).
9)
Eco-Feminist
Arundhati Roy Protests India’s Destructive ECA-backed Dams
July
19, 2004 – (ZNet Online News) In this opinion piece written for
Outlook India, Roy draws attention to Harsud, a 700-year-old Indian
town slated to be submerged by the reservoir of the Narmada Sagar
Dam, the most destructive dam on that river. She points out that
over the next 13 years the NHPC, the national
hydropower company managing the Narmada Sagar Dam Project by a joint-venture
agreement with the regional government, plans other dam projects
to produce 32,000 MW of power, or the equivalent of 32 more Narmada
Sagars. Finances for these projects have come from numerous export
credit agencies, including COFACE ( France ) and NEXI & JBIC
( Japan ).
10)
Czech
Consortium Prepared to Build ECA-backed Bulgarian Nuclear Plant
August
3, 2004 – (UPI Energy) Bulgaria 's
Council of Ministers is set to announce bids for the construction
of the Belene nuclear power plant. Following an April meeting of
the Skoda consortium (consisting of two Czech companies), the Energy
Ministry, and the national electricity company (NEC), Skoda announced
they were willing to complete building the Belene nuclear power
plant. Citigroup, Unicredito and the Czech Exports Bank supported
the Skoda proposal.
11)
New
African Multilateral ECA Seeks Business
July
27, 2004 – ( The
Nation , Nairobi ) The Nairobi-based African Trade Insurance
Agency (ATI) is Africa 's first and only ECA, and is now aggressively
promoting its export insurance. First financed by the World Bank,
ATI aims to reduce the risk-perception of the region's business
environment. There are now 11 member states of ATI: the seven founding
states ( Kenya , Rwanda , Burundi , Malawi , Tanzania , Uganda and
Zambia ) plus Eritrea , Madagascar , Djibouti , and the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
12)
UK
ECA Threatens Engineering Group with Blacklisting for Saddam Kickbacks
August
1, 2004 – ( The
Observer , UK) The UK engineering group Weir could be
blacklisted by that government's export credit agency after becoming
embroiled in controversy over £4.2 million in possible kickbacks
paid to the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein. A ban by the
Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) would hinder attempts
by the company to secure lucrative contracts in potentially unstable
parts of the world. A spokesperson for the ECGD said it would not
be investigating the case until Weir next applied for coverage,
but that any company found to have paid bribes would face an automatic
ban. 'According to our rules, past involvement in corruption is
a prima facie reason to refuse cover,' the spokesperson said.
13)
UK
ECA Seeks Oil Investments in Iran
July 23, 2004 – (Persian Journal) The
British government's Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) is
continuing to focus on Iran 's oil, gas and petrochemical business,
which it hopes will lead to the future investment of UK companies
in the South Pars gas field. In its latest annual report, ECGD listed
credit guarantees being approved for nine Iranian petrochemical
projects worth $136M USD in the year ending March 2004.
14)
Canada’s
ECA Plans to Continue to Work with Company Convicted in Lesotho
Corruption Case
July
30, 2004 – (Inter Press Service, South Africa ) It is business as
usual between Canadian government agencies, including the Canadian
ECA Export Development Corporation (EDC), and a local company barred
from World Bank contracts after being convicted of bribery in Africa
. Engineering firm Acres International was found guilty in Lesotho
in 2002 for trying to bribe the official responsible for the Lesotho
Highlands Water Project (LHWP), but Canadian agencies will continue
to consider it as contractor. Testifying before a committee of the
US Congress in mid-July, the lead prosecutor in the Lesotho case
said, "There is a lingering impression in Lesotho, as well
as in South Africa, that the interest of First World countries in
the present prosecutions lies not so much in the successful outcome
of these prosecutions but rather in protecting the interests of
its companies that are involved.”
15)
Australian
ECA Weighs in on Papua New Guinea’s Prospects for Development
July
30, 2004 – (The National, Papua New Guinea ) The Australian ECA,
the Export Finance Insurance Corporation, praised the industrial
relations of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to foreign investment, saying
that wages in PNG could hardly give investors or employers any cause
for complaint. EFIC noted that land use is the most intransigent
issue, and that generations might have to pass before a more “positive”
approach towards land use became the norm.
16)
Chinese
Ex-Im Bank to Provide $116M to Uzbek Oil and Gas Sector
August
3, 2004 - (Interfax) Uzbekistan plans to
raise $955M USD in Chinese credits in 2004-2007 for investment projects,
t he bulk of which (over $116M USD) will go
to the oil and gas sector, including $47.3M USD for investment in
new developments in Arniyaz, Markovskoye, Sardob and Umid, as well
as on the Ustyurt Plateau.
17)
Vietnamese
Oil Refinery to be Financed via Japanese ECA
August
3, 2004 - (VNA, Viet Nam ) The Japanese firm,
Mitsubishi, plans to arrange a $950M USD loan for the $3B USD Nghi
Son oil refinery and petro-chemical project, making it the key partner
in the project. Petro Vietnam , the Vietnamese Oil and Gas Corporation,
announced at the end of July that it is discussing with Mitsubishi
the amount of capital the Japanese firm will provide, to be channeled
through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The
Vietnamese ECA the Export-Import Commercial
Bank (Eximbank) will be among the four domestic financial backers.
18)
German
ECA Hermes to Protect Investment in Libya
August
13, 2004 – ( Faz.net , Germany ) The German government, to minimize
risks and promote German business in Libya , wants to enact the
Hermes credit guarantee on German exports to the oil-rich North
African country as soon as possible.
19)
Ho
Chi Minh City Gets Help from Japanese ECA for Waste Recycling Plan
August
7, 2004 - (VNA, Viet Nam) The
Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), after research
on the reuse of industrial and domestic waste for pollution control
in Viet Nam, suggested using waste materials for power generation,
such as producing cement and fertilizers, or food for breeding earthworms.
According to JBIC experts, Ho Chi Minh City can build three power
plants for waste reuse, and can recover all the costs, $42M USD,
in 18 years.
View
Back Issues of What's New:
July
2004
June
2004
April-May
2004
March
2004
January-February
2004
December
11, 2003
November
5, 2003
September
15, 2003
May
18, 2003
April
11, 2003
March
17, 2003
February
20, 2003
February
7, 2003
January
24, 2003
December
17, 2002
November
22, 2002
October
29, 2002
October
23, 2002
September
30, 2002
September 12, 2002
August
26, 2002
July
19, 2002
July
08, 2002
June
14, 2002
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