| October
2004
---------------------------------------------------------------
"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
------------------------------------------------------
Items:
1) Did
Halliburton Bribe Nigerian Dictator on ECA-backed Bonny Island LNG
Terminal?
2)
Canadian ECA Chief Environmental Advisor's Report Shows Small Step
Toward Accountability
3)
Algerian Energy Sector to Receive Boost from Canada ’s ECA
4)
ECA-Backed Indonesian Pulp Mill Used Illegal Wood Sources
5)
US Ex-Im Bank Backs New Oil and Gas Field Development in Mexico
6)
US Ex-Im Bank Backs New Oil and Gas Field Development in Peru
7)
Iraq
Wants 90 – 95% Debt Forgiveness
8)
Dabhol Standoff Continues
9)
Nigerian Petroleum, Mobil Seal Deal On $1.27B USD Gas Project
10)
BP’s Millions at the Expense of the UK Taxpayer, Environment
1)
Did
Halliburton Bribe Nigerian Dictator on ECA-backed LNG Terminal?
October
3, 2004 - (The Independent - UK) A French
corruption investigation has uncovered that
a low-end UK lawyer worked with three British executives from the
US construction group Halliburton to pay at least $132M USD in "unjustified"
fees to contacts in Nigeria. These transactions, many of which took
place when Halliburton’s CEO was Dick Cheney, the current US Vice
President, helped a consortium including Halliburton to win a $12B
USD contract to build a gas terminal at Nigeria ’s Bonny Island
. T he discovery of Halliburton’s central
role in the deal may force the Export Credit Guarantee Department
– the UK ECA - to withdraw its support from a £133m loan made last
year to MW Kellogg, a UK Halliburton subsidiary. The infamous Bonny
Island terminal has been financed by the ECA
of the US - the Ex-Im Bank- and several European ECAs.
Read
our September 2004 update on corruption and the Bonny Island gas
terminal.
Read
our July 2004 update the environmental effects of the Bonny Island
gas terminal.
2)
Canadian
ECA Chief Environmental Advisor's Report Shows Small Step Toward
Accountability
September
16, 2004 – (Source: Halifax Initiative ) A
Canadian coalition of development, environment, faith-based, human
rights, and labour groups welcomed the release of Export Development
Canada’s Second Annual Chief Environmental Adviser’s Report, but
warned that this is only a small step towards ensuring greater public
accountability for the Crown Corporation.
Read
the full EDC Report (in PDF form).
3)
Algerian
Energy Sector to Receive Boost from Canada’s ECA
September
26, 2004 (Source: Public Affairs Office of
the EDC) – The Canadian ECA, Export Development
Canada (EDC) and Algeria’s state-owned energy company, Sonatrach,
have signed a 500M USD credit facility for the procurement of Canadian
goods, primarily products and services from
Canada’s energy and engineering, to Sonatrach
and its subsidiaries.
4)
ECA-Backed
Indonesian Pulp Mill Used Illegal Wood Sources
September
14, 2004 – (Source: Forest Rescue Alliance Riau, Indonesia) The
Indonesian NGO network Forest Rescue Alliance Riau has found out
from research conducted in July, 2004, that illegally-cut trees
in the Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau, Sumatra, went to the PT
Indah Kiat Pulp mill owned by Asian Pulp and Paper. PT Indah Kiat
Pulp and Paper was designed, equipped and funded by Finnish companies
and Export Credit Agencies, as well as other ECAs: the Swedish EKN,
Spanish CESCE, Danish EKF and the Canadian EDC.
5)
US
Ex-Im Bank Backs New Oil and Gas Field Development in Mexico
September
30, 2004 – (Source: US Ex-Im Bank) 167 US companies, mostly from
Texas, are set to participate in a $400M USD US ECA Ex-Im Bank-backed
sale of equipment and services to Petroleos
Mexicanos (PEMEX) for
the New Pidiregas Projects (NPP). NPP
is made up of 23 LNG and oil facilities located offshore in the
Bay of Campeche off the northern coast of the Yucatan
, and onshore in northern Varacruz and northwestern
Tabasco . The development’s goal is to increase Mexico 's production
capacity to 4M barrels of oil and 7B cubic feet of gas per day by
2006.
6)
US
Ex-Im Bank Backs New Oil and Gas Field Development in Peru
September
13, 2004 –
(Source: US Ex-Im Bank) The US ECA Ex-Im Bank has approved a $15.9M
USD credit guarantee facility to support the sale of equipment and
services to Petro-Tech Peruana S.A. of Lima, Peru for oil and gas
exploration and development off Peru's northern coast. Texas-based
Petro-Tech will procure the goods and services from a variety of
US companies to support ongoing operations as well as expansion
and exploratory activities in Peru ’s coastal oil and gas fields.
7)
Iraq
Wants 90 – 95% Debt Forgiveness
October
4, 2004 – (ABC News: Reuters) "What we are saying is we want
a cut off of 95, 90 to 95 percent. That's why there is negotiations,"
Iraq's Finance Minister told
reporters after clinching a $500 million credit from the US Export-Import
Bank. Iraq has found a starting point for debt relief in a proposal
by France to relieve 50 percent of its debt. The
US is also pressing for 90 - 95 percent debt forgiveness for Iraq
's $120B USD debt. The US has faced opposition from France , which
points out that Iraq should not expect the same treatment as impoverished
African nations, given that Iraq has the world's second largest
oil reserves.
8)
Dabhol
Standoff Continues
September
21, 2004- (The Financial Express, India) The
Dabhol Power Company, once sponsored by Enron and then GE, now languishes
in a negotiation standoff between Indian companies and offshore
lenders as they try to buy its $320M USD offshore debt (“dedollarizing”
it) at a low rate. Investment in the ill-fated power company includes
$479M USD outstanding credit given by export credit agencies, including
JBIC of Japan, Ex-Im Bank of the US and OND of Belgium.
Read
our September 2004 update on the Dabhol Power Company.
9)
Nigerian
Petroleum, Mobil Seal Deal On $1.27B USD Gas Project
September
20, 2004 – (This Day, Nigeria ) The Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and Mobil Producing Nigeria signed an agreement
for the financing of an LNG expansion project, expected to cost
$1.275B USD. NNPC and Mobil Producing will raise the sum of $650M.
All the loans to finance the project will be guaranteed by the Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an investment insurance agency
of the United States government. The project entails the expansion
of the NNPC/Mobil LNG plant located in Bonny, Rivers State.
10)
BP’s
Millions at the Expense of the UK Taxpayer, Environment
October
6, 2004 – (Source: Friends of the Earth) Responding
to analysts' forecasts that oil giant British Petroleum (BP) will
record £9B profits this year, Friends of the Earth accused the oil
giant of profiting at the expense of people, climate change and
the UK taxpayer. BP receives large subsidies from the UK government
every year to support its oil export development projects, including
the controversial Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline. This pipeline project is
spearheaded by BP, but 70% of the project's costs have been borrowed
through both private banks and public development banks, including
the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) the Export Credit
Guarantee Department (ECGD), and the US Export-Import Bank. The
project has been criticized by environmental and human rights groups
for breaching international human rights law and damaging the environment.
Read
more about the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline here at the Baku-Ceyhan Campaign
website.
Read
our July 2004 update on the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline here.
View
Back Issues of What's New:
September
2004
August
2004
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
|
