On Friday 3 November 2006, lawyers for ONDD, Belgium's export credit agency, wrote to ECA Watch member Proyecto Gato asking them to remove information on their web site to the effect that ONDD had approved coverage for a Jan de Nul dredging contract which is part of the giant Shell Oil led Sakhalin II gas and oil project in Russia's far east.
On 7 July 2006, ONDD published a notice on its web site stating their intent to provide insurance cover for a dredging contract related to this Category A project since an environmental impact statement had been received which they considered satisfactory. A period of 30 days from this date was allowed for public comment on this statement of intent.
The ONDD comment states:
"The execution of the works for this contract is already ongoing for quite a while. ONDD could however not provide insurance cover as the environmental impact assessment (EIA) related to these works was incomplete until 2006. The condition to provide a satisfactory EIA is now considered as fulfilled by ONDD. ONDD will provide insurance cover for the dredging contract, and is not involved in the financing of the project."
On 29 July 2006, the five Federal Ministers responsible for oversight of ONDD responded to questions from a Belgian Member of Parliament, stating that ONDD was planning to provide cover for the Jan de Nul dredging contract.
On 4 August 2006, Proyecto Gato provided a 44 page report to the Belgian Government commenting on the EIA, arguing that ONDD should not award insurance cover because the project does not meet international obligations undertaken by Belgium. On 10 August 2006 many procedural deficiencies in the treatment of this project within ONDD with respect to the OECD Common Approaches and other international obligations were also brought to the attention of Federal Ministers.
In addition to the 3 November 2006 letter from ONDD lawyers essentially stating that ONDD was not providing cover, Proyecto Gato was advised by ONDD staff last week that, although the ONDD Board of Directors had approved the insurance cover, a contract has not been signed because of concerns within the organization that significant "reputational risk" could result if they were to proceed.