(Ansamed, Rome, 1 February 2023) Some 26 Italian companies operating in the oil and gas sector visited Kuwait Jan 30-31 as part of a trip organised by the Italian embassy in close collaboration with the Italian Export Credit Agency (SACE), Confindustria, the main association representing manufacturing and service companies in Italy, and the Italian Trade Agency. During the visit, meetings were held including ones at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW), as well as in-depth sessions discusing “doing business in Kuwait” curated by KPMG and major Kuwaiti law studios. In his opening remarks, the Italian ambassador to Kuwait, Carlo Baldocci, highlighted significant opportunities for Italian companies in Kuwait..
Newsletter
Atradius backs Dutch construction companies profiting from devastating Philippines mega-airport
(Global Witness, London, 2 February 2023) Global Witness’ new report reveals how a new mega-airport north of Manila displaced hundreds of residents after a coercive consultation process in which armed soldiers were sent door-to-door, leaving community members describing feeling “terrified”… The Dutch company Royal Boskalis Westminster NV signed a contract worth €1.5bn with a Philippines conglomerate to construct the first phase of the project, with insurance granted by the Dutch state via export credit agency Atradius Dutch State Business. According to local communities, around 700 families stood to be evicted from their homes with about half reportedly receiving no compensation The New Manila International Airport project threatens Manila Bay’s diverse coastal ecosystems which are vital to prevent worsening climate change, as well as threatening to decimate marine biodiversity and migratory bird populations.
Swedish Export Credit (SEK) Securities Exchange Act Form 6-K
(Street Insider, Birmingham, MI, 1 February 2023) SEK Year End Report 2022: Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized. February 1, 2023 Swedish Export Credit Corporation, Magnus Montan, Chief Executive Officer. SEK has maintained a strong business flow during the year, including in the fourth quarter. New lending in the fourth quarter amounted to Skr 34.8 billion, and Skr 133.2 billion for the full year, which was the highest ever new lending volume in the space of one year… Overall, the credit portfolio has an extremely high credit quality and SEK often uses risk mitigation measures, primarily through guarantees from the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) and other government export credit agencies in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which explains the low provision ratio…. New lending Skr 133.2 billion (2021: Skr 77.0 billion), new green lending Skr 7.4 billion [Note “green” is 9.6% of all new lending] (2021: Skr 11.5 billion; new green borrowing Skr 9.0 billion (2021: Skr 6.1 billion)
Insurance giant Marsh under fire over role in controversial oil project
(Inclusive Development International, Asheville NC, 7 February 2023) Ugandan, Tanzanian and U.S.-based human rights and environmental groups have lodged a formal complaint alleging that Marsh is violating OECD guidelines for responsible business conduct by serving as insurance broker for the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The complainants are calling for Marsh to drop its insurance brokerage role for the EACOP. Inclusive Development International and 10 human rights and environmental organizations in Uganda and Tanzania, which are remaining anonymous due to fear of reprisals, filed a complaint to the U.S. government today alleging that New York-based insurance giant Marsh, a member of the Marsh McLennan group, violated international guidelines for responsible business conduct by serving as insurance broker for the highly controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The groups submitted the complaint to the U.S. National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, an office within the U.S. State Department tasked with handling allegations against American companies.
New ECGC policies to support Indian Exporters: Economic Survey Report 2023
(Taxcan, New Delho, 1 February 2023) The Economic Survey Report 2023 points out the significance of new Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) policies to support Indian Exporters and the expectational changes by the 2023 Budget. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) supports Indian exporters and banks by providing export credit insurance services. The new scheme launched in July 2022, under its ECIB products, has the enhancement of the mechanism of insurance cover to banks providing pre-shipment and post-shipment financeto 90 per cent from an average coverage of 70% for accounts with an export working capital limit of up to X20 crore to support small exporters. This framework could largely reduce the net demand for foreign exchange, the US dollar in particular, for the settlement of current account-related trade flows. Further, the use of INR in cross-border trade is expected to mitigate currency risk for Indian businesses. The Key aspect of this was that it could assist Indian exporters in getting advance payments in INR from overseas clients and in the longer term promote INR as an international currency once the rupee settlement mechanism gains traction.
OECD Civil Society Joint Position on ECA oil and gas restrictions
(Oil Change International, Washington, 27 February 2023) Over 175+ organizations from over 45 countries have signed onto a Joint Civil Society Position calling for a robust prohibition on oil and gas finance under the OECD Arrangement on Export Credits. Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) are the world’s largest international public financiers of fossil fuels, supporting an average of over $33 billion USD per year in fossil fuels- which is 7x the amount of their support for renewable energy. The Joint Position calls on OECD negotiators, including the US, EU Commission, Canada, UK, and others, to table a robust proposal on oil and gas prohibition to listen to the science and align the Arrangement with a 1.5C warming trajectory. One week before international negotiators meet at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris (March 6-9) to discuss aligning export finance with international climate goals, more than 175 civil society organizations (CSOs) from over 45 countries have released a Joint Position calling on world leaders to end OECD export finance for oil and gas, and explaining how it can be done. They urge OECD members who consider themselves climate leaders to table a proposal for doing so. The position is also supported by the Co-presidents of the Club of Rome,
LNG at forefront of Dutch Atradius foreign fossil fuel funding
(Argus Media, London, 22 February 2023) The Netherlands is assessing several applications for international fossil fuel projects that could be granted state funding until the end of 2023, most of which target the LNG supply chain. Dutch export credit agency Atradius — in charge of the country’s public financing for foreign fossil fuel projects — received 10 such applications before the end of last year that amount to €3.9bn in state funding if granted, according to a government document. The government in 2021 committed to ending all public financing for international unabated fossil fuel projects by 2022 but granted a one-year exemption to applications that were submitted before the deadline. Six of the 10 applications submitted before the end of 2022 concern transactions related to projects in the upstream sector, including the processing system for a new LNG project, a new offshore LNG project and the construction of a floating production platform for new fossil-fuel infrastructure, the government said today. Other applications concern the supply and delivery of vessels for existing and new fossil-fuel infrastructure. In addition, Atradius already granted coverage commitments for €8.4mn, with three projects related to the sale of LNG and two to the development of a new gas pipeline and the adaption of existing storage tanks. The government said that for “business sensitivity” reasons, it did not disclose the names of the applicants or the country where the projects would be located. The government’s commitment in 2021 to ending public financing for international unabated fossil fuel projects built on a pledge made at the UN Cop 26 climate summit in Glasgow, which had already made room for exceptions “in limited and clearly defined circumstances that are consistent with a 1.5-degree warming limit and the goals of the Paris agreement”. This included projects that “safeguard security of supply in Europe”, such as LNG terminals and infrastructure developed for existing LNG sources, the Dutch government said last year. By Florence Schmit
[Dutch police arrested six climate activists at their homes on January 26th for planning to block the A12 highway to nonviolently demand an immediate end to the government’s annual fossil subsidies. Nearly 40 civil society organizations and more than 1,000 people held a solidarity demonstration on the highway on January 28th – 768 were arrested and another demonstration is planned for March 11.. Dutch and Brazilian CSOs have also written to Dutch officials protesting support for a Brazilian floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel ]
African Rail Projects Become Battleground For US-China Competition In Strategic Mineral Supply Chains
(Benzinga, Detroit, 12 February 2024) A U.S. delegation to a major mining conference in South Africa last week included officials from the Treasury and State departments and the chair of EXIM. Mining and building infrastructure on the continent hasn’t traditionally been a U.S. government priority but that is changing now that decarbonization of the economy has taken a front seat and Washington has grown worried about China’s dominance of supply chains for strategic materials, including cobalt and copper, used in electric vehicles and renewable energy systems powered by wind turbines and solar panels. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia hold more than a 10th of the known copper deposits in the earth’s crust. The DRC produces around 70% of the world’s cobalt, which is generally a byproduct of copper mining. Most of that cobalt is exported to China, which is by far the world’s biggest importer of copper ores and concentrates. So it’s no surprise that China has been investing heavily in the African mining and transportation sector. Chinese entities own all or part of most of the producing mines in the DRC. China provided interest-free financing for a railway built in the 1970s linking Zambia’s Copperbelt to a port in Tanzania on Africa’s east coast. China this week announced a plan to revitalize that railway, providing direct competition to a U.S.-backed rail corridor from the mineral-rich area to Angola on the Atlantic side of the continent. The United States is ramping up its efforts to secure critical metals and in May said it was performing due diligence for a potential financing package to fund and upgrade a rail line from the DRC border to the Lobito Port in Angola on Africa’s west coast, expected to greatly reduce the time and cost of trucking copper and cobalt to ports. Canadian company Ivanhoe Mines Ltd is the first mining customer for this Lobito corridor, having this week signed an agreement for the right to transport 120,000-240,000 metric tons a year along the line for five years starting in 2025
Finnvera change signals new ECA opportunities for SMEs
Global Trade Review, London, 18 January 2023) Finland’s export credit agency (ECA), Finnvera, can now offer credit directly to foreign customers of Finnish export companies after the country’s parliament approved a necessary amendment last week. Finnvera says that the goal is to give smaller export projects and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) improved access to financing. “Currently, Finnvera grants large export credits to foreign buyers but only in cooperation with banks. However, it has been difficult to arrange buyer financing for export transactions amounting to less than €20mn, which has slowed down the development of the exports of Finnish SMEs in particular,” Juuso Heinilä, executive vice-president at Finnvera, tells GTR.
Dutch climate expenditure audit reveals inconsistencies
(Argus Media, Amsterdam, 30 January 2023) The Dutch government does not provide a “clear and complete” overview about the state’s climate expenditure, while certain fossil fuel subsidies are “at odds” with domestic climate goals, according to a report by the Dutch court of audit. The court of audit presented its findings to the Dutch parliament on 25 January, noting that the three ministries — economic affairs and climate policy, finance, and climate and energy policy — involved in reporting the state’s climate expenditure did not provide consistent information. Dutch export credit agency Atradius — in charge of the country’s public financing for foreign fossil fuel projects — ended all financing for export credit insurance as of this year in line with the Glasgow pledge made during the UN climate conference Cop 26 in 2021, while certain exemptions for oil and gas projects remain in place. Projects that ensure European energy supply security by reducing “unwanted” dependencies on Russian oil and gas are among those exemptions granted
