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What's
New! Vol. 9, No. 9
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September 2010
- What's New! Indices - 2005
2006
2007
2008 2009
2010
"What's
New!" is a periodic update to keep you informed of the latest on 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 receive "What's New!" simply
add your e-mail to the ECA-Action list at www.eca-watch.org today!
Questions? Email info-at-eca-watch.org
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| | 1) |
ECA aircraft credits generate controversy | | |
2) |
Exxon Mobil's ECA backed LNG project in PNG attacked |
| | 3) |
US Export-Import Bank Votes for final commitment on Sasan coal fired power project |
| | 4) |
Export-Import Bank Urged to End Fossil Fuel Binge and Support Renewables |
| | 5) |
China's export credit insurance corporation reports major growth |
| | 6) |
Gunns' proposed Tasmania pulp mill seeks Austrian and Finnish ECA support |
| | 7) |
Despite US drilling moratorium, ExIm to approve Mexican drilling | | |
8) | Nabucco in Talks With OECD ECAs to Finance $10.3 Billion Pipeline |
| | 9) |
First European export credit bond deal closed |
| | 10) |
USEC Submits Update to Loan Guarantee Application | | |
— | View Back Issues of What's New |
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| 1. |
ECA aircraft credits generate controversy | |
(Wall Street Journal, Washington, 13 August 2010) U.S. airlines are
weighing in on a multibillion-dollar fight over export subsidies for
jetliners, potentially complicating international negotiations over the
issue and dimming chances governments will meet a year-end deadline to
set new rules. While ECDG's support for exporters increased this year by 51%, driven mainly by export orders of Airbus aircraft, British Airways complained about their lack of access to this support. "The explosive growth of export-credit financing in recent years is
distorting competition among airlines worldwide and harming U.S.
airlines in particular," said James May, of the Air Transport Association, a U.S. airline trade group. |  | |
| 2. |
Exxon Mobil's ECA backed LNG project in PNG attacked
| |
(Reuters, Perth, 27 September 2010) Villagers in Papua New Guinea
attacked Exxon Mobil's liquefied natural gas project late last week as
part of ongoing land disputes within the footprint of the $15 billion
PNG LNG project. The project has received record US ExIm Bank financing. |
| | | 3 |
US Export-Import Bank Votes for final commitment on Sasan coal fired power project | | (Pacific Environment and Sierra Club, Washington, 25 August 2010) Bowing to political pressure to reverse its rejection of the
3,960 MW Sasan coal-fired Ultra Mega Power and Mine Project in India, the Export-Import Bank voted Wednesday to provide a
“final commitment” and send the project to Congress for final review.
The move marks the last step before final approval of U.S. subsidies
for one of the world’s largest point sources of carbon dioxide
emissions, and yet another strategic misstep for the global climate and
the clean technology export sector in the United States. |
| |
| 4 |
Export Import Bank Urged to End Fossil Fuel Binge and Support Renewables |
| (Oilprice.com, 16 August 2010) NGOs have accused the US Export-Import Bank of “systematic bias
towards financing fossil fuel projects”, as the export credit agency
prepares to consider backing two giant coal-fired power plants. | | |
| 5 |
China's export credit insurance corporation reports major growth
| |
(iStockAnalyst, Salem, Oregon, 16 September 2010) The China Export and
Credit Insurance Corp., Sinosure, China's only policy-oriented
insurance company engaging in export credit insurance, said that the
company had underwritten 126.93 billion US dollars of credit insurance
and guarantee business by September 14, 1.1 times the performance for
the entire year of 2009. Of the 126.93 billion US dollars, 110.19
billion US dollars went to export credit insurance, up 113.6 percent
year on year; 4.45 billion US dollars went to investment and leasing
insurance, up 43.4 percent year on year; 76.58 billion yuan went to
credit insurance for domestic trade, up 29.3 percent; and 1.01 billion
yuan went to new guarantee business, up 108.3 percent. | | |
| 6. |
Gunns' proposed Tasmania pulp mill seeks Austrian and Finnish ECA support |
|
(The Wilderness Society, Hobart, 17 September 2010) Gunns
Ltd, Australia’s largest logging company, wants to build a polluting
pulp mill in Tasmania. Whilst Gunns has stated publicly the mill will
be 100% plantation fed from startup, they have a wood supply deal with
Forestry Tasmania for at least 1 million tones of native forest wood
every single year for the next 20 years! Each day Gunns will dump
64,000 tonnes of toxic pollution into Bass Strait. The State government
used a corrupted assessment process to approve the mill. So far over 20
leading banks and paper companies have refused to fund the project and
funding has not been secured. |
| |
| 7. |
Despite US drilling moratorium, ExIm to approve Mexican drilling |
|
(Fox News, Washington, 11 September 2010) Despite President Obama's
moratorium on U.S. deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S.
Export-Import Bank intends to guarantee $1 billion in loans to PEMEX,
the Mexican state oil company, to bolster the company's oil drilling in
the region. In other news, environmental groups have noted that the UK ECA ECGD didn't ask about blowout dangers when supporting deepwater drilling off Brazil. | | |
| 8. |
Nabucco in Talks With OECD ECAs to Finance $10.3 Billion Pipeline |
(Bloomberg, Baku, Azerbaijan, 15 September 2010) The Nabucco gas
pipeline venture had its first round of talks with export credit
companies to secure financing for the 7.9 billion-euro ($10.3 billion)
link to ship fuel from the Caspian Sea to Europe. Nabucco talked to “a
long list” including Euler Hermes, Coface SA, OeKB, JIBC and the US
Export-Import Bank, Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of Nabucco Gas
Pipeline International GmbH, said today in an interview in Baku,
Azerbaijan.
| | | |
| 9.
| First European export credit bond deal closed |
|
(AerCap Holdings, Amsterdam, 24 September 2010) AerCap Holdings announced that it
has closed 2 transactions for the financing of 6 Airbus
aircraft with the European Export Credit Agencies, led by the UK's ECGD. Airfinance Journal noted that it was a deal that closed against all odds: a bank being investigated, an election in the UK and suddenly the European debt markets went haywire. |
| |
| 10. |
USEC Submits Update to Loan Guarantee Application |
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(Business Wire, Bethesda, 3 August 2010) Nuclear fuel enrichment
centrifuge manufacturer USEC Inc. has updated its application for a
US$2 billion loan guarantee from the US Dept. of Energy Loan Guarantee
Program and is seeking Japanese ECA support through its relationship
with Toshiba. France's Areva is also planning to build an enrichment
plant in Idaho. Meanwhile, European Union governments imposed their toughest sanctions yet on Iran, backing U.S. efforts to force Iran to halt uranium enrichment. | | |
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