It is still unclear how big the consequences will be for the Dutch offshore sector of the cabinet decision to stop government support for fossil energy projects abroad from the end of next year. The decision announced Monday means that the state will no longer guarantee credit insurance in the oil and gas sector, which companies can only take out with insurer Atradius.
Although the decision will logically affect not only Shell but also the sector around it, only a few of the large offshore companies in the Netherlands (which carry out work at sea for the gas and oil sector) say they still use the opportunity to finance projects. through credit insurer Atradius. This is evident from a tour of NRC.
For example, SBM Offshore, which makes installations for the production and storage of oil and gas, has not used credit insurance through Atradius since 2015. The impact of the decision is also “minimal” for soil researcher Fugro, according to a spokesperson. According to the spokesperson, Fugro has not had any jobs for years in which Atradius insured the loan. The same applies to dredging company Boskalis.
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State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief (D66, Finance) wrote on Monday: in a letter to parliament that the decision to sign the Glasgow Agreement will affect export credit insurance in particular.
At the end of 2020, the Dutch state guaranteed 4.9 billion euros in loans for (suppliers to) the oil and gas sector. About two-thirds of these are projects related to the exploitation of oil and gas fields, which would no longer be covered.
Compensation
One of the companies that will be affected by this is maritime service provider Van Oord. This company finances projects with credit insurance through Atradius. The company will not respond to inquiries from NRC, because it first wants to consult with the ministries of finance and foreign affairs to “visualize the consequences and compensation,” said a spokesman. For example, a recent Van Oord job that was financed with Atradius export credit insurance was a construction project in Angola.
However, companies have been taking the scaling down of the guarantee into account for some time now. For projects related to coal and ‘fracking’ (a method of extracting gas), it has been no longer possible to take out export credit insurance with a guarantee from the state. In addition, the companies can also go abroad for insurance, sometimes jobs are not insured at all.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of November 10, 2021
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