Egypt’s state-owned oil refiner Assiut National Oil Processing Company sealed an innovative $1.5 billion ECA-covered loan to back the Assiut oil refinery expansion project last month. The deal has provided a viable financial blueprint for future such projects without a sovereign guarantee to cover the entire financing. But the trader will not disclose details on how its new KPIs are more challenging or who is auditing the progress. Can ESG claims by commodity traders be taken seriously if they cannot be verified independently? And is ESG opaqueness going to force regulation?

Source: Ethiopian News March 09, 2022 23:16 UTC