The United States is stepping up its involvement in the Nigeria to counter growing violence in the Niger Delta. Theresa Whelan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, told a conference sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the US had a number of joint training and equipment programs aimed at helping Nigeria’s military … Read More
African Oil
The Scramble for Libyan Oil
After 20 years of isolation, Libya has become the new “destination of choice” for oil companies trying to find new reserves. “It’s a race for our black gold,” president of the National Oil Company Shukri Ghanem said. “We are organising it like the Olympic Games and may the best one win.” With each subsequent round … Read More
Nigeria Hopeful Violence Will End
Despite growing unrest and violence in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region, and daily kidnappings Nigeria’s Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru has said that “there is reason to believe the worst is over” for Africa’s Number one producer. “It is a very, very temporary thing”. To some, Daukoru’s assertions seem based on blind faith or simply blindness to … Read More
Angola: Anti-Corruption Oil Campaigner Arrested
Anti-corruption group Global Witness is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of their African oil campaigner Dr Sarah Wykes, who has been arrested by armed Angolan police in Cabinda, whilst visiting the oil rich enclave to meet with local civil society representatives. According to Global Witness, she was arrested and taken from her hotel to … Read More
Gunmen Kidnap First Female Oil Worker in Nigeria
So the cycle of violence continues in Nigeria. Yesterday, gunmen seized a female from the Philipinnes who works for the French oil company Total SA. The victim is the first known female taken captive in the recent upsurge of violence.
Nine Chinese Oil Workers Freed in Nigeria
Nine Chinese oil workers abducted last month by militant youths in the Niger Delta were released yesterday. The men were kidnapped on January 25 in a raid on the offices of the China National Petroleum Corporation which was doing a seismic study in the Sagbama area of Bayelsa state for Shell. One attacker was killed … Read More
“Curse of Oil” Fuels Corruption in Nigeria
A leading candidate in Nigeria’s upcoming presidential elections has attacked the country’s foreign-dominated oil industry for fuelling corruption. “Corruption has been worse with oil because oil has brought more money,” said the former Nigerian military strongman General Muhammadu Buhari, who is running a presidential campaign based on an anti-corruption platform.
Oil Leak Exposes Weaknesses in World Bank Pipeline
The World Bank-backed Chad-Cameroon pipeline, that brings oil from landlocked Chad along a 1,100km-pipeline to Cameroon, has run into trouble after springing a leak. Local Cameroonian NGOs, the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) and the Network for the Fight Against Hunger, have alleged that there was a delay in detecting the leak and the … Read More
Dozen Niger Delta Chiefs Assassinated
Reports in the Nigerian press suggest twelve chiefs from the Kula community in Rivers State were killed earlier this month, bringing the death-toll in the area to twenty five in oil-related violence. The Vanguard newspaper reports that the Kula Chiefs were embroiled over a controversy over oil revenues in the area. How to share the … Read More
Gates Foundation & Big Oil
The LA Times is running a great series on the underbelly on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation by looking at the Foundation’s investment portfolio. “In a contradiction between its grants and its endowment holdings”, the Times investigation found that “the foundation reaps vast financial gains every year from investments that contravene its good works”.