Following on from the last blog – Shell has been an integral part of the conflict in Nigeria for nearly fifty years. It’s record of environmental pollution and complicity in human rights abuses is well documented. However the company continues to try and greenwash it activities. That is one reason why campaigners are highlighting the … Read More
African Oil
More Nigerian Kidnaps
The vortex of violence in the Niger Delta shows no sign of abating. The news agency, Reuters has reported how 20 Nigerian Shell contractors are missing after an attack. According to Reuters the men were abducted during a raid earlier this week on a convoy of boats supplying oilfields.
Carlyle Group Eyes Libya
US companies are thinking of moving back into the Libyan oil and gas market. US private equity giant Carlyle is in talks to acquire Libya’s state-controlled oil refining and marketing operation, Tamoil. Al-Saadi Gaddafi, the son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has confirmed that Carlyle is one of four or five groups involved in an international … Read More
Democrats: Get Sudanese Blood Off Our Federal Contracts
Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation that would bar some international companies from receiving U.S. government contracts if they continued to do business with Sudan. The bill is an attempt to put pressure on Sudan to do more to end the genocide in Darfur. Rep. Barbara Lee told reporters: “This bill is designed to wash the … Read More
UNCTAD: Rich Country Energy Needs are Shaping Aid in Africa
A new report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) draws attention to the fact that rich countries are increasingly using aid money to advance their energy interests in Africa. The report argues that: “There are very clear signals that security concerns and energy politics are again shaping the policy debates on … Read More
Vortex of Violence Continues in the Niger Delta
If anyone still denies the existence of the “resource curse”, maybe a trip to the Niger Delta wouldn’t go amiss. They should also read the Stakeholder Democracy Network’s latest depressing news on what happened in August in the Niger Delta:
Chad Orders Oil Firms to Quit
Chad has become the latest country to expel foreign companies operating in its country, after the country’s president kicked energy giants Chevron and Petronas, out of a World Bank-backed project. Ironically, Chad-Cameroon pipeline project was meant to serve as a model for oil extraction in Africa. The President, Idriss Déby accused the American and Malaysian … Read More
More Oil Workers Kidnapped in Nigeria
The violence in Nigeria shows no sign of abating with the news that five oil workers were abducted from a notorious nightclub in Port Harcourt the oil capital of the Niger Delta in Nigeria at the weekend. The five were taken from the Goodfellas club on Sunday night as sporadic gun battles broke out across … Read More
The Race Is On To Grab World’s Last Oil Hotspots
The Guardian reports today that “money [is] no object as the big players grab what is left of a diminishing resource”, quoting the recent decision by Sinopec of China to pay $1bn for the right to explore for oil in deep water off Angola. This has “shocked” the west, “which fears it could be left … Read More
Imperial Oil in Africa
A typically insightful piece from Anna Zalik and Michael Watts from the University of California on the deteriorating situation in the Niger Delta. Called “Imperial Oil: Petroleum Politics in the Nigerian Delta and the New Scramble for Africa”, it is worthwhile reading if you are interested in the effect of US geo-politics on Africa. Read … Read More