Fifteen years after the execution of Nigerian playwright and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, new compelling evidence has surfaced that suggests that the Nigerian military killed the four Ogoni elders that Saro-Wiwa was later accused of murdering. The new evidence also reveals that the soldier’s commander, the notorious Lt Col Okuntimo, who was implicated in murder and … Read More
Corruption
“The risk of it being a mess is high”
Question: Can you build a $15 billion natural gas plant in a remote, rural, deeply impoverished and corrupt country and not expect any social or environmental problems. The answer is don’t be silly. So the news last December that Exxon Mobil and several other energy companies were planning the largest ever foreign-investment project in Papua … Read More
Shell to Pay $30 Million to Settle Nigeria Bribery Case
Nigeria was once Shell’s jewel in its crown. But for so long it has been the thorn in its side. Whether its pollution, collusion, corruption, bribery or false accounting, Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary has been accused of them all. So many of the group’s problems keep coming back to Nigeria. The company settled out of court … Read More
Secret Recordings Reveal Chevron “Cooked” Trial Evidence
As the 17 year old lawsuit between oil giant Chevron and the Ecuadorian Indians draws to a close, the plaintiffs are arguing that they have uncovered damning new evidence that could seriously undermine the oil company’s legal case. Texaco drilled for oil in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, working in partnership with the state-run company … Read More
Flaws in Ugandan Oil Boom Exposed
The London-based environmental group Platform was the first group to analyse the oil contracts in Iraq called Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), which gave lucrative terms to the international oil companies. Now they have turned their attention to the rapidly expanding oil scene in Central Africa in Uganda. Uganda is said to be sitting on the … Read More
How Corporate Money Corrupted the Climate Bill
One of the issues that Oil Change has tried to highlight is how oil money corrupts and corrodes politics. Big Oil has always had hordes of cash to spend to influence legislation on energy and climate. Big Oil always expects to get its way as its pockets are deeper than its opponents. For years it … Read More
Good Riddance, Uncle Ted
So ends a political era. The Alaskan senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history and a force on Capitol Hill for decades, yesterday finally conceded the re-election race to his Democratic rival, Mayor Mark Begich. This brings us to the end of the “Uncle Ted” era in Alaska, when billions of Stevens’s “pork-barrel” … Read More
Sex, Drugs, Rock and Oil …
It reads like something from a sordid novel rather than the government’s dealings with the oil industry. But an extensive investigation has found an extraordinary cozy relationship between the government and the industry. Officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored … Read More
Nigerian Rebel Pipeline Uncovered
Ever fancied having you own oil supply on tap? Nigerian security forces have discovered a pipeline they say was used by a powerful Niger Delta gang leader to steal petroleum products from a state oil refinery. The pipeline runs from the refinery in Port Harcourt through a secret camp in the creeks of Rivers state … Read More
IMF: Nigeria ‘Wasted’ 30 Years of Oil Income
Nigeria “wasted” 30 years of oil income, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn said yesterday as he warned the country against the dangers of neglecting the non-oil sectors of its economy. “Nigeria has had 40 years of oil but for the first 30 years it wasted the proceeds from that oil,” … Read More