Some twenty five years ago when Amoco were exploring for oil offshore Somalia, the company was convinced that the waters of East Africa contained vast reserves of oil and gas. But its exploration was unsuccessful, Somalia was ripped apart by civil war and the waters of East Africa, once the tranquil domain of dhows and … Read More
resource curse
The “Great Oil Thief”
The brutal reality of the resource curse in Africa is once again laid bare. The latest revelations from Wikileaks is that the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has siphoned $9bn in oil money and deposited it in foreign accounts, many of which are in London. Whilst the rest of the country languishes in brutal poverty, the … Read More
Meanwhile in Africa its rip-offs and resource wars ..
As the world watches and waits for the British company BP to stop the ecological disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, you would be forgiven for forgetting that elsewhere round the globe the oil industry is just getting on with it. Away from the glare of the cameras, there is the routine business of … Read More
Uganda: Africa’s “New Oil Frontier”
We are used to talking about the oil majors like Shell being in the spotlight over African oil exploration. But a smaller player is making the headlines, with a soaring share price and two African discoveries in a week: one in Uganda and another off Sierrra Leone. It is the Irish independent company Tullow that … Read More
“Our oil will be a blessing and not a curse”
As president Obama reads the reactions to his first fleeting visit to the Middle East, his first proposed African visit is also causing quite a stir. In just over a month, Obama will undertake his first visit to the continent. The country he will visit is not the powerhouse of West Africa, Nigeria, but its … Read More
Gov Panel Says Give Delta 25% of Oil Revenue
When Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni launched their campaign against the oil companies in the Niger Delta in the early nineties, one of their key demands was that they should receive a greater share of the oil wealth from the oil drilled from under their land. Its seems a no-brainer really that the locals should … Read More
Avoiding the Resource Curse?
A good article in today’s New York Times about oil development in Sao Tome, the small principality off the West African Coast. In contrast to much of African oil development – that has been plagued by corruption – Sao Tome’s oil development was meant to be different and benefit the local people. It was meant … Read More
Angola at Risk of Resource Curse
The World Bank has warned that Angola risked the “resource curse” if it did not manage oil revenues better to promote development. “The oil curse is a possibility here – but it has the opportunity to change the curse into a blessing if it puts good policies in place and improves transparency,” World Bank economist, … Read More