The African ‘oil rush’ and US national security (original) (raw)

Imperial oil: the anatomy of a Nigerian oil insurgency

Erdkunde, 2008

Alternative non-Persian Gulf sources of oil-supply are central to American geostrategic interests in the period since 2001. Vice President Cheney's National Energy Strategy Report in 2001 bemoaned a dependency on foreign powers that "do not have America's interests at heart". Africa has emerged as one of the major new sources of US oil and gas supply. If Africa is not as well endowed in hydrocarbons (both oil and gas) as the Persian Gulf states, the West African Gulf of Guinea has nonetheless become the subject of fierce competition by energy companies over the continent's copious reserves of natural gas and its sweet light oil. IHS Energy-one of the oil industry's major consulting companies-expects African oil production, especially along the Atlantic littoral, to attract huge exploration investment contributing over 30% of world liquid hydrocarbon production by 2010. Over the last five years when new oilfield discoveries were a scarce commodity, Africa contributed one in every four barrels of new petroleum discovered outside of Northern America. This article addresses the new scramble for Africa in the context of a new conjuncture of global forces: military neoliberalism and the Global War on Terror (GWOT). I lay out the broad landscape of oil production on the continent and the extent to which, in the wake of a catastrophic two decades of neoliberal structural adjustment, investment in oil and gas dominates direct foreign investment in Africa. I then turn to the specific case of Nigeria-the most important producer of oil and gas on the continent and the petro-state of most geostrategic concern to the US-and use it as an exemplar of the failure of oil-based development. Central to this analysis is the emergence of new forms of armed insurgency in the oil producing Niger Delta that has rendered the entire area virtually ungovernable, increasingly so since the emergence in late 2005 of a new armed group MEND (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigeria Delta). I conclude with an account of the dynamics of this ungovernability-a pattern replicated throughout the Gulf of Guinea-and how this instability feeds into an American imperial vision to militarize the region. Zusammenfassung: Imperial Oil: Anatomie eines nigerianischen Öl-Aufstandes. Seit 2001 sind Ölquellen, die nicht am Persischen Golf gelegen sind, von zentraler Bedeutung für die US-amerikanischen geostrategischen Interessen. In seiner 2001 vorgelegten National Energy Strategy bedauerte Vizepräsident Cheney die Abhängigkeit der USA von anderen Staaten, denen "nicht die US-amerikanischen Interessen am Herzen liegen". Afrika ist inzwischen eine der wichtigsten neuen Quellen für US-Öl and Gas. Auch wenn Afrika nicht mit so viel Kohlenwasserstoffenergieträgern (sowohl Öl als auch Gas) ausgestattet ist wie die Staaten am Persischen Golf, so ist doch der westafrikanische Golf von Guinea zum Objekt des harten Wettbewerbs zwischen Energiefirmen geworden, die dort um die Kontrolle über die reichlichen Reserven an Gas und Öl ringen. IHS Energy-eine der wichtigsten Beratungsfirmen der Ölindustrie-erwartet, dass für die afrikanische Ölproduktion, insbesondere entlang der Afrikanischen Küste, riesige Investitionen für die Erforschung neuer Quellen getätigt werden, so dass bis zum Jahr 2010 30% der weltweiten Öl-und Gasproduktion aus diesen Ländern kommen werden. In den letzten fünf Jahren waren neu entdeckte Ölfelder ein seltenes Gut. Dennoch kamen von vier Barrels außerhalb von Nordamerika neu entdeckten Öls jeweils einer aus Afrika. Dieser Artikel beschäftigt sich mit diesem neuen Kampf um Afrika im Kontext von einer Reihe von globalen Tendenzen: Militärischer Neoliberalismus und der "War on Terror" bildeten den Hintergrund für die Ölproduktion auf diesem Kontinent. Zugleich dominieren, nach zwei katastrophalen Jahrzehnten von neoliberalen Strukturanpassungsprogrammen, Investitionen im Bereich Öl und Gas die ausländischen Direktinvestitionen in Afrika. Danach wende ich mich dem spezifischen Fall von Nigeria zu-dem wichtigsten afrikanischen Produzenten von Öl und Gas und dem Ölstaat, der in den Mittelpunkt US-amerikanischer geostrategischer Besorgnis gerückt ist. Ich zeige am Beispiel von Nigeria das Versagen einer auf Öl gegründeten Entwicklungsstrategie auf. Von zentraler Bedeutung für diese Analyse ist dabei das Erscheinen von neuen Formen bewaffneter Aufstände im ölproduzierenden Nigerdelta, das die ganze Gegend praktisch unregierbar gemacht hat, und dies in zunehmendem Maße seit dem Auftreten einer neuen bewaffneten Gruppe, der MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigeria Delta). Abschließend betrachte ich die Dynamiken dieser Unregierbarkeit-einem Muster, das sich am Golf von Guinea mehrfach wiederholt-und erkläre wie diese Instabilität in eine US-amerikanische imperiale Vision passt, die vorsieht, die Region zu militarisieren.

Petroleum and its impact on three African Wars: Angola, Nigeria and Sudan

2010

This article focuses on the complex role that oil has played in many conflicts on the African continent. It begins by highlighting oil’s influential role within war at a wider international level and provides a brief theoretical base from which to explore oil’s role in the African continent. Then, the article provides evidence of petroleum’s impact on violent conflicts in three African countries, namely Angola, Sudan and Nigeria, in order to highlight oil’s multi-faceted role on war in Africa.

Observatoire East Africa Oil and Gas: Silver Bullet or Complex Remedy

East Africa Oil and Gas: Silver Bullet or Complex Remedy, 2019

East Africa has recently entered the global map of oil and gas exploration and production. Uganda and Kenya are about to become oil producers and Tanzania enlarged its endowment of world-class offshore natural gas reserves in recent years. Key to a successful development of the three countries´ hydrocarbons industry is completion of the infrastructure projects needed to monetize their reserves: mainly pipelines to carry landlocked oil to the coast for export and liquefaction facilities for transporting natural gas. The size, cost, and complexity of the projects pose great challenges to the development of the oil and gas sector. The quality of the sector governance in each of the three countries is also critical for securing a well-managed hydrocarbons industry, but unfortunately, challenges appear in the horizon. Oil decisions in Uganda and Tanzania are in the hands of a handful within the President´s inner circle with typically little transparency. This makes it difficult to make authorities accountable for their actions. In the case of Kenya, management of the oil industry is more decentralized and the oil producing region has an increasing influence on how the sector is being managed. There, differences between the two levels of government that go beyond the mere management of the oil sector, and touch upon ethnicity and economic inequalities pose a challenge to a smooth development of the oil industry. This essay analyzes the domestic and regional prospects and challenges that lie ahead for Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda as they develop their oil and gas industries.

Oil Crisis in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: Genesis and Extent

The people of Niger Delta have suffered several years of negligence and marginalism from the exploration of petroleum and distribution of its products by multinational oil companies and the government. This has necessitated attacks from the locals on government forces, oil workers, and oil installation sites as a means of expressing their grievances. The oil crisis in the region has led to the disruption of oil exploration and reduction of revenues accruing to the state from the sales of oil. These crises have led to the multiplication of several criminal vices that has turned the region into a state of disarray. The military and the militants are currently benefiting from the booming business of illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism, and diversion of refined petroleum products running through the pipes from the refineries. This paper focuses on examining the history of oil exploration, origin, and consequences of the oil crisis in the Niger Delta, and how the government can put an end to this menace.