Oil Companies Pull Out of African Oil Project
11/11/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
Royal Dutch/Shell and Elf Aquitaine have withdrawn from a pipeline
project in Chad and Cameroon over environmental and political
concerns. This represents a victory for highly vocal opposition to
the project.
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
ITEM #1
Title: ON ANNIVERSARY OF NIGERIAN EXECUTIONS,
SHELL, ELF PULL OUT OF AFRICAN OIL PROJECT
INDUSTRY ANALYSTS CITE ENVIRONMENTAL,
POLITICAL CONCERNS BEHIND MOVE
Source: Rainforest Action Network
221 Pine Street #500
San Francisco, CA 94014
Telephone: 415/398-4404; fax: 415/398-2732 Website:
http://www.ran.org
Press contacts:
Mark Westlund, ranmedia@ran.org
Erick Brownstein, osani@ran.org
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 10, 1999
ON ANNIVERSARY OF NIGERIAN EXECUTIONS,
SHELL, ELF PULL OUT OF AFRICAN OIL PROJECT
INDUSTRY ANALYSTS CITE ENVIRONMENTAL,
POLITICAL CONCERNS BEHIND MOVE
"Based on its experience in Nigeria, Royal Dutch/Shell recognizes a
bad situation when it sees one, and Elf Aquitaine will avoid becoming
part of the tragedy. The human and environmental costs of proceeding
with an oil pipeline that cuts through the heart of Africa's
rainforest are simply too great. The question remains whether The
World Bank and Exxon will see the situation in a similar light."
- Erick Brownstein, African Rainforest Campaign
Initial reports explaining the decision of Royal Dutch/Shell and Elf
Aquitaine to withdraw from a pipeline project in Chad and Cameroon
indicate that environmental and political concerns may have been
overwhelming. Yet despite continued criticism from forest protection
and human rights leaders who question the project's environmental
safeguards and see little benefit for the local populations, The
World Bank and Exxon have indicated they hope to see the project
continue.
Shell's announcement came on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the
execution of Nobel Prize nominee Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others
opposed to Shell's operations in Nigeria. "Shell's withdrawal from
Chad and Cameroon is an eerie homage to Ken Saro-Wiwa," observed
RAN's African Rainforest campaigner Erick Brownstein. "Now it is up
to The World Bank's James Wolfensohn to live up to high expectations
and determine whether this is the right kind of project for U.S. tax
dollars to fund."
The African Rainforest Pipeline project will slice through the heart
of pristine rainforests, and will put hundreds of millions of dollars
into the pockets of Exxon and two corrupt governments. Transparency
International recently rated Cameroon the world's most corrupt
government for the second year in a row, and southern Chad is so
dangerous and politically unstable that neither Amnesty International
nor the US State Department was able to visit and confirm the
massacre of hundreds of people. A 1999 US State Department report on
Chad shows a government engaged in indiscriminate human rights
abuses.
"Poverty in Chad and Cameroon is devastating and should be a concern
for all of civil society," said Brownstein, "but giving billions of
dollars to a huge oil company and to governments that are unable or
unwilling to help their people will only exacerbate the problem."
ITEM #2
Title: Chad slams Shell/Elf decision to quit oil project
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 10, 1999
N'DJAMENA, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Chad said on Wednesday that a decision
by Royal Dutch/Shell Group (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SHEL.L)
and Elf Aquitaine to pull out of its oil extraction and pipeline
project was both unexpected and questionable.
Communication Minister and Government Spokesman Moussa Dago told
state radio that the government reserved the right to take legal
action over ``an improper breach of contract compromising the higher
interests of the Chadian nation.''
The project, billed by the government as the key to development in
the landlocked and impoverished nation, has run into strong criticism
from pressure groups who say that there are not enough environmental
safeguards and too little benefit for the local populations.
``The Dutch company Shell and the French company Elf have
unexpectedly made known their decision to stop funding the Doba oil
project in southern Chad,'' Dago said.
``The sudden nature of these decisions suggest that they are not
dictated by economic or technical considerations,'' he added. ``This
pullout, in reality, seeks one thing, namely compromising the Chadian
oil export project and creating problems for the government with its
public opinion.''
Shell and Elf have yet to comment publicly on the decision but the
World Bank and Exxon Corp (NYSE:XON - news), which is leading the
project, have both said that they hope it will still go ahead. The
World Bank board was to have reviewed the project shortly.
Doba described the project, which had envisaged exporting oil via
Cameroon in 2001, as essential for Chad's and the region's economic
development and said that the government would do everything it could
to ensure it went ahead.
``The government has decided to take a direct hand in looking for new
partners to conclude the project within a reasonable timeframe in
concertation with the government of Cameroon and the American company
Exxon,'' he said.