Latest Featured Articles

Why aren’t oil companies apologising for the oil spills in Nigeria?

December 05, 2015 | Latest Featured Articles

By Burhan Razi | – The current world economy is structured in such a way that the fossil fuel industry has unquestionable hegemonic power. Developed and developing economies alike need energy to sustain and grow. This energy market is monopolised by the fossil fuel industry. Oil, natural gas and other energy producing fossil fuels have not only helped build some of the biggest companies in the world, but have also aided the development and solidification of certain national economies like the Gulf states and Venezuela. This monopoly in the …

UK’s Under-Pressure Oil Industry Braces for Election

May 07, 2015 | Latest Featured Articles

By Nick Coleman | – The May 7 election retains some familiar features, including business backing for the Conservative Party. BP CEO Bob Dudley and his counterpart at independent Tullow Oil, Aidan Heavey, were among UK business chiefs who signed a letter last month saying the outgoing Conservative-led coalition had been “good for business” and “supported investment and job creation.” Changing course would send a “negative message” about the UK, they said. Prime Minister David Cameron’s opposite number in the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, has …

Corruption, Foreign Investment, Corporate Responsibility and SSA: the Case of Angola

October 29, 2014 | Latest Featured Articles

By Justin McCarthy | – On the 5th of August, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued US oil company, Cobalt International Energy Inc., with a Wells Notice in response to its operations in Angola. The Wells notice was a formal notification to Cobalt stating that the company is likely to face disciplinary action for breaches of ‘certain federal security laws’, namely the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Though allegations of corruption and illicit government dealings with foreign corporations in Angola are hardly a new phenomenon, …

Troubles continue in Libya as clashes threaten oil production

September 22, 2014 | Latest Featured Articles

By Ken Hanly  | – Libya’s troubles are increasing as conflict has taken place in the south west of the country and clashes have shut down the El Shalala oil field that supplies the Zawiya refinery that in turn supplies the capital Tripoli with gasoline. Libya faces a political crisis with the elected government meeting in the far eastern city of Tobruk near the border with Egypt. Many of the legislators stay on a Greek ferry anchored in the harbour. However, the internationally recognized government elected last …

Congo: Africa’s oldest Park under violent attack by UK Oil Company

September 10, 2014 | Latest Featured Articles

By Gregory McGann | – UK oil company Soco is waging a war of violence and intimidation against those opposing its plans to drill for oil in Virunga national park, writes Gregory McCann. It has paid genocidal armed rebels, encouraged attacks on park rangers, financed phoney demonstrations, and is linked to the attempted murder of head ranger Emmanuel de Merode. Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a world heritage site and contains some 220 critically endangered mountain gorillas – a …

Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Bill and Declining Oil Revenue

August 19, 2014 | Latest Featured Articles

By Dele Sobowale | – Can you remember when the idea of privatizing NEPA, NITEL, NNPC, NPA was first eagerly promoted? Well, don’t worry. People like me are here to remind you. It was in the 1980s when the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, TCPC, headed by late Dr Zyyadd was established. For four years, after the proclamation, nothing happened to our biggest public enterprises – despite all the valid reasons advanced for getting governments to relinquish their strangle-holds on businesses which are best …

Russia-China Gas Deal: The End of the US-EU Energy Power Play?

June 19, 2014 | Latest Featured Articles

By Faraz Shams | – Much of the United States’ clout in global geopolitics after World War II has been marked by its abilities to tie-up with countries rich in fossil fuels, particularly the regimes of the Middle East. However, the fine balance which has been maintained with great caution and prudence is at risk of being undermined by two of its biggest competitors – Russia and China. The coming together of the two nemeses, underlined by a recently concluded blockbuster natural gas deal, means …

Will ‘’Boko Haram’’ and ‘’MEND’’ cause Nigeria to descend into anarchy?

June 06, 2014 | Latest Featured Articles

By Aidan Liban | – Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group, recently gained worldwide notoriety after it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria. They have also been responsible for a wave of assassinations and bombings killing thousands of people  since 2009. In the oil rich Niger Delta region another militant group MEND has been waging a guerrilla war against their local corrupt government and the oil companies for several decades. Will the government subdue both of these groups or will Nigeria descend into anarchy?   …