“Heritage called in the cavalry” – investigation reveals oil company’s role in Congo killings
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May 21, 2012
Documents sourced by Platform play a key role in a new Corporate Watch investigation revealing how British oil company Heritage triggered a Ugandan military operation that led to six Congolese individuals being killed, including a three-year-old child. The two-year investigation in East Africa exposes a cover-up and raises further concerns over oil extraction in the...

Shell admits funding Niger Delta “warlords”
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May 2, 2012
I wrote a guest blog for Greenpeace UK today about Shell’s recent statement regarding its financial relationships with militant groups. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the issue. A recent video published online shows a Shell executive admitting that the oil giant could easily be funding what he describes as “warlords” and militants...
Oil companies & RBS profited off state terror in Sudan
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Jun 14, 2010
A Chatham House event last Thursday launched the new report “Unpaid Debt: The Legacy of Lundin, Petronas and OMV in Sudan, 1997-2003,” on the role of oil companies in fuelling war and atrocities in Sudan. A group of aid agencies that worked in Sudan during the civil war, the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS), have called for an...
PLATFORM reveals Congo oil contracts that threaten resource wars and $10 billion rip-off
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May 25, 2010
Tullow & British Embassy push disputed deal that could cut Congo’s revenues by $10 billion Confidential oil contracts held by UK companies Tullow and Heritage in the Democratic Republic of Congo were leaked today, revealing the danger of economic rip-off and rights abuses in one of Africa’s most unstable countries. The Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) are...
US Army = “oil protection service” in Africa?
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Sep 27, 2009
“The U.S. military has come to serve as a global oil protection service, guarding pipelines, refineries and loading facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere.” – US academic Michael Klare The UPI article below references the Tullow discovery in Sierra Leone in the context of US attempts to increase military control over the African continent. The foundation of US...
Biden eats Iraqi pie with American fork
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Sep 25, 2009
Obama’s administration is continuing Bush’ policy of demanding that the Iraqi government hand over highly profitable oil contracts to Western oil companies. According to UPI, during a visit to Baghdad this month, Vice-Pres Biden was “hustling on behalf of the U.S. oil giants who have long dreamed of getting their hands on what may be the...
New oil discoveries to drive future conflicts in West Africa?
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Sep 22, 2009
New oil finds off the coast of West Africa raise fears of oil corporations causing increased militarization in a region not yet touched by the crude resource curse. In mid-September US corp Anadarko and Irish/British company Tullow announced a major oil-discovery off the coast of Sierra Leone. The FT’s map below shows how this find...