Egyptian businessman admits personal motivation for gas deal with Spain / Eni
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Feb 25, 2012
Businessman Hussein Salem – on the run from corruption charges in Egypt – admitted his personal & political motivations in signing Egypt’s controversial gas export deals with Israel (via pipeline) and Spain (via Damietta LNG), in discussion with Egyptian journalist Mohamed Heikal: “Yes I made gas deals with Israel. We have a lot of gas...
Tullow sues Heritage – Uganda pays the price; court papers published for $300m oil trial
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Nov 28, 2011
Guestblog by Taimour Lay, Former Platform researcher, Uganda and DRC. Download the full court papers (30 megabytes) A court case in London between Tullow and Heritage will reveal much of what went wrong in the battle over Uganda’s oil. It is a long way from the shores of Lake Albert to the new commercial court...
Gulfsands ends payments to Assad’s cousin – but continues supporting Syrian regime with $8 million every week
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Aug 24, 2011
Documents revealed by the FT amid concerns raised by Avaaz show that Gulfsands Petroleum, the London-listed oil and gas company, agreed to give a share of profits from its production activities in Syria to a company controlled by Rami Makhlouf, the first cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The company has also paid more than...
The secret renegotiation of BP’s Iraqi oil contracts
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Jul 30, 2011
During the second half of 2009, Iraq held two auctions of its largest oilfields, awarding them to multinational companies such as BP, Shell and ExxonMobil to operate under 20-year contracts. Between them the oilfields account for over 60% of Iraq’s reserves. The contracts were service contracts rather than the companies’ preferred production sharing agreements, which...
Oil activist in DRC slams repression & Perenco secrecy during interview
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Dec 23, 2010
Pastor Jacques Bakulu has been campaigning against oil companies operating in western Congo for over 20 years. The secretive Anglo-French company Perenco took over Chevron’s concession in 2004 and claims to be producing 25,000 barrels a day. None of its four contracts are publicly available. In February this year Perenco were once again accused of pouring...
Wikileaks cable shines light on ENI corruption in Uganda; Heritage offered to pay bribes in Congo
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Dec 15, 2010
• SECRET US CABLE SHINES LIGHT ON ENI CORRUPTION IN UGANDA • HERITAGE OFFERED TO PAY BRIBES IN CONGO ‘’If Tullow’s allegations are true – and we believe they are …” US Embassy, Kampala, 17 December 2009 A secret United States diplomatic cable (below and here) published by Wikileaks last week has exposed the real politics...
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...
PLATFORM leaks Uganda’s oil contracts – not such a rosy deal after all
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Nov 22, 2009
Held secret by the Ugandan government and oil companies Tullow Oil and Heritage Oil, PLATFORM today is revealing the terms of the contracts for oil operations by Lake Albert on the Uganda-Congo border, and their economic implications. For the first time, one of Uganda’s Production Sharing Agreements is available to the public to read, after...
Iraq: New contracts will undermine Iraqi independence
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Nov 12, 2009
The mega-oil deals signed and pledged in Iraq in last week have been major news, marking another step by the oil majors back into a country that liberated itself from the “robbery and exhaustion practiced by the monopolistic oil companies” in 1972. But the full consequences of the agreements have been hard to untangle. BP and Chinese...
Iraqi Opposition to BP’s Rumaila Contract
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Jul 19, 2009
Iraqi oil workers have come out in strong opposition to BP’s new contract for the super-giant Rumaila oil field, saying they will not allow foreign oil companies Signed in early July as part of the first bidding round for Iraq’s oil, the 20-year contract gives BP and Chinese oil companyCNPC significant control over production from Rumaila, which holds reserves...
