Oil Money Comes to Africa

The driver of the taxi who took me from a meeting I had last week in Los Angeles to the Amtrak station hailed from Mogadishu, Somalia.  I asked, as I normally do, “What’s it like there?”  I love to get a sense for how people live in these exotic parts of the world. What’s important to them?  Are people optimistic that the future will be better than the past?  I was anxious to know, but insofar as Mogadishu has seen such violence, I was a little concerned about bringing up a sore subject. 

My concerns were soon allayed, though; in fact, things seem pretty good over there, at least according to what the young gentleman told me.  The violence is behind them and their current leader has the trust and respect of the people.  Most notably, countries from all over the world are pouring into Africa to drill for oil, causing a real economic boom.

My new-found friend was all smiles about his country-mates’ oil riches.  Of course, though I kept it to myself, I have a different take.  Sucking the last molecule of crude out of the ground and sending the resultant emissions into the atmosphere is bad news.  And arguably worse is the process of the extraction itself.  Here’s the article that reminded me of all this:  apparently Chad, which obviously can use the money, has suspended the Chinese oil company that was active within its borders from further operations due to gross environmental violations. From the article:

Chad said Tuesday it had suspended all operations of the local unit of China National Petroleum Corporation for flagrant violations of environmental regulations while exploring for crude.

Oil Minister Djerassem Le Bemadjiel told AFP the decision was taken after officials had visited Koudalwa some 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital N’Djamena, where the local unit of the state-owned Chinese company was exploring for oil.

“Not only did they not have equipment to clean up oil that spilled out, but they intentionally let it spill in order to cut costs,” said the minister.

I have a feeling very few Somalias are watching what actually goes on in the process of oil exploration there, given that there is a huge financial interest in looking the other way.  As Upton Sinclair said some 70 or 80 years ago, “It is extraordinarily difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it.”