By Bassey Udo. February 22, 2010
United States of America’s insistence on establishing a military high command for Africa called AFRICOM in the Gulf of Guinea is not for the love of the continent, but principally for the lust for its oil resources.
Over the years, the U.S. has significantly increased its oil imports from Africa, mainly through most of its companies operating in Nigeria, Angola, and to a lesser extent from Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Sudan.
The expectation of an average American is that by 2015 about 25 percent of its oil imports would come from Africa, essentially from the Gulf of Guinea. Therefore, any threat to sustained oil exploration and production activities in the region is, invariably, a direct threat to America’s interest.
Maintaining stability in the centres of oil production in Africa has remained a prime concern to the US.
The threat from China With China also venturing outside for other sources of oil to support its quest for solutions to its energy needs, the competition has heightened the pressure on the U.S. to safeguard its existing oil interests.
Therefore the many visits to Africa by top American businessmen and leaders, including erstwhile American President, George W. Bush, may not be unconnected with the ever-tougher competition from China for the control of the continent’s oil resources.
Most of the major oil exploration and production companies in Nigeria are of American origin. These include ExxonMobil Corporation and Chevron Nigeria Limited, which are respectively the second and third largest upstream operators in a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
ExxonMobil, which currently accounts for almost 600,000 barrels of oil per day, also has Esso Exploration and Production of Nigeria (EEPN), which is the deep offshore production arm of the corporation, in charge of Erha oil field, Nigeria’s second largest deep water oil acreage.
Similarly, Chevron, which produces about 400,000 barrels per day, also has a deepwater subsidiary, Star Deepwater, which operates the Agbami offshore oil field reputed to be one of Nigeria’s biggest oil concessions in recent times.
The Niger Delta challenge Since the breakout of crisis in the Niger Delta in late 2005,
following the launching of attacks on oil installations by armed militant groups in the oil region, the operations of these companies, along with others, have been seriously curtailed.
For more than a decade, the crisis appears to have defied resolution, thus deeming the prospects of America and its allies’ access to the region’s ‘sweet crude’, which has been their main source of energy for their industries.
Nigeria, the world’s sixth leading oil and gas producers, produces an average of 2.3 million barrels of oil every day, with prospects of raising the capacity to about 4.5million in the near future.
A leading member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nigeria is America’s fifth largest supplier.
The U.S. consumes between 18 million and 20 million barrels of oil per day. With a proven pool of about 60 billion barrels from the Gulf of Guinea, with prospects of more supplies from the deep water discoveries, oil is certainly on the front burner of Bush’s visit agenda.
Observers say Mr. Bush would attempt to use the visit to open diplomatic talks with Nigeria on the possibility of helping to restore peace in the crisis-torn region, particularly at a time when the Federal Government’s amnesty programme appears to have been stalled as a result of the unceremonious absence of the ailing President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The programme initiated to help disarm, rehabilitate, mobilise and integrate erstwhile armed militant group leaders in the Niger Delta for constructive development engagement, recorded some significant positive benefits within the short period it was introduced, with oil production climbing gradually back to it’s the level prior to its take off.
With the coming of the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, there appears to be a glimmer of hope for America to move in to find a way of forging new alliances to protect its oil supply interests.
There is no better personality who would fit the bill of the assignment than Mr. Bush, whose interest in oil business dates back to 1978, when he, following his father’s footsteps, set up series of limited liability partnerships, including Arbusto Energy, in Midland, Texas for the primary business of drilling for oil. He was to later change Arbusto’s name to Bush Exploration, after a merger deal into Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation in 1984.
The Bush-controlled oil business eventually ended up being folded into Harken Energy Corporation, a Dallas-based corporation.
An oil industry source who pleaded anonymity yesterday night told NEXT ‘‘ The visit of Mr. Bush although not official because he came for a media event, should not be lost on all. He is an investor in the oil sector and would not allow such an opportunity to pass without discussing some form of oil business with the Acting President.’’
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