Confidential oil contracts held by UK companies Tullow and Heritage in the DRC “reveal the danger of economic rip-off and rights abuses in one of Africa’s most unstable countries”, according to Platform.
Tullow Oil and Heritage signed a contract with the DRC in 2006, near Lake Albert. The status of that contract is now disputed by both sides since the Ministry of Energy appeared to annul it in October 2007, ahead of reassigning the main block in 2008 to a consortium led by South African company called Divine Inspiration
As the dispute between Tullow/Heritage and Divine Inspiration comes to a head, the contract terms have been released for the first time. Platform’s analysis compares revenues delivered by two competing contracts, revealing that:
- Both Tullow/Heritage & Divine/H Oil’s contracts guarantee excessive profits, at the expense of Congo’s poor
- Tullow’s contract terms reduce the Congolese take by around 15%, compared to Divine’s.
- If recognised, Tullow’s contract will cut Congolese government revenues by over $10 billion – a figure equivalent to the country’s entire national debt.
Despite this, Tullow and the British Embassy in Kinshasa have been lobbying hard for these contract terms. This represents a significant transfer of wealth from some of Africa’s poorest to British and Irish investors.
Platform Campaigner Mika Minio argues, ”The reality is that extracting Congolese crude will escalate resource wars, transfer wealth from Congo’s poorest to London’s richest, create new health problems for local communities, increase corruption and pollute the land, water and air..”
Pollute the land, water and air – just what BP is doing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Two different stories: same result.
– from priceofoil.org