Fortune and fantasy on Africa's oil frontier
Gulf of Mexico. Photo credit: National Geographic
I just came across this highly informative post, “Deepwater Drilling — What Can go Wrong?” on the Ghanaian blog, CROSSED CROCODILES.
Check it out. The unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is indeed a cautionary tale for Africa. Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana… deepwater drilling is happening or on the horizon in a number of countries.
Despite the massive efforts of the oil companies and state and federal authorities, the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is spinning out of control. The thought of a similar accident occurring off the coast of West or Central Africa is terrifying.
Christiane Badgley has been producing and editing documentary films for the past twenty years, with much of her work focused on the U.S. criminal justice system and post-colonial African politics and history.
Everything about the way in which humanity harvests the means to fuel its respective economies comes with some risk. As the easy to get sources become exhausted, the US and other countries will be forced into ever more perilous enterprises. I fear this disaster will be played out again in the future.