Fortune and fantasy on Africa's oil frontier
Early morning haze over Yaounde. July 2012. Photo by Christiane Badgley
I haven’t had a chance to post anything for a few weeks. I’ve just arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon, and hope to have more time to get information up in the coming days. I’m starting some new work and will look forward to writing about it.
In the meantime, I want to provide links to a few articles up at Ghana Oil Watch. As the months go by, the Jubilee Field projected 120,000 b.p.d. output level is looking increasingly like wishful thinking. It has been hard to get clear information on why — exactly — production is so low. Tullow and its partners have repeatedly cited technical issues as the cause, yet now that those issues are supposedly resolved, why haven’t production levels increased?
In an article citing Tullow Oil officials, the company says it is optimistic that the 120,000 b.p.d. production level will soon be attained. However Tullow is now adding oil that will be pumped from a new field to reach that 120,000 barrel number. So what does this mean about Jubilee and Ghana’s oil prospects, more generally? Thank tank IMANI suggests that these numbers may mean that Ghana’s Jubilee production numbers were too optimistic. IMANI also cautions the government about new plans to invest billions in the oil sector.
Another article calls for passage of a freedom of information bill. Now that would be a good thing.
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.
