Leave It In the Ground

Potentially vast reserves of fossil fuels lay under a disputed piece of the Indian Ocean off the east African coast.  Somalia and Kenya both claim the area and their disagreement is now before the International Court of Justice.  Not surprising powerful Western nations are picking sides in the dispute in hopes of leveraging that support into lucrative concessions and corporate deals when the time comes to exploit the resources. 

This competition for influence over these oil and gas reserves tells two stories:  First, is the fact that the world’s large economic powers still see fossil fuel in the ground as critical resources to control. And, second, that economic colonialism is alive and well.

A narrow triangle off the coast of Africa, in the Indian Ocean, about 100,000 square kilometers (62,000 square miles), is the bone of contention between neighboring Kenya and Somalia. Both countries want the area because it supposedly has a large deposit of oil and gas, but it's not clear to which country it belongs.

"The position of the boundary is a gray area," said Timothy Walter, a maritime border conflict researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa.

For Kenya, however, the boundary is quite clear. It lies line parallel to the line of latitude. That gives Kenya the larger share of the maritime area and it has already sold mining licenses to international companies. But Somalia disagrees.

The wealthy nations have aligned themselves to gain the maximum advantage depending upon how the Court decides.  The UK and Norway are supporting Somalia’s claim.  That support could be to the advantage of British Petroleum (BP) and Norway’s Statoil. 

The US and France have closer relations with Kenya.  The US and Kenya are partners in the fight against Islamic terrorist, while France’s Total Oil has a long done business in the country.

Just a thought here, but wouldn’t it be best for the planet if these rich nations would instead pay Kenya and Somalia to leave the oil and gas in the ground.  Perhaps a $200 billion investment in sustainable energy in those countries.

Darren Woods, CEO of Texas-based ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, stunned industry observers last year when he announced plans to spend more than $200bn over the next seven years to increase his firm’s production of fossil fuels, along with investing in petrochemicals and refining.