非洲的乍得和喀麦隆的石油管道项目(乍得,喀麦隆)

AFRICA'S CHAD-CAMEROON OIL AND PIPELINE PROJECT (CHAD, CAMEROON)

Background

The Chad-Cameroon oil and pipeline project aims to develop the Doba oil fields in southern Chad and build a pipeline more than 1,000 kilometers long through Cameroon to offshore loading facilities on Cameroon's coast. ExxonMobil of the U.S. is the project operator; its partners for this venture are U.S.-based Chevron and Malaysia's Petronas Corporation.

Follow the Money

The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an ECA from the United States, is guaranteeing $200 million in commercial bank loans for this $3.7 billion project. France's COFACE, also an ECA, is another major backer of the project. The World Bank's decision to approve nearly $300 million in loans and guarantees to fund the project in June 2000 gave the green light to other funding agencies, such as the European Investment Bank, to jump on board.

Controversy

The pipeline will traverse a largely intact area of tropical rainforest that is home to the indigenous people popularly known as Pygmies. In Cameroon alone, the pipeline will make 17 major river crossings, and it will run along the Sanaga, one of Africa's most important river systems. Leaks and oil spills from the pipeline could be devastating to local water supplies, putting at risk both the environment and the people who rely on these rivers for survival. Yet the project's environmental assessment does not include site-specific Oil Spill Response Plans, as would be required in the United States. Both Chad and Cameroon have abysmal track records for human rights abuses. In the years 1999 and 2000 Cameroon was rated the most corrupt country in the world by the watchdog organization Transparency International. And according to Amnesty International, the government of Chad is responsible for killing hundreds of unarmed civilians in its oil-producing regions

over the past three years; the disappearance and murder of civilians in police custody are common. In other words, if locals are harmed by this project, there is little chance of help or support from their own governments.

Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Map

Map by Peter Black, Environmental Defense

Reform Activity

International concerns about project-related human rights abuses, environmental destruction and corruption delayed the start-up of this scheme until last summer. At that point, the World Bank approved financing for the project, stating that adequate environmental, social and anti-corruption measures were in place to ensure that the project would vastly reduce poverty in both Chad and Cameroon. Despite protests from civil society organizations in both Chad and Cameroon, the World Bank is proceeding with funding.