Bottom of the Barrel: Africa's Oil Boom and the Poor
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Bottom of the Barrel Africa’s Oil Boom and the Poor “Our oil should be for the life and not the death of our people.” – Catholic Bishops of Congo-Brazzaville Ian Gary, Catholic Relief Services Terry Lynn Karl, Stanford University author of Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States Photo courtesy of: Secours catholique © Catholic Relief Services, All Rights Reserved. PS0301 Report Team: Authors: Ian Gary, Strategic Issues Advisor – Africa, Catholic Relief Services Terry Lynn Karl, Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University Research consultant and contributing writer: Ricardo M.S. Soares de Oliveira, Ph.D. candidate, Cambridge University Research consultant: Philippe Copinschi, Ph.D. candidate, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques/Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and L’Institut français du pétrole, Paris Research assistance Lillian Messih, Research and Advocacy Associate, CRS Graphic design Paul O’Donnell, Senior Graphic Designer, CRS Research for this report was conducted from February 2002 to May 2003, including field research in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. Acknowledgements: The report team would like to thank the many CRS staff members – on the ground in Africa’s oil-producing countries and in headquarters in Baltimore – who supported the development of, and contributed to, the report. We are especially grateful to Kevin Hartigan, Rebecca Hallam, Maggie Desilier, Oliver Mokom Cho, Jean Baptiste Talla, Chris Varady, Nicole Poirier, Nick Ford, Dominique Morel, Julie Hunsicker, Scott Campbell, Brian Gleeson and Paul Miller. Many other individuals inside and outside of Africa have given their support to this project. We would especially like to note the assistance and support of Tawfik Ramtoolah, Arvind Ganesan, Keith Slack, Shannon Lawrence, Korinna Horta, Nikki Reisch, Alex Vines, Simon Taylor, Gavin Hayman, Sarah Wykes, Geraldine McDonald, Katherine Astill, Fr. Michael Perry, Douglas Yates, Olivier Janotto, Philippe Morie, Brice Mackosso, Samuel Nguiffo, Dupleix Kuenzob, Delphine Djiraibe and Honoré Ndoumbè Nkotto. We would also like to thank the European University Institute and Margaret Schink. Cover photo: Offshore oil platform near Pointe Noire, Congo-Brazzaville. (L. Charrier/Secours Catholique) © Catholic Relief Services, June 2003. This report is dedicated to all those in Africa who are acting courageously to bring transparency and accountability to the use of Africa’s oil wealth. We especially acknowledge the pioneering work of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, the Episcopal Conference of Congo-Brazzaville, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Pointe Noire, and the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACERAC). Bottom of the Barrel: Africa’s Oil Boom and the Poor – ii Bottom of the Barrel: Africa’s Oil Boom and the Poor Table of Contents Page # Report Team: . .ii Executive Summary . .1 Summary Recommendations: . .3 Introduction . .5 1. Africa’s Oil Boom: . .9 1.1 A New Scramble for Africa . .9 1.2 African Governments Live on Oil . .11 1.3 Oil Companies Get Interested in the Gulf of Guinea . .12 1.4 Seeking National Security: The U.S. and African Oil . .13 1.5 Financing the Boom: The World Bank Group and Export Credit Agencies . .14 2. The Paradox of Plenty: The Record, The Challenge . .18 2.1 Oil Rich, Dirt Poor . .18 2.2 Poor Development Outcomes are not Inevitable . .18 2.3 Why Managing Petroleum is No Easy Task . .19 2.4 The “Resource Curse” or How Oil Dependence Produces Decline . .21 2.5 The Oil/Poverty/Conflict Syndrome . .23 2.6 The Bottom Line: The Urgent Need to Change the Policy Environment . .24 3. Africa’s Petro-States: Country Experiences and Regional Trends in the Gulf of Guinea . .25 3.1 The Paradox of Plenty in Africa’s “Old” Oil Exporters . .25 3.1a Nigeria: Africa’s Oil Giant Fits the Profile . .25 3.1b Gabon: Running Out of Oil . .28 3.2 The Oil/War/Poverty Syndrome . .31 3.2a Angola: Flexing Its Regional Muscles as Petrodollars Perpetuate Poverty and Conflict . .31 3.2b Congo-Brazzaville: Oil, Poverty and War Revisted . .34 3.3 Can “New Oil” Beat the Odds? . .38 3.3a Equatorial Guinea: Avoiding Its Neighbors’ Mistakes? . .38 3.4 Special Regional Problems: Mortgaging the Future and the Potential for Conflict . .41 3.4a Oil-backed Loans . .41 3.4b Maritime Boundary Disputes and the Scramble for More Oil . .41 4. Addressing Africa’s Paradox of Plenty . .43 4.1 The Efforts of International Financial Institutions . .43 4.1a The World Bank Group . .44 4.1b The International Monetary Fund . .46 iii – Bottom of the Barrel: Africa’s Oil Boom and the Poor Table of Contents (continued) Page # 4.1c The Role of the IFIs . .48 4.2 Corporate Responses to the “Paradox of Plenty” . .50 4.3 U.S. and Northern Government Efforts . .53 4.4 Civil Society: From the Grassroots to the Global Stage . .55 4.4a Resisting Plunder: Africa’s Churches and Oil Advocacy . .56 4.4b Challenges for Civil Society . .58 5. The Chad-Cameroon Oil Experiment: Rhetoric and Reality . .60 5.1 Changing Chad? The World Bank and the Problem of Governance . .63 5.2 Managing Oil Revenues without Capacity . .67 5.2a A “Leaky” Revenue Management Law . .67 5.2b Monitoring with a Murky Mandate: The Petroleum Revenue Oversight Committee 70 5.3 Chad-Cameroon: A New Model for Oil-led Poverty Reduction? . .73 Conclusion: Beyond the Paradox of Plenty? . .77 Recommendations . .79 Selected Bibliography . .83 Endnotes . .85 (continued) Bottom of the Barrel: Africa’s Oil Boom and the Poor – iiii List of Boxes Page # The Publish What You Pay Campaign . .6 Oil Industry Key Terms . .10 Oil Companies: A Typology . .11 Oil Dependence in African Exporters . .12 African Oil: Beyond the Gulf of Guinea . .13 Financing a Project: The Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project . .15 African Oil Exporters and Export Credit Agency Debt . .16 Export Credit Agencies . .16 Export Credit Agencies in Angola . .17 National Oil Companies in Africa . .25 The Nigerian National Oil Company – NNPC . .26 Sonangol Flexes Its Muscles Across the Region . .32 How Oil Revenue is under-reported in Angola . .33 Sudan’s Oil: Fuel for a Fire . .35 Congo’s National Oil Company and Angola . .36 Democratic Republic of Congo: An Enclave Among Enclaves . .37 Niger Delta Development Commission . .50 Increased Militarization in the Gulf of Guinea? . .55 CRS Extractive Industries in Africa Initiative . .57 U.S. Bishops on Africa’s Natural Resources . .58 Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project Map . .61 Cameroon’s Record on Oil Transparency . .63 The Petroleum Revenue Management Law . .68 Allocation and Utilization of Oil Revenue . .68 More Oil Exploration for Chad and its Neighbors . .71 Recommendations for Petroleum Revenue Management in Chad and Cameroon . .75 Community-Based Monitoring of Oil Projects: The Cameroon Independent Pipeline Monitoring Project . .76 Centerfold spread Oil Production in sub-Saharan Africa Africa’s Oil.