Z. Wirtsch. 2016; 60(1–2): 40–56 Jannik Schritt* The petro-political configuration: entanglements of Western and Chinese oil zones in Niger DOI 10.1515/zfw-2015-0583 1 Introduction Abstract: The article examines the spatial, economic, political and socio-cultural transformations induced Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, and with the rise in the process of Niger becoming a new oil producer in of new emergent powers in the world, Africa has become 2011. It does so by analyzing entanglements of Western increasingly important in the competition for oil, espe- and Chinese ‘oil zones’ in Niger, which are understood cially between Western and Chinese oil companies. This as trans-territorial spaces of assemblage. I argue that the competition was fueled by high oil prices on the world specific properties of these two oil zones have triggered market (between 2004 and 2014), and political instability the emergence of a particular ‘petro-political configura- in the Middle East that shifted the attention to hitherto un- tion’ in Niger. The argument proceeds through four stages. derexplored regions in Africa. Pointing to the similarities Firstly, looking at economic entanglements, I argue that and continuities of colonial exploitation in Africa, many the Chinese oil zone enabled the Nigerien economy to de- academics and journalists have coined this competition velop so-called upstream and downstream oil industries, a ‘new scramble for African oil’ (Ghazvinian 2007; Klare/ something the Western oil zone had not allowed. Second- Volman 2006; Yates 2012). In doing so, however, these ly, analyzing political and socio-cultural entanglements, I critics neglect the new agency of African states after in- argue that, by being co-opted into former Nigerien presi- dependence and the end of the Cold War (Frynas/Paulo dent Mamadou Tandja’s political project for constitutional 2007). It is through this agency and the increasing compe- amendment, China’s oil diplomacy has become a kind of tition for African oil that many African countries became ‘soft power’ in Niger, something Western political rheto- new oil producing states (Hicks 2015).1 One of these new ric has failed to achieve. Thirdly, focusing on geopolitical oil producers is the landlocked West-African country, Ni- and military entanglements, I argue that the militarization ger. In 2008, the China National Petroleum Corporation of global space should ensure capitalist accumulation, (CNPC) signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) especially in situations in which the translation of trans- with the Nigerien government. The agreement included a national governmentality has failed. Finally, I use these condition to construct an oil refinery with a capacity of entanglements to identify the heterogeneous elements of 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) within the national territo- Western and Chinese ‘oil zones’, and the specific capitalist ry. ExxonMobil and Petronas had rejected this condition, properties these assemblages generate. and in 2006, abandoned oil exploration in Niger, judging the country’s estimated oil reserves not to be economical- Keywords: assemblage, China, infrastructure, oil, politics, ly profitable. Finally, in 2011, the CNPC and Nigerien gov- Niger. ernment inaugurated the joint-venture oil refinery near Niger’s second largest city, Zinder, in the country’s east. The historical conjuncture of Niger becoming a new oil producer offers a unique opportunity to analyze the economic, political and socio-cultural transformation Articel note: Parts of this paper were taken from my Nigerien exam- processes induced by entanglements of ‘Western’ and ple in a book chapter I co-authored with Andrea Behrends: Schritt, J./Behrends, A. (forthcoming): ‘Western’ and ‘Chinese’ Oil Zones. ‘Chinese’ oil zones. I understand these zones as trans-ter- Petro-Infrastructures and the emergence of new trans-territorial ritorial spaces of order which have varying properties. I spaces of order in Niger and Chad. In: Engel, U./Müller-Mahn, D./ will argue that the different characteristics of these two Böckler, M. (Hrsg.): Spaces of Order: Adaptation and Creativity in oil zones, in their entanglement with the Nigerien con- Africa. text, have triggered different spatial, economic, political and cultural transformation processes. First, by looking *Corresponding author: Jannik Schritt, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, Georg August University of Göttingen, Theaterplatz 15, 37073 Göttingen, Germany, e-mail: 1 With the recent fall in oil prices, some countries (including Ugan- [email protected] da, Kenya, and Tanzania) are still waiting to start producing oil. J. Schritt: The petro-political configuration 41 at the economic entanglements of ‘Western’ and ‘Chinese’ In broad terms, these theories forecast that the production oil zones in Niger, I will show that the Western oil zone’s of oil leads to economic decline, enclave industrialization, neoliberal properties – which could be characterized as the emergence of authoritarian regimes, violent conflicts, ‘points of profit’ or the ‘enclave approach’ – divide Niger corruption, a rent-seeking mentality and environmental according to the old (French) colonial classifications of pollution (Gelb 1988; Auty 1993; Yates 1996; Karl 1997; Afrique utile, the economically useful, and Afrique inutile, Ross 2012). Literally thousands of studies on oil produc- the economically worthless (Ferguson 2005). In contrast ing nations across the globe have investigated these con- to the ‘Western’ oil zone, I will show that the Chinese oil cepts (especially the resource curse thesis). Some social zone’s state capitalist properties have enabled the Nigerien sciences approaches have made use of the resource curse economy to develop so-called upstream and downstream and rentier state models, but have also argued for plac- oil industries – not only for extraction of the oil, but also ing oil production in the context of pre-existing social and for the refinement, use, and sale of it within Africa. The political structures (Behrends/Reyna/Schlee 2011; Watts Chinese oil zone engages in large-scale industrialization 2004). In recent years, social scientists have been increas- and infrastructure modernization projects, promoting the ingly dissatisfied with the models’ dominant focus on oil build-up of network-style spatial connections and linkag- as money (Watts 2004; Mitchell 2011). From the beginning, es in Afrique inutile itself. Second, analyzing the political anthropological approaches have pointed to the impor- and socio-cultural entanglements of these two oil zones, tance of the production of meanings or significations of I will show that by articulating China’s oil diplomacy of oil (Behrends/Schareika 2010) that are essential in con- ‘equal partnership’, ‘win-win relationships’ and ‘non-in- structing a new oil reality, be it in state-building processes terference’ with the former Nigerien president Mamadou (Coronil 1997), cultural production (Apter 2005), conflicts Tandja’s political project for constitutional amendment in (Behrends 2008) or political disputes (Schritt 2014). In 2010, China’s political rhetoric became a kind of ‘soft pow- addition to significations approaches, science and tech- er’ in Niger. In contrast to China’s oil diplomacy, I argue nology studies (STS) and the ‘material turn’ have gained that the translation of Western transnational governmen- high currency in the social sciences, especially in geogra- tality in Niger has largely failed because Western politics phy, sociology, history and anthropology. In thinking oil are portrayed as neo-colonial and ineffective in promoting beyond the ‘resource curse’, these approaches seek to ac- national development (Schritt 2013). Third, by focusing on count for forms of agency and control contained in the ma- the geopolitical and military entanglements of these two teriality of the resource (oil), and the technological as well zones in Niger, I will show that the military approaches of as socio-political infrastructures surrounding oil produc- China and the West (the USA and France) abroad differ in tion (Mitchell 2011; Rogers 2012; Barry 2006, 2013; Appel such a way that we might speak of a ‘soft’ (Chinese) and a 2012a, 2012b; Watts 2012; Richardson/Weszkalnys 2014). ‘hard’ military strategy (American and French) (Sun 2015). Instead of analyzing the different dimensions of oil Nevertheless, it is important to note that the Chinese mil- production separately – money, significations, material- itary presence is constantly growing in Africa, and these ity, infrastructure – scholars have tried to combine these two approaches appear to be converging. Finally, I sum- different ‘sensitizing concepts’ (Blumer 1954) into new an- marize the diverse entanglements of the Western and the alytical ones. Dominic Boyer, for example, proposed the Chinese zones with the Nigerien state, sketching out how concepts ‘energopolitics’ (2011) or ‘energopower’ (in the the heterogeneous elements of these two zones – which style of Foucault’s ‘biopower’) in order to ask how ‘ener- emerge in relational, overlapping, conflicting, competing gic forces and infrastructures interrelate with institutions and cooperative forms – reveal particular varieties of cap- and ideations of political power’ (2014:309). Other schol- italism. In connecting these arguments to contemporary ars have made use of the concept of ‘oil assemblage’ in academic literature, I contextualize the Niger case study order to point to the multiplicity and heterogeneity