If there is sufficient interest in the entire article (which is 24Kbytes
in length), I can place a copy into the filelist archives at TAMVM1 for
retrieval purposes. Please address inquiries about the complete article to
me (address below). The original article was obtained by Jym from EcoNet.
--Gary (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ]
BP: A Legacy of Apartheid, Pollution and Exploitation
by Julie Gozan
Symbolizing the increasing integration of the world economy, the first piece
of the empire assembled by the U.S. oil baron John D. Rockefeller is now
owned by a British company. But changing national ownership has not
affected the social orientation of the former Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio),
now owned by the oil giant British Petroleum (BP). BP has remained true to
Rockefeller's ruthless legacy, placing its pursuit of profits above any
human or environmental concerns.
Sohio, however, is just one important part of a massive multinational
corporation whose early growth was closely tied to British imperialistic
expansion. BP benefitted enormously from Britain's control of Iran's (then
Persia's) oil supply in the beginning of the twentieth century. Through its
exploitation of Iranian resources, the company eventually developed into a
powerful presence among the Seven Sisters oil companies.
Today, BP is the largest company in the United Kingdom, the second-largest
in Europe and the third-largest oil company in the world. BP's London
division is a $59 billion entity. Internationally, BP has sought and gained
a reputation as an aggressive force in 70 countries, spending $20 billion in
the 1980s to swallow its competitor in the North Sea, Britoil, along with
Sohio in the United States.
In recent years BP has intensified its oil exploration efforts in various
parts of the world while actively buying and transferring assets. In 1989,
the company sold its coal mining and minerals operations in Australia,
Europe, the United States and South Africa to Rio Tinto Zinc as part of its
strategy to concentrate on oil, gas and chemicals.
Oil exploration and production account for 20% of BP's revenues. BP's
primary exploration projects are in Alaska and the North Sea, with an
increasing focus beginning in the late 1980s on China, Russia, Vietnam and
West Africa. In 1991 the company produced more than 400 million barrels of
crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids and had proven reserves of 4.6
billion barrels of oil and 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
BP is a major producer of chemicals, which account for 8 percent of its
total revenues. The company's products include petrochemicals and polymers,
especially ethylene and derivatives, used in packaging, housewares,
construction materials and cables; acetyls, used in paints, textiles,
solvents and drugs; nitriles, used in synthetic rubber and plastic; and
specialty products for aerospace, automotive, electronics and plastics
industries. Another 8 percent of revenues come from production of Purina
brand animal feed for the livestock industry, including products for fish
farming and poultry breeding.
Refining and marketing account for 64 percent of BP's revenues. BP operates
five refineries in the United States, five in Europe, two in Australia and
one in Singapore which altogether processed a total of 1.8 million barrels
of crude oil per day during 1991. The company co-runs an additional
refinery with Royal Dutch Shell in South Africa. BP sells refined oil
products throughout the world, mostly through its 7,400 U.S. and 7,700
European service stations.
BP's oil refining, trading and marketing in South and East Asia extend from
South Korea to Indonesia, with operations based in Singapore and Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. BP has a one-third stake in the Singapore Refining
Company and in a refinery at Pasir Panjang in Singapore. In September 1990,
BP began operating Papua New Guinea's first commercial hydrocarbons project.
The company also has a stake in the Chevron- operated Kubutu oil exploration
project in Papua New Guinea which the oil companies expect will produce
100,000 barrels of oil a day and environmentalists fear will bring catas-
trophe to the previously pristine Kubutu Lake ecosystem [See "Assault on
Papua New Guinea," Multinational Monitor, June 1992].
... [ text concerning support of apartheid regime in South Africa deleted ]
Drilling Alaska
BP America was one of the first companies to exploit crude oil in the
Prudhoe Bay area of Alaska. As majority owner of the Alaska pipeline, BP
has resisted government regulation of oil activities in the state and sought
permission to extend exploration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR), threatening the existence of 180,000 Porcupine caribou that calve on
the Alaska North Slope where BP plans to locate its oil and gas production.
Porcupine caribou are a vital source of food for the Gwich'in people who
live on both sides of the Alaska-Canada border. BP's plans to drill in the
ANWR indicate the company's particularly callous willingness to sacrifice
the environmentally sensitive area and its people in exchange for regional
oil yields which are predicted to last only 6 months. The Gwich'in of
Arctic Village and the Venetie, Chalkytsik, Fort Yukon, Old Crow, Fort
McPherson, Arctic Red River, Aklavik and other traditional communities in
northeast Alaska and northwest Canada have organized in an effort to keep
oil companies out of ANWR.
Roger Harrera, executive consultant for BPs Alaskan operations, BP
Exploration Inc., has described the objections to ANWR drilling as an
"emotional and aesthetic plea for untouched and untamed natural areas to
satisfy the yearnings of mankind for the beauty and wilderness of nature,"
referring to the controversy as merely "an issue of local fauna." During
the Persian Gulf War, BP began pushing its agenda in Alaska as a solution to
U.S. dependence on imported oil.
BP Exploration lobbied to pass a bill proposed by Senator Bennett Johnston,
D-Louisiana, aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil that would
allow oil and gas development in the refuge. Although the bill was
withdrawn in November 1991, environmental and indigenous rights groups in
the area believe that it could be resurrected following the 1992
presidential election. For the time being, BP has dropped its Arctic Refuge
campaign, but Cynthia Monroe, project coordinator for the Gwich'in Steering
Committee in Anchorage, says that "once the next president is elected,
industrial forces will gear up again to drill in the refuge. BP and the
other oil companies will push very hard to force a pro-drilling bill through
Congress."
"BP succeeds as a corporation," says Monroe. "It makes profits for its
executives and shareholders. Where it fails is as an energy company, which
should develop sustainable and safe energy. That is what BP is not
interested in doing." Local criticism of BPs activities in the region stem
from previous environmental disasters: In January 1987, 966,000 gallons of
BP oil leaked from a leased tanker into the Gulf of Alaska. In October of
the same year, the same ship spilled 630,000 gallons of BP oil in the North
Pacific. In 1990, the state of Alaska sued BP and other owners of the
Alaska pipeline for not responding promptly and adequately to contain and
remove spilled oil from the Exxon Valdez.
Leading in Contamination
... [ remainder of article deleted --Gary ]
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