The case for an oil-free future
Oil and development: The Midas touch in reverse
The oil industry - a boon or burden for its workers?
Climate change - the biggest threat
International financial institutions - key players unlocking global oil
Corporate capture of universities
UK and global resistance to big oil
the oil curse and solutions for an oil-free future
The UK government identifies 'energy security' as one of its key foreign policy strategic priorities.
Behind this official phrase lies a hidden agenda: to support the penetration of UK oil companies into as many exporting countries as possible, encourage oil-exporting governments to open up their markets, and prop up authoritarian regimes in the interests of keeping the oil flowing. Here are some other ways the British government uses taxpayers' money to support the private sector UK oil industry.
The UK has one of the world's most generous tax regimes for its oil and gas fields in the North Sea, and has developed and drained these fields at an extremely fast rate. In comparison, Norway - a country with similar oil and gas resources to the UK - demands twice the tax take. This represents a massive hidden subsidy to UK North Sea operators.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is actively promoting an energy security policy primarily aimed at decreasing reliance on Middle East oil and securing oil and gas flows from Africa, Russia, the Caspian and Central Asia. It identifies key partners in government as: DTI, DEFRA, DfID, the Treasury, MOD, Devolved Administrations and the Department for Transport.
Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) supports British companies in their quest to open up new oil resources, especially in the Caspian and West Africa. Despite well documented links between oil and poverty, DFID has assisted countries such as Azerbaijan and Russia to open their oil resources to foreign companies, particularly BP. Through its role as the UK's decion-maker on the boards of development banks, it has supported loans for the Baku-T'bilisi-Ceyhan and Chad-Cameroon pipelines. These projects have done more to enrich oil companies than to alleviate poverty.
British embassies in key oil-producing countries work closely with companies to help them secure contracts and improve their local reputation. For example, the British Ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Gozney, visited BP's massive gas project in Tangguh, West Papua, in 2001, and assured local residents that BP would do a good job.
Rising Tide activists outside the ECGD
The Export Credit Guarantee Department has provided around £500 million of export guarantees to the oil and gas sector per year in the last three years. This is about 14 per cent of its overall business. The British Embassy in Libya hired a Shell employee in its commercial section in 2001-2; in 2004, on the same day Blair shook hands with Gadaffi, Shell announced an exploration deal in the country.
The government has used international development aid to support the interests of BP and Shell. DfID in particular helps oil-rich countries set up regulatory and taxation regimes which favour investment by foreign oil companies.
