Norwatch has discovered that the Norwegian seismic survey company Fugro-Geoteam is now taking part in an operation in occupied Western Sahara. The undertaking is being carried out for Moroccan authorities that are exploring for oil offshore the coast of the occupied territory. The company has confirmed the engagement but does not wish to release details or comments.
Morocco does not have the right to look for oil and gas in Western Sahara, so long as it is in the disregard of the wishes and interests of the people of occupied Western Sahara, the Sahrawis. UN legal experts established this in 2002 . The Norwegian government also takes a critical stance to the operation in Western Sahara and advises companies from engaging there. In 2005 the Norwegian Government Pension Fund expelled the American energy company Kerr-McGee from its portfolio because of oil activity in Western Sahara and referred to the American engagement as “a particularly serious violation of fundamental ethical norms”.
But this hasn’t stopped Fugro-Geoteam from proceeding with oil exploration in exactly the same oil block as the one in which Kerr-McGee worked. Norwatch first received confirmation of the operation from Spanish authorities, and when Norwatch made Fugro-Geoteam aware that a story would be published about the engagement, they confirmed their involvement. But they still will not comment.
Critical international law expert
The engagement will prepare what UN legal experts define as a violation of international law. The analysis that the UN authored in 2002 concerned the legality of petroleum industry in the same ocean region as where Fugro-Geoteam has now started exploration.
The person responsible for the UN legal opinion, UN’s former Under-Secretary General for Legal Affairs, the Swede Hans Corell, is critical of the continued Moroccan policy with regard to the use of natural resources in Western Sahara. “In terms of the situation as it is now, no activity connected to the natural resources of Western Sahara can take place unless representatives for the people of Western Sahara are involved in the discussion and have approved the activities”, Hans Corell told Norwatch.
He pointed out that Morocco is not the administrative power of Western Sahara and was clearly critical of the fact that international business participates in the exploration and extraction of natural resources from the region. “Even though international law is not always directly binding for companies, it still constitutes a foundation upon which the companies must base their ethical evaluations. It would certainly have helped solve the conflict in Western Sahara if the companies had behaved in a socially responsible manner and operated in line with international law”, he said on general terms.
Fugro remains silent
Norwatch has posed a series of questions about the engagement to Fugro-Geoteam, but they refuse to answer. Norwatch has also asked for comments about what the Norwegian company thinks about preparing the grounds for a violation of international law, and whether they agree with the public statements of the Norwegian Ministry of Finance in 2005. That was the year the Ministry sold all its Kerr-McGee shares in the Pension Fund and said that oil exploration in Western Sahara contributes to “undermine the UN peace process” and constitutes “a particularly serious violation of fundamental ethical norms”.
Fugro-Geoteam employs about 270 people in Norway, and the main office is in Oslo. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of Fugro Norway, which in turn is fully owned by the Dutch parent company Fugro NV. Geo Caribbean is registered in the Marshall Islands.
