e96oilwatch

CENTRAL AMERICA UP FOR SALE TO OIL COMPANIES

Oilwatch Mesoamerica was created in Mexico in 1997, when plans for massive oil exploration in the region were beginning to take shape. Environmental activist groups in the region, however, had already learned a great deal about resistance activities and the social and environmental impacts generated by oil exploration due to the successes of our colleagues in other countries.

Last year, negotiations for oil exploration in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras advanced considerably. Costa Rica was the first country to grant concessions for oil exploration, and the negotiation process there, conducted largely behind closed doors, has only been partially exposed by the media. Local environmental organizations and other NGOs have been demanding more information throughout the process and calling for a halt to the negotiations.

Costa Rica: Oil Exploration Free Zone
In 1997, Costa Rican President José Maria Figueres travelled to the United States to look for foreign investment for oil exploration. Several companies expressed interest, and MKJ-Xplorations won the first concession in July 1998. MKJ-Xplorations later sold 80 percent of its concession to another US-based company, Harken Energy.

In March 1999, Harken Energy’s Environmental Feasibility Study was approved, and drilling started in November in a 107-kilometre offshore area near the main port of El Limon on the Atlantic Coast. The exploration area also borders two ‘’officially’’ protected nature reserves with high biodiversity.

Working in conjunction with local communities, Oilwatch (in which FoE Costa Rica plays a leading role) has organized several demonstrations denouncing the negotiation process because there was no consultation with the affected people. In January 2000, Oilwatch presented a legal document to the Costa Rican Court documenting the irregularities of the oil exploration and stating that it violates many international agreements.

In September 2000, Oilwatch released a manifesto calling for Costa Rica to become an "Oil Exploration Free Zone". At the same time, Costa Rica’s Secretary of the Environment questioned Harken Energy’s Environmental Feasibility Study due to a lack of information.

Oil Companies Ready for Honduras
At the end of 2000, Honduran environmental authorities announced that the country was ready to grant concessions for oil exploration, mainly on the Atlantic Coast where many garifonas and miskito indigenous communities are located.

Oil companies from Colombia, Canada, Mexico and the United States have expressed interest. Information about the supposed oil reserves was compiled by Japanese and Russian geologists, who estimated that there is a huge amount of oil available for commercial exploitation.

NGOs and local environmental groups are demanding more information, as very few details have reached the public through the media. These groups have initiated contact with Oilwatch Mesoamerica to learn more about the negative impacts of oil exploration.

Nicaragua Teams Up with Norway
The Nicaraguan government has officially declared the first three months of 2001 as open season for oil exploration licensing. They have granted licences in three huge areas: two offshore, one in the Atlantic and the other in the Pacific, and one on the mainland. Together, these areas total approximately 110,000 square kilometres. Preliminary exploration carried out in these areas in the 1930s and 1960s revealed a maximum production rate of 350 barrels per day.

Due to the fact that Nicaragua’s first oil exploration licensing attempt in 1999 failed, the Fugro-Geoteam company from Norway arrived to conduct more studies for the Nicaraguan government. They published a study stating that some areas in Nicaragua could produce as much as 50,000 barrels per day. In 2000, Fugro-Geoteam sold this information at the World Oil Center, and Empyre Energy and MKJ Xploration came calling.

The Oilwatch committee in Nicaragua has been taking action. The first concession, granted in 1998, was halted by indigenous authorities who threatened to introduce a land rights suit against the Nicaraguan government. The resistance started in 1999, when the indigenous fishing communities announced that they would not allow oil exploration on their traditional lands. Letters have been sent to the environmental authorities demanding a stop to oil exploration activities as protected areas are endangered. The protected areas threatened form two of the only six places in the world where a specific species of turtle (Lepidochelys olivacia) lays its eggs.

Oil Spills in the Panama Canal
Panama has not joined other Central American countries in proposing oil exploration activities, but it owns the largest oil refinery in the region and the canal represents the main oil transportation route. Oil spills in the canal are common: the latest one, by the Greek ship Neopolis, occurred in mid-January. The authorities said very little about the spill, mentioning only that the oil was enclosed and waiting to be cleaned up.

Guatamalan Biosphere Reserve
The El Tigre Biosphere Reserve has been affected by oil exploitation since 1992. The first exploration concession was granted in 1985 to Basic Resources from the United States, and in 1990 exploitation was approved for a 9,953-hectare area. In 1993, the company demanded a new contract for 19,223 hectares from the Guatemalan authorities.

In 1995, a large river oil spill polluted the water of local communities. Many other violations against indigenous people and protected areas have been denounced by national NGOs such as Madre Selva. This NGO also legally demanded a stop to the destruction of El Tigre: at one point, the authorities declared the concession illegal, but a few months later Basic Resources was back at work.

Magda Lanuza, FoE Nicaragua and facilitator of Oilwatch Mesoamerica