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Guest Post: The Scramble for Africa's Oil
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
Oil-rich nations are bedeviled by the Resource Curse.
The global scramble for Africa's estimated 25 billion barrels of oil is on. Those scrambling to secure (and/or exploit) the continent's abundance of fossil fuels include each oil-rich nation's political and economic Elites, international oil corporations, regional powers, trading blocs and the four major (and energy-hungry) economic players: the E.U., the U.S., Japan and China.
Oil-rich nations are bedeviled by the Resource Curse. An abundance of natural resource wealth distorts the national economy and politics in a number of ways: private investment in other less exploitable/profitable sectors of the economy stagnates, leaving the government and economy highly dependent on resource revenues; local Elites quickly gain control of the income stream from the resource wealth and divert it to their own accounts and cronies, institutionalizing corruption, and this diversion of national income to Elites starves the nation of investment in infrastructure, education, transportation networks and all the other foundations of a vibrant, competitive economy.
In geopolitical terms, oil-rich nations become "areas of interest" to neighboring states and energy-hungry global powers, further complicating and distorting national development.
Though many hope that this flood of energy wealth can be used to fund much-needed infrastructure, education and public health projects throughout the continent, the key systems of governance, governmental transparency, an open media and a political process that enables public participation are problematic in many (if not all) of Africa's energy-rich nations.
Unfortunately, these systemic weaknesses render these nations even more vulnerable to the distortions of the Resource Curse.
No energy-importing power center can afford to be sidelined in the scramble for Africa's fossil fuel wealth. Sadly, that insures global and regional powers will continue jockeying for oil leases (vulnerable to cancellation when corrupt regimes change hands), development contracts and political influence within controlling Elites, a process that rewards the least savory aspects of corrupt regimes.
Global rivals who have lost out will be tempted to support armed rebellions that weaken their rival's influence, encouraging conflicts that are inherently destabilizing, not just to the oil-rich nations but to the region.
Arrayed against these powerful forces of corruption and destabilization are grassroots groups supporting democracy and national development and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) funded by foundations.
In the abstract, almost everyone agrees that this energy wealth should benefit all residents of oil-rich nations. But as long as it is cheaper in terms of time and money to secure oil by making deals with kleptocrats and corrupt Elites, there will be few incentives for major powers to risk losing access to oil/natural gas by supporting policies that would spread the wealth and encourage democracy.
Sadly, few consumers of energy care where the energy they burn comes from, or what distortions were created by the extraction and processing of that energy.
As the Cliff Robertson character said at the end of the prescient 1975 film, Three Days of the Condor: "When the people are cold and their engines stop running, they're not going to ask us why; they'll just want us to go get it." It's difficult to refute that, whether the people are American, Chinese or European.
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Shell & TOTAL tarsands in Madagascar
the local population get a t-shirt, if they behave, and spread the good word.
they don't stand any chance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtSRyf9wANQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3SPkdm6Y9o
Quote:
"As the Cliff Robertson character said at the end of the prescient 1975 film, Three Days of the Condor: "When the people are cold and their engines stop running, they're not going to ask us why; they'll just want us to go get it." It's difficult to refute that, whether the people are American, Chinese or European."
I'm going to do that anyway.
It's possible to revamp our industries using existing technology. (Polywell, for larger vehicles, Volvo is testing electrical cars where the battery function is built into the structure. etc.) The political will is just not there. The myth that we're stuck with oil forever is perpetuated by those regurgitating it again, and again. Of course there's a short term, growing demand. But the distinction is not made, which is unfortunate. Paint me an utopist, but being stuck in a seventies point of view is not correct. Mr. Smith, are you a visionairy, strategist or just propagandist?
This ship is going down, and without developing strategies, logistics, those that carry it over into a new cycle, will just be ... stuck.
What could possibly go wrong with oil companies arming militias?
No matter what the price?
Beautiful Nigerian Beaches
Happy Motoring!
Oil?
Oil's a problem?
Lemme tell ya' what's a real geopolitical problem.
Countries who got both Oil and Gold.
They're the ones need fixin', big time, Spread of Democracy for the Starving African emaciated Children Style.
RE: oil companies arming militias
As I recall (and I may be wrong on the company and country), Cuban troops were protecting Exon oil wells in Angola - it seemed a little odd to me at the time, but that was a long time ago.
"It's possible to revamp our industries using existing technology. (Polywell, for larger vehicles, Volvo is testing electrical cars where the battery function is built into the structure. etc.)"
Reptil, electric cars with current technology are not viable as transporation systems except for the very wealthy. No, it is not a conspiracy. Until the technology improves significantly, we are stuck with oil. Go back to shilling for some ecoidiot elsewhere troll.
Nonetheless, I do love my bike. It is an absolute pleasure to ride.
HH, I am glad that you use your bike to ride as transportation. I did this for 5 years as an excellent transportation method during commuting. I would love to see the day you bring in the crops into the city on one of these bike riders. Bikes don't fertilize fields either. They would make poor plows. I guess starvation is the final result when an alternative to oil is not found after Peak Oil.
Thank God I have many nice German warmbloods and even a few triple-purpose shorthorns, should I not be able to find or afford diesel for my John Deere, but I am not too worried about that happening any time soon.
Look....nobody believes more in Peak Oil (Energy) than me. But if you can grow a plant....ones that have seeds....you won't starve. Humans have been "not" starving for 100,000 years.
It may suck not to have meat.....or as much.....but you'll get over it. Raise a rabbit or a chicken. I've carried all three....plants, rabbits and chickens on a bike.
Pee-Wee Herman's was better.
LOL !!!!
OK......so let me get this straight. There is a mad dash for Africa's BIG BIG 25 BEEEEELion barrels cache of oil. Sorry....estimated.....estimated 25 BEEEELion barrels cache of oil.
Let's just say that ALL 25 BEEEEEELion barrels are economically viable to recover at prices below $80 a barrel.
We here in "Merica" consume 20 million barrels per DAY in oil.
So......some back of the envelope calculation.......
20,000,000 barrels of oil consumed in a day X 365 days in a year = 7,300,000,000 (In words....that's 7.3 BEEEEEELion barrels per year)
So.....let's divide 25 BEEEEEEELion barrels of oil in Africa with the 7.3 BEEEEEEELion barrels of oil that we "Mercans" used per year....
3.42 years
So let me get this straight........if the ENTIRE WORLD stopped using oil with the exception of us exceptional "Mercans" we would drink ALL of Africa's milkshake in 3.42 years.
Add the world to the mix......and 25 BEEEEEELIon barrels of oil get used up in......hmmmmm......let's see........
Roughly 295 days of supply.
Could I make a suggestion. Let's leave that shit in the ground so we won't have to send men and women over to Africa to die for a magical oil derived lifestyle at home. Pretty please?
The ancient Egyptians, Mayans, etc...they sat on top of all these untouched, untapped quadrillion barrels of oil...
.
...and they never used a single drop.
Slave Labor is amazing.
yeah, we're free today.
I upvoted you Blotto on a technicality.
I downvoted you in my heart.....because those two cultures used up the readily available resources of their time and region....(wood, gold, land, and most importantly.....people (slaves, bondsmen, etc.) and launched foreign adventures using their own people's blood for resources they needed at the time.
Pretty much all wars in human history were and are still because people can't live within their means....and be satisfied.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaR2JeqxQDY
"All I want is to have my peace of mind"
Good points hh and Jumbo...
I agree Jumbo. It makes you wonder why CHS doesn't mention this glaring fact. Instead he makes Africa's oil wealth look like the next answer to peak oil BS.
I also happen to be a believer in abotic oil origins anyway so this to me is all bull shit.
http://alt-energystocks.com/blog/2008/07/02/oil-is-the-earth-running-out-or-making-more/
Besides, if I am to believe the Agenda 21 story then 95% of the population will be gone at some point in the near future (they will not die of old age) and all these energy problems won't matter.
I'm w/ you indygo - abotic origins. Hydrocarbons are plentiful throughout the solar system and no doubt the entire universe. The dino [fossil fuel] theory doesn't even stand up to fundamental science as in the second law of thermodynamics...
"One implication (which will be covered in more detail later) is that crude oil cannot be formed in pressures less than 10 kbar." ; Chapter 4 ; https://beardocs.baylor.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2104/8658/edward_culham_honorsthesis.pdf?sequence=1
Lookee here, we got ourselves an abiotic wing nut....
What you don't know about the 2nd law fills many textbooks, some of which are in my bookcase...
I kept a link to one of the prior abiotic discussions for these guys:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-19/guest-post-six-tech-advancement...
Flak the dinosaur [literally] is back...
Shouldn't you belong to the Flat Earth or Continental drift club ?
You probably think global warming (as in AGW) is "real" science as well ?
Spot on Jumbo, did the same back o' the envelope calcs myself. Usually CHS is a smart man - but this article? Big steamy POS fail.
I have a smart car electric it works great and costs about the same as a compact car.
And you're electricity either came from coal, natural gas, oil fire, or nuclear.
And you don't really want to be drinking or handling that stuff inside the batteries.
And how much fossil fuel was used in the building of your green car? The lights in the factory were powered how? The robots were powered how? The cars that the workers drove to work were powered how?
How much fossil fuel was used to build the factory that builds your green car? To build the robots? To build the house, and light the house and heat and cool the house that the factory worker lives in....and build the car that transport the factory worker, to make the factory worker's clothes, to grow the food that feeds the factory worker?
And on and on and on and on and on.......
Still feeling green.....and if so....is it from being environmentally correct.....or from nausea in realizing there is no such thing as being green.
I'm not sure you are making a point to make a point, or you just really hate anything "green." whatever the fuck that means anymore.
Of course it requires this and that to make. And its not totally "eco-friendly." But the alternative to "no such thing as being green" is to continue to......keeping with this fucking retarded example...driving a normal car? Or since its impossible to really "be green" maybe we should all just use the old motor oil from our cars to fertilize our lawns. ;-P
Any change, no matter how small, makes a difference. No?
Of course you take that same view when doing your household budget. Right?
"I'm not sure you are making a point to make a point, or you just really hate anything "green." whatever the fuck that means anymore. "
I don't hate anything but bullshit.
Follow your bliss man. I mean that. And try to be a good steward of the environment when you can. But please.....don't come on here and tout anything "green" as if it were a good alternative to the "death" fuel life we live in now. (I use that term "death" fuel instead of fossil to highlight the fact that all fuel sources with the exeception of solar and wind comes from something that has died...."fossil" or is in the processing of "dying" such as the decay rate of radioactive material.
Anything that is mass produced by heavy industry such as a green, smart, electical and/or hybrid vehicle is not nor can ever be green.
Sorry....that's not hate on being "green".....that's hate on BULLSHIT !
I'm not advocating for the death of fuel. But these arguments grow tiresome. I didn't mean to jump on you.
1: Any change, no matter how small, makes a difference. No?
2: Of course you take that same view when doing your household budget. Right?
1: No....it can't make a difference to a planet that has been here for BEEEEEELions of years and has encountered and shaken off countless asteroid, meterorite and comet collisions.....ice ages.....global warming the likes on Venus.....the rise and fall of MULTITUDES of plant and animal life......(most of which gave us oil).....earthquakes WAY off the Richter scale.....Volcanic explosions that would make Pompeii look and sound like a small, impolite fart.
2: Of course I don't take the same view with my budget. I can affect my budget.......I CAN'T affect the planet. The planet is fine. The people are fucked.
But still....as I said.....do what you can.....it's our responsibility. But don't bullshit yourself or me or the people here on ZeroHedge.
I'm not advocating for the death of fuel. But these arguments grow tiresome. I didn't mean to jump on you.
You may not have meant it.....but it sure looked that way.
Either way.....no offense taken.....no apology needed. I like my debates with a touch of Tobasco.
+ 1000
"The essence of being "green" is that you've paid more than you should have for an impractical solution to a non-existent problem"
"It's possible to revamp our industries using existing technology. (Polywell, for larger vehicles, Volvo is testing electrical cars where the battery function is built into the structure. etc.)"
Great idea. Where do we get the electricity from?
Your knowledge regarding energy is lacking.
Study the concepts of energy density, EROEI, diminishing returns. Then also study the prices of electric cars.
This is very true and all the MNC have there own have of exploitation
Quickest way to solve an energy shortage is to change the size of it's consumer base.
So half the world goes on permanent vacation?
Yes, to Happy Eugenics Camp #1
Arbeit macht frei
"Yes, to Happy Eugenics Camp #1
Arbeit macht frei"
Eugenics is going to happen.....either by humanity or nature. History both human and natural bear this out.
Take it away George.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjmtSkl53h4
The chart illustrates the cause and effect of population to oil production.
http://www.paulchefurka.ca/World%20Population%20and%20Oil.JPG
It's not a mistake, that's just the situation. Cheap energy = cheap food = lots of people. Charles Dickens is a great author to read about the cost of food.
If using history as a guide, human population floats between 500 million and 1 billion without oil. As you can see we're all still here after countless disasters, calmity, political disasters, hang nails and missing wallets. Just part of the process of learning.
I'm not saying anyone has to pull the trigger on it either. It's going to run out and the event of no more oil happens, then population will severely correct itself after a winter. Like it always does. A cup only holds so much, liquid and then it is empty. With the USA AND CHINA drinking themselves drunk. It's going to be a lot faster than anyone believes it will.
Good post. Current production and distribution, not only in food but in all sectors, is dictated entirely by oil. I think the phase-out of oil and phase-in to natgas will take a good number of people, as that will be the 'reset' we all seek, but the 500M - 1B won't be realized until all the natgas is spent also.
You need diesel to make Natural Gas. 100% of natural gas is a by product of diesel. Need it for the cooling, transportation, storage. Natural gas is very dangerous if not properly managed. It's poisonious. Flammable. And costs a fuck tonne of real energy to extract. I'm afraid that NG is only a byproduct of sweet light crude. NG runs out the same day I'm afraid. It'll be what ever you happen to have on hand and that will be that for a while.
You could make a methane digestor. Pig farms have them around here. The only draw back is you need a lot of pigs to power anything, which need a lot of food. It's not just humans that get scaled back on this, all the animals we depend on as well. Watch how fast mother nature takes it back and sorts it out like she always does.
"Mom's going to fix it all soon. Mom's coming round to put it back the way it ought to be." - Reverend Maynard
Mum is always right...at least that's what my Dad is told to say by Mum.
Well in current agro system for production of 1kCal food you need 10kCal in crude oil (pesticides, herbicides, fuels etc).
You can create small scale farms where for 10kCal food is 1kCal work is needed, simply using natures cycles and the right design principles.
Note: the transition will be really unpleasant and bumpy-euphemistically said.
Yup. And how people always get through it, they stand next to each other.
No one attempts to move a couch while carrying someone else on their shoulders. Works a lot better with all hands and eyes working the weight of the problem and the safety of the other guy. Leadership and direction is given by any guy that might get his hand crushed trying to hook it around a tight corner.
When the task is done; pizza, bong and beer time. On a couch everyone moved. No one got hurt and the pizza taste's extra good for no apparent reason. Rinse and repeat as necessary for all sorts of tasks, or until the old lady shows up and tells everyone to clear out.
I would not mind if your post was groundhog day.
Militants wearing army uniforms have killed 19 people at checkpoints on a road in Nigeria's Borno state.
The armed men reportedly stopped motorists on the road and ordered them out of their cars before shooting them or hacking them to death.
Witnesses told the BBC the men were from Boko Haram, though the Islamist militant group has not yet commented.
More US Special forces?
A whiter shade of pale?
Wondered where those bikers in NYC went.
Have you seen the average US Special Forces operator, and the the average Nigerian, it's kind of hard to confuse the two. 19 people is a slowwwwwww day in Nigeria (unless you're talking about a single engagement at a single checkpoint).
china are fucking cowards.
they invest billions in libya in africa the us cia,mossad and the mi6 go in with bearded friends wreck everything and china does fucking nothing but move on.
china invest build up zionists wreck into infinity.
chatham house and brookings know best leave the foreign treasure alone it belongs to the jews it is written donte you nose.
China's smarter than you think. They're not in this for dominance in a decade: their vision is long term, and in the long term, this is the chinese century.
Libya means nothing in the grand scheme of China's plan.
You see, Americans and westerners are like adhd stricken dogs that chase the next big spectacle. Oppose the US and its trillion dollar defense system outright would be like trying to get into a fight with a pitbull using just your mouth.
You've just got smile and put on th pretense of passivity. They're fighting a war with us that we can't hope to win, because Americans only understand outright violence on a base and animalistic level. The war they're fighing with us is a few levels above the comprehension level of much of westerners.
So yeah, "murrrika fuck yeaah!!!"
Any Chinese gvernment that uses rampant totalitarianism ignores their own history. They are not clever by a long shot. They do what they are told.
If you have a central bank, you have a zionist government and they are the ones dictating your movements.
Because most Americans have failed to read The Art of War and more importantly most who have read it have failed to understand it.
But hey, USA num-bur-one!!! USA num-bur-one!!!
[Ignorant 300lb. armchair-general voice] "Yeah, but our military can kick the ass or any military in the wurld twice over, even if they all combine up against us. You America haters just don't love how awesome we is"
Sigh....another fucking Nazi on ZeroHedge.
It's so tiresome.
So let me get this straight Einstein.....(sorry Tony....I called you a Jewish name by mistake).....@ .2%....that's POINT 2 % of the population are Jewish.....and even FAR LESS than that could be considered Zionist.
And you somehow think they control everything.
So what does that say about the effacy of blue-eyed, blonded hair white people?
Stupid, cowardly, ignorant, irresponsible, inattentive, unskilled, apathetic, etc. etc. ?????????
THen you add all the non-white, but non Jewish people of the world.
And they are ALL led by the nose by .2 of .2 % of the world population.
LOL !!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! WHAT A FUCKING MORON YOU NAZI's ARE !!!! No wonder Hitler got his ass kicked and why you Neo Nazi cocksuckers are still being pissed on worldwide.
I'm sorry you feel so bad about your sorrwoful, failed life. But it's your own damn fault....not the fault of Jews or Zionists. Grow up junior.
I think you just JUMBOTRONED him...
What's wrong with understanding the Zydokomuna and how they operate?
"What's wrong with understanding the Zydokomuna and how they operate?"
When you finally understand that "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" was a fiction......then let's talk.
Einstein thought otherwise.
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/10/terrorists-catastrophe-palestine.html
Einstein thought the Universe always had been and was steady state.
Smart human......but merely human.
Or understanding how ANYONE operates? I think the more salient and useful question to ask is:
If a group of people can get organized to realize collective success (acquire 'Means'), and if those with Means enjoy a better lifestyle and are in a position to acquire power, then WTF is keeping other groups -- your group -- from getting organized and doing the same?
Given that the Ashkenazis/Khazars created the very concept "Nazi" (led by Adolph Hitler, who shared that same bloodline) I'm confused by your entire post.
"Given that the Ashkenazis/Khazars created the very concept "Nazi" (led by Adolph Hitler, who shared that same bloodline) I'm confused by your entire post. "
I'm not suprised by your confustion.
Sad isn't it...
Just throw out the term Nazi. Where did you learn that tactic I wonder? Conditioning is a powerful thing.
If you really think the OP is a fool, ignore him. Unless of course you think he might have had a point. And it bothers you.
Fuck Tony and his ilk.
Stop throwing out the term Zionists, Joos, Cheesepopes....etc.etc. and I stop throwing out the term Nazi.
Unless of course you think he might have had a point. And it bothers you.
What bothers me is bullshit.
"The global scramble for Africa's estimated 25 billion barrels of oil is on."
With 75 million barrels being consumed everyday, this is less than one year of world consumption (334 days).
Somebody explain me how we are not totally doomed.
This was first profiled by ZH over a year ago.. You should have know for a while.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/beijing-conference-see-how-china-quietly-t...
Yes china is doing a Bismarck on the world. The previous carve up of Africa was decided by a euro conference held in Berlin where the Chancellor having won against France dictated the terms of divide amongst colonial powers. Now its China's turn.
But as the poster says : when we guzzle 75 MM B/D = 25 billion B/Yr we are beyond hope even if you add up all the new black dope and blue trails in the AMericas, Africa, South China plus Australia regions.
Its time to call bigtime on photonic revolution our only hope. Calling Apollo. Free photons and some way to store it like black gluttony of Ghawarian dope.
And this is what the "Hot, New" energy resource picture looks like.
You captured in essence the reality of Peak Oil.
You don't see them scrambling over Texas or Oklahoma, We aready DID Spindle Top, and the rest(watch the movie GIANT if you want to see what it was once)
You don't see them scrambling over the North Sea, Been there done that, it's over and on the down slope.
Same for the rest. Number One producing field in the world... Ghawar SA. Been producing for 40 years, most likely in radical decline.
Number Two producing field Burgan in Kuwait, in decline. (began pumping in 1946)
Number Three field in the world Canterall in Mexico. In Decline since 2004 been producing for 30 years...
What we have left is small puddles(like Africa),
Peak Oil reality.
The whole oil situation is closer to sitting down and drinking a TwoFour. First six beer are pretty easy going, like nectar. Then the case is just empty and the hangover is coming. That's the oil industry. It's going to hurt when it stops. Anyone that says different is a lying sack of shit. Ever see those peak oil charts with the assumption that it'll be a smooth ride down. That's just to make people feel better.
The reality is going to be one of two paths for people.
Those in shape and those that aren't. It will be a world where you have to be balanced in strength and endurance. If you need anything external to stay alive like suppliments, creatine, steroids, pain meds, drugs of most kinds...you just won't get very far. Everything we use is driven from point A to B numerous times in a supply chain from everywhere to everywhere.
For medicines, the natural remedies work and in some cases the medicine is regional. With the severe punishment most folks have done to their own bodies over 100 years of plenty, there is only so much any medicine can do. Most medications people take today are designed the same way bazooka's are designed for killing Mosquito's, they are overkill most of the times.
There's not much any medicine can do when your body is over 100.
25 billion / 0.075 billion = 333 days. You're off by 1 day! Shame!
We can make it worse, of course. The 75 million is growing. And the 25 billion can't be 100% recovered.
Call it 6 mos, eh?
Judging by the fact that Zero couldn't pull off the war with Syria that the house of Saud demanded, the U.S better be scrambling for more oil producing nations to liberate.
Pretty damn quick from my reading of the situation.
Can they get those wells up and running by mid 2014 ?
While in the middle of WWIII.
Probably be liberating North Dakota soon. Production growth is slowing. They are drilling 200 holes PER MONTH and it's starting to slow.
ANDDDDD, there is talk of reducing costs per well by automating the drilling process and getting rid of that pesky employment boom.
As Seinfeld said once...."More EVERYTHING!!"
I used EIA Crude Oil including Lease Condensate, rounded down to 75 mbpd. http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=5&pid=57&aid=1&c...
What numbers are you using?
One other problem not mentioned by CHS is that oil exporters get "Dutch Disease" (as happend in the Netherlands). That is, valuable oil reserves jack up the value of the local currency making it impossible for locally producing industries to export at competitve prices. This could be very destabilizing for a Third World economy where what local production that is extant is pretty much limited to handcrafted wares. Handcrafts are very sensitive to price point.
But what does it matter?
And by the way, the Chinese already are several steps ahead of everyone else at this game of locking up Third World resources.
Also known as "the resource curse".
The reverse is equally terrible and at least the Chinese won't likely be supplying Africa with cheap grains. American + Canada already destabilized that market, putting small framers out of business on a continent that needs to localize it's food resources as much as possible.
and the US?
Nick Turse, AFRICOM's Gigantic "Small Footprint"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743/
Yes. Take that shit!
Mayday, mayday. Calling all Criminals on deck.
Halliburton
Mossad
CIA & AL-CIA-duh,
State Dept.
MIC, DOD, DHS, FBI
IMF
Economic Hitmen
Jackals
Boeing
Raytheon
CFR
Trilateral Comm
Goldman Sachs
Bush, Clinton,
Like I said: the Chinese WILL colonize Africa. The first will be entrepreneurs. The second will be settlers (engineers, workers though possibly African labor will do some things). The third will be military and police to guard the supply lines which bring resources to the homeland.
What's funny is that I believe the Chinese will bring their classic 'conforming' culture to the continent, but also discover that it'll be a wild no-man's land similar to America's wild west. The Bantus will be similar to the Comanche or Apache if they decide to get hostile and instead of attacking wagon caravans will attack roads, trains and shipyards.
I imagine that for a lot of Chinese MEN (90-98% will be men for sure) it will be like getting released from their parents after being sent off to college, but not mature or organized enough to know how to best manage their newfound freedom from the homeland. They will go wild for a decade or two. It will be an entrepreneurial free-for-all, a prospector's dream...
It's already happening in the part of Africa I have worked in for the past 11 months. Their construction companies are everywhere, and they have HUGE dorms of Chinese workers. There are already ethnic ghettos established in major cities. I also see quite a few families out shopping and at dinner. Often they have two or three young children that were possibly born locally.
Are these Chinese/Chinese couples, or Chinese/African couples? Now part of what I assume will happen is that sexually repressed Chinese men (lacking other options) will pursue African females, if not to procreate with certainly to have sex with.
And I'm always welcoming of first-hand/boots-on-the-ground knowledge by those who've been to the source.
Chinese/Chinese couples, am in the Maghreb part of Africa. I was at Hippopotamus (French Applebee's, closest place to get a beer!) for dinner the other night and saw two couples at one table, then a third couple downstairs with four young children. I regularly see a group of three all-Chinese couples going to dinner/shopping in my neighborhood.
Over all the Chinese are not liked by the local population, so I am not surprised I have not seen much mixing. I am told that this is happening, and the locals are pretty PO'd about it. It's not surprising when you consider the Chinese work ethic versus the local work ethic. You might see the locals work 4 honest hours on their best day.
Remember - "Inshallah" (God willing!) solves everything.
I cannot wait to gorge myself on ribs and pulled work when I return to the US.
I know all about Inshallah from my (foolish) travels in Mesopotamia. May I ask what work you do in the Mahgreb?
No problem. I am currently attempting to set up a light industrial facility to manufacture electronics. I wish I could say things were going well.
Between the underengineering (product, systems) on our side and the horrific logistics (bribes, delays, bureaucracy, paperwork) on the customer side it is not. I don't see things trending upward as we move into the future, more complex phases of this project.
Analysis is incomplete without including North Africa, which is an important, yet completely different region than Central or Southern Africa.
Ok....so you go from 295-334 days of global supply to perhaps 2 full years.
And......so what?
Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan are reported to have more oil than Saudi. Look at the map, they are just across the street (strait) from Saudi.
Do you think that cunt Prince Bandar keeps those rebels in gear in those countries? Do ya?
Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan are reported to have more oil than Saudi. Look at the map, they are just across the street (strait) from Saudi.
And at what price per barrel is that oil.....if it is even there in that amount.....economically viable (that is to say....cheap enough to bring back down the price of our magical lifestyle)?
Add to the cost of extraction the corruption and graft that is ABSOLUTELY endemic in Africa.....not to mention the terrorism?
And please.....The House of Saud in my children's lifetime.....(my youngest is 7. Let's say he makes it to 75 in the year 2081) will be herding goats on camel back again.
Measuring how much oil in any patch to Saudi Arabia is a bad metric.
More accurate would be to measure it against Canadian Tar Sands, which is our #1 source of oil here in "Merica"
Just about every year someone announces a find of more oil than Saudi Arabia.
The oil never seems to flow, but the announcements do.
"Just about every year someone announces a find of more oil than Saudi Arabia.
The oil never seems to flow, but the announcements do."
They have to. How else will one be able to buy the fucking dip ?
re "The Scramble for Africa's Oil"... can also be viewed from the perspective of the PETRO-DOLLAR and the MIC:
The hot+kinetic competition in Africa helps keep up the falling demand for the USD and USTs. Bullish also for the MIC in the US, France and UK -- to keep out Russian and Chinese arms. Look at the list of the Top 5 global merchants of death, and these 5 countries keep popping onto that list.
War --> Debt, and Debt --> Demand for Bond/Debt-based USDs and USTs. And demand for USD and USTs is very, very profitable for its makers and owners.
Nothing new under the African or Anglo-American sun.
Twenty five billion ain't chopped liver but it only goes to show how desperate things are getting...
Very disappointed by most of the comments here today....
7.1 billion on this planet arn't wrong, the solution is between your legs, little known fact that cock oil has the potential the power the world if the erected elites with let it.