Oljeprospektering i ockuperade Västsahara

Diskussioner om att prospektera och sedan utvinna olja i Västsahara har pågått aktivt sedan vapenstilleståndet 1991 och tog fart 2001.

Det framgår av följande kronologi, från den norska organisationen Norwatch i januari 2009.

Facts: The oil industry in Western Sahara

1975-79: Morocco occupied the major part of Western Sahara, an occupation that was condemned by the UN.

1991: The war between Morocco and the Sahrawi independence movement Polisario ended with a ceasefire, on the premise that a referendum be held for the Western Sahara people in 1992. But it was never held.

2001: Morocco still occupied the major part of Western Sahara and handed out its first two petroleum licences for offshore Western Sahara to the US energy company Kerr-McGee and the French TotalFinaElf (later Total). The
Western Sahara government in exile called the initiative a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

2002: The UN‚s legal experts said that further oil exploration in Western Sahara would be in violation of international law. Still, the Norwegian seismic survey company TGS-Nopec was engaged to carry out the first
seismic surveys. The surveys were to be carried out together with the Norwegian Fugro-Geoteam and the Faroe Islands company Thor Offshore. The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Petersen, criticised the Norwegian involvement. After having received international criticism, all three companies withdrew from further engagement in Western Sahara.

2004: Total withdrew from Western Sahara, saying there were insufficient possibilities for oil or gas deposits. The smaller, privately owned oil company Kosmos Energy moved in on the ownership side of Kerr-McGee‚s Western Sahara block, called the Boujdour block. After having sabotaged the UN‚s peace process for a referendum in Western Sahara for over a decade, Morocco now refused for the first time to arrange the referendum in Western Sahara. The international community failed to react to the news.

2005: The Norwegian Government Pension Fund divested from Kerr-McGee because its activities constituted "a particularly serious violation of fundamental ethical normsò because they may contribute to undermine the UN peace process". Several investors followed suit.

2006: Kerr-McGee left Western Sahara, and the company was later bought up by the US firm Anadarko. Kosmos Energy took over 75% of the Boujdour block, while the Moroccan government oil company ONHYM kept the rest. Kosmos Energy continued close collaboration with Anadarko. Whether the collaboration also involved the Western Sahara surveys remains unknown.

January 2009: Kosmos Energy still owns a licence for offshore Western Sahara, being the only foreign firm. Fugro-Geoteam initiates seismic surveys for Kosmos Energy, with the recently built seismic survey vessel Geo Caribbean. At the same time, they charter the supply vessel Thor Omega of the Faroese company Thor Offshore. They did this even though both Fugro and Thor had been criticised for assignments a few years ago, and even though they said they would not do it again. Kosmos Energy plans to drill for oil in a few years, something that could have as a most extreme consequence that the ceasefire could collapse, causing the Sahrawis to resume the war for Western Sahara‚s independence.