Africa's share of the world's lucrative oil market is big and growing bigger. But for many people in Africa's oil-producing countries, increased oil output has only brought continued poverty and more violence. Kent Klein reports from Washington on the so-called "oil curse."
Africa is home to 10 percent of the world's oil reserves, and wells in Africa and off its shores produce an estimated six million barrels of oil a day.
The world's biggest oil-consuming nation, the United States, gets between 10 and 20 percent of its oil imports from West Africa, and that percentage is growing. Angola is already the biggest supplier of crude oil to China, the world's second-largest and fastest-growing oil buyer.
Angola recently surpassed Nigeria as Africa's largest oil-producing country, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sudan, Congo-Brazzaville and other countries have growing oil industries.
But the revenue from Africa's booming oil sales rarely reaches the people who live where the oil is produced.
This phenomenon is sometimes called the "oil curse." John Ghazvinian toured Africa's major oil-producing countries and has written a book about it, titled Untapped: The Scramble For Africa's Oil. He says Nigeria and other African countries that have discovered oil have actually done worse economically and politically than those that have not.
"You have some of the world's most state-of-the-art technology existing side-by-side with little mud and straw villages where they have no running water or electricity or anything," he noted. "Over the years people have grown extremely frustrated seeing billions of dollars flowing into the coffers of either oil companies or the national government in Abuja, and feeling that 'This is our oil, this is our land.'"
In Nigeria's oil-producing city of Port Harcourt, Ibiba don Pedro, the managing editor of The National Point newspaper, says environmental damage from the oil operations has brought economic ruin for some farmers and fishermen.
"The people who own the land, who live on the land and who used to fish in the rivers do not get any benefit out of the oil, and then their life support systems are being destroyed," explained don Pedro.
The economic damage from the oil boom also comes in the form of a higher cost of living, according to Nicholas Shaxson, author of Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil.
"When so much money comes into an economy, price levels of everything rise very high, and that makes local sectors like agriculture or manufacturing uncompetitive against imported goods," he said. "The price of what is produced locally becomes much, much higher relative to imports."
The influx of money into the local and national economies also create a fertile atmosphere for corruption. John Ghazvinian says corruption is a major factor in the "oil curse" in many African countries.
"Billions, literally billions of dollars have just disappeared without any real trace or any real way of following the money," he added. "This happened in Nigeria, in the last years of the military government. It continues now in Nigeria, on a different scale, in different ways. It happened in Angola, in the last few years of the civil war, where $4 billion of oil money was never accounted for."
Journalist Will Connors, who has been reporting on Nigeria's oil conflicts, says a culture of corruption is difficult to impossible to reverse, especially in Nigeria, where he says it is found at all levels of government.
"If they truly wanted to, they could change things, but the corruption is so endemic that if they ousted one governor or senator or army general who was siphoning money off the top, then another would be right behind to take his place," he explained.
In some parts of Africa, the resentment and anger over the unequal distribution of oil money have led to violence. Countries where the oil production is offshore have largely avoided bloodshed. But in Nigeria's heavily-populated Niger Delta oil-producing area, organized attacks on petroleum workers and facilities have been taking place for years. Groups like MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) say they are launching the attacks for the benefit of the people of the Delta, but Nigerian newspaper editor Ibiba don Pedro is skeptical.
"There are too many businessmen in the area making a lot of noise and making a lot of threats, and that's my only assessment of what is going on," he added.
The experts in this report agree that the oil companies doing business in Africa have improved the transparency of their operations, and that the new Nigerian government is making moves in that direction. And they say lifting the veil of secrecy is one important step toward lifting the "oil curse."
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在盈利丰厚的全球石油市场上，非洲所占的份额很大，而且在继续增大。但是对于非洲产油国的许多人说来，石油产量的增加只是不断带来贫困及更多的暴力。
非洲的石油储藏占全世界总储藏量的10%。在非洲大陆上及海岸线外的油井估计每天产油六百万桶。
安哥拉最近超过了尼日利亚成为非洲最大的产油国，而赤道几内亚、加蓬、苏丹、刚果(布)等国家的采油业也在不断发展。
但是，非洲旺盛的石油贸易的收入几乎没有到达产油地区的人民手里。
这种现象有时被称为“石油诅咒”。加兹维尼恩巡回访问了非洲主要的产油国，并写了一本题为《争夺未开发的非洲石油资源》。他说，尼日利亚等发现石油的非洲国家实际上与那些没发现石油资源的国家相比，经济和政治状况都更为糟糕。
他说：“在那里有世界上最先进的技术，但是旁边就是泥坯草屋的小村落，村庄里没有自来水和电力等任何设施。多年来，人们眼见几十亿美元资金流入石油公司或者阿布贾中央政府的金库，他们极度失望地说：‘这是我们的石油、我们的土地’。”
在尼日利亚盛产石油的港口城市哈科特，国家观点报主编佩特罗说，石油运作造成的环境破坏已大大损害一些农民和渔民的利益。
他说：“这些土地的拥有者以及靠土地维生的人和曾在河里捕鱼的人没有从石油得到任何利益，而他们赖以为生的体系却被毁了。”
夏克森写了一本书，题目是《毒井：非洲石油的肮脏政治》。他说，石油业兴起所致经济破坏的又一表现形式是生活开支上升。 他说：“当那么多的钱注入某一经济体系时，一切东西的价格随之全面高涨，那使得诸如农业或制造业等地方行业不能与进口商品相竞争。地方产品的价格与进口货相比价格要高得多。”
注入地方和国家经济中的资金也造就了腐败的温床 。加兹维尼恩说，腐败在许多非洲国家是石油诅咒的要素。
他说：“几十亿美元、的确是几十亿美元，都不知去向，没有真正加以追查，也没有真正跟踪调查这些金钱的来龙去脉。这发生在尼日利亚军政府统治的最后几年。 这种情况如今仍在尼日利亚继续下去，只是规模不同、方式不同。这种情况也发生在安哥拉内战的最后几年，那里有40亿美元的石油盈利下落不明。”
一直在报导尼日利亚石油冲突的记者康纳斯说，腐败的传统是不可能扭转的，尤其在尼日利亚。他说，当地的腐败行为遍及各级政府。
他说：“如果他们确实想改变的话，他们是能改变现状的，但是腐败蔓延如此广泛，所以即使他们罢免了在高位上榨取钱财的一名省长、一个参议员或者一位将军，马上会有另一个人代之而起。”
在非洲的某些区域，石油财富分配不均产生的愤恨已引发暴力。在海岸线外开采石油的国家多半避免了流血冲突。但是在尼日利亚人口密集的尼日尔河三角洲产油区，合伙袭击石油工人及石油设施的事件已有数年之久。像尼日尔河三角洲解放运动之类的团伙说，他们是为三角洲地区人民谋福利而发动袭击的，但是尼日利亚的报刊编辑佩特罗对此表示怀疑：
他说：“那里的许多公司不断为自己的利益声张，不断发出威胁，闹得鸡犬不宁，这是我对当地局面的唯一评估。”
这一报导中的专家一致认为，在非洲开展业务的石油公司已经提高了企业运作的透明度，而尼日利亚新政府也正采取措施往这一方向努力。他们还说，掀开保密的帷幕是解除“石油诅咒”的重要一步。
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