Abstract
Development of oil sands projects in sub-Saharan Africa: lessons from the governance regime for the Alberta Oil Sands
Highlights
While global demand for fossil fuel sources is rising, conventional oil production is on the decline,[1] due principally to three factors: the nonrenewability of conventional oil, its natural tendency to deplete, and disruptive responses to the social and environmental risks posed by conventional oil production.[2]
Some new conventional oil finds have recently been made in a number of countries, such as, Tanzania, Egypt and Senegal, international oil companies are intensely competing for access to unconventional oil sources, such as, oil sands and shale oil, despite the technical difficulties of exploiting them and the extremely higher environmental risks they carry.[3]
The deposits are present in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well, Angola, Madagascar, Nigeria and Republic of Congo, all of which are in the early development planning stages of the exploitation of the resources[6] reports suggest that development has advanced the most in Madagascar.[7]
Summary
While global demand for fossil fuel sources is rising, conventional oil production is on the decline,[1] due principally to three factors: the nonrenewability of conventional oil, its natural tendency to deplete, and disruptive responses to the social and environmental risks posed by conventional oil production.[2]. Due to the notorious “resource curse” history of oil in Sub-Saharan Africa, concerns have already rent the air regarding the potential human and environmental risks exploitation of the resources poses to local communities in the region.[9] In Alberta, Canada, where oil sands development has been taking place energetically for decades until the investment pull-back following the 2014 price downturn, such investments have been intensely criticized for their socio-environmental impacts, due to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oil sands production estimated to be several times higher than those from conventional oil production.[10] When coupled with issues of weak governance prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, oil sands development in the region raises even more concerns. This has led to calls for a freeze on oil sands development in Sub-Saharan Africa until its potential socio-environmental risks have
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