Gulf of Guinea Area of “Vital Interest” to USA

 

“Into Africa and out of OPEC” – new thinking on oil as Said by: AOPIG (African Oil Policy Initiative Group) July 2002.

“Along with Latin America, West Africa is expected to be one of the fastest growing sources of oil and gas for the American market. African oil tends to be of high quality and low in sulfur, making it suitable for stringent refined product requirements, and giving it a growing market share for the refining Centers on the East Coast of the U.S.” “National Energy Policy Report” Office of the Vice President Richard Cheney May 16, 2001

African Oil: A priority for U.S National Security and African Development, said by IASPS (Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies) Research Papers in Strategy No. 14, May 2002

Some of the Recommendations of AOPIG (African Oil Policy Initiative Group, USA) July 2002:

Energy Security:
3. Real estate privatization should be emphasized by the U.S. as a fundamental policy to be adopted by African States seeking to attract significant capital investment, particularly in the energy sector.

8. The cooperation among governments, NGOs and oil companies embodied in the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project should be refined and studied as a model, at least in part for application to other African oil projects.

9. The New Economic Plan for African Development (NEPAD) is another valuable model, and its provisions should be applied where possible in the next wave of oil initiatives.

10. U.S. oil companies should be encouraged, perhaps through tax incentives, to disclose by publication, government filings and on public websites, all payments to the oil-producing governments.

Regional Security:
11. Congress and the Administration should declare the Gulf of Guinea an area of “Vital Interest” to the U.S.

12. A regional sub-command, similar to U.S. Forces Korea, should be established for the area.

13. That regional sub-command should strongly consider the establishment of a regional homeport, possibly on the islands of Sao Tome and Principe.

14. A U.S.-Nigerian compact on regional security issues should be established to make the area more secure and thereby more attractive for direct foreign investment.

The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS) is an Israel-based think tank with an affiliated office in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1984 by its president, Professor Robert Loewenberg. According to the institute its mission is “to call attention to the Redirection of Western peoples by Science & the Open Society-History: Policy in the Era of the Convergence of Western Elites and Islam.”

African Oil Policy Initiative Group (AOPIG) is a Washington, DC lobby group in close ties with IASPS.