format_quote Originally Posted by
rubiesand
Nigeria has a huge oil industry, yet the people remain in desperate poverty. The ones who punctured the pipe may be thieves, but there are worse thieves than them in the background.
“How can this be, that people are so poor in Nigeria that they will risk their lives for a little thing?” asked Bode Kuforiji, a university lecturer. “But boats leave for America every day filled with oil.”
That is true, but sadly like many petroleum producing nations. They never developed refining of oil and although they have the crude oil, it is useless and they have to import gasoline from the west.
Oil as it comes from the ground is of no use. It only becomes gasoline and usable petroleum products after being refined.
The oil industry is very complex. Land in mideastern nations is leased to western companies, such as Halliburton, Procon, Bechtal etc. to drill for oil. The oil is then shipped across the world on tankers usualy of Taiwanese ownership and registered as Liberian. The petroleum is then manufactured into gasoline, diesal fuel etc, by companies such as Exxon and sold world wide, including Mid East nations as Gasoline and other products.
The oil industry is Multi-National and no single country or business has over all control of the entire process.
Without the Eastern oil deposits, no oil, without the Taiwanese shipping companies no tankers, Without the Liberian regulation of the tankers no crews, without the western manufacturing companies no gasoline.
The sad part is the countries with the oil usually have to pay the most for gasoline. The oil production from the ground is the cheapest part of the process. Leaving many people in poverty except for the people who lease the land out for oil drilling.
The resulting Irony is the countries with the most oil, often have the poorest general population. Only in
some of the Islamic Countries does the profit from oil leases get shared with the people.