•  paris
• Thursday, April 07, 2011
• Inter Press Service

The uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have shaken the petroleum industry, triggering oil price hike and forcing it to go on the defensive. But critics say the industry carries some of the blame for the current crisis.

'When you’ve been in bed with these dictators, dining with them and making them rich, you have to take some responsibility,' said Nigerian businessman Ahmed Lukman. 'You just cannot sit down and be passive any more.'

Speaking on the sidelines of the 12th International Oil Summit here Wednesday, Lukman told IPS that many people in developing countries perceive oil companies as being in cahoots with corrupt governments.

'When things get out of control, everybody says 'it's not us', it is the government's fault,' Lukman added. 'But oil companies have to start doing something. The people who have been waiting are not going to wait anymore.'

Lukman, the son of Nigeria's former minister of petroleum resources, Rilwanu Lukman -- an official speaker at the summit -- said that the profits from oil 'need to go in services, healthcare, education' and other areas to benefit local populations.

'Somebody has to bridge the gap instead of focusing on the millions of dollars that are to be made,' he told IPS. 'I've been on both sides so I know what the stakes are.' The annual Oil Summit brings together industry leaders and government officials to exchange information and discuss challenges, but this year the series of 'revolutions' that began in Tunisia have sharpened the conference's focus.

Meanwhile, Japan’s nuclear troubles, after last month's earthquake and tsunami, have put the spotlight on that sector as well. The consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are also still being analysed. Algeria's former energy minister Nordine Ait-Laoussine, who opened the one-day meeting, said that the result of the regional upheavals will have dramatic ramifications for energy markets in the long term.

In the short term, oil prices on Monday rose to their highest level in two and a half years, with Brent North Sea crude for May reaching 121.29 U.S. dollar, before slipping back Tuesday. In Libya, meanwhile, the production capacity of 1.6 million barrels a day remains shut as the conflict between rebels and the government continues.

Oil companies are seeking ways to minimise the impact. Christophe de Margerie, the summit's keynote speaker and chief executive of French oil giant Total, said his company was investing 5 billion euros (about 7 billion dollar) in new energies by 2020, with priorities being solar energy and biomass.

'We have a serious commitment for these new energies,' he said. He told journalists that Total was also looking at new oil and gas reserves, and that the company would restart operations in Libya as soon as possible. He said that Total has no defined relationship with the rebels' interim national council in Bengasi. De Margery acknowledged that there is a 'crisis of trust' in the energy industry. 'It is not only nuclear that isn't trusted, but energy as a whole,' he said. 'We have to reinstate trust.'

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service