National oil corporation Petronas is among a consortium that has won a US$3.7 billion (RM14.06 billion) Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project.

The board of the World Bank unanimously agreed on Tuesday to support the project, which was awarded to a group comprising ExxonMobil (40 percent), Petronas (35 percent) and Chevron (25 percent).

The project will develop landlocked oil fields in Doba, southern Chad and transport crude oil about 1,000 km by pipeline to the coast of Cameroon for export to world markets. The project will produce roughly one billion barrels of oil over its 25-30 year life.

The project, first mooted in 1993, was on hold pending the approval from the World Bank, according to [#1] ExxonMobil's[/#] official website.

The World Bank was expected to reduce some of the financial risk for investors in the politically volatile region. It is expected to raise US$493 million (RM1.7 billon) from various sources. The Bank has been subject to protest campaigns concerning the project over the ethics of underwriting private investment, exacerbating global warming and heightening localised environmental risk.

Both the World Bank, whose stated aim has been to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development, and the consortium, described as "sponsors", have been at pains to emphasise the positive developmental aspects of the project.

However, the Bank's environmental staff had previously unanimously rejected the project Environmental Assessment and expressed strong reservations about supporting the project.

Petronas is presently under scrutiny for its involvement in controversial projects in Burma and Sudan. Human rights abuses have been alleged in both. (""[#2] Spilling trouble[/#] , June 7)

ExxonMobil heads the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), a US lobby group that advocates a sceptics' position on global warming from greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane due to oil production and consumption.

Corporate Watch, a US-based watchdog, via its website has stated that: "The allocation of aid dollars for each country is limited and World Bank support for the oil project will divert scarce resources away from investments in health, education, environmental protection, and infrastructure that provides clean drinking water and sanitation."

The group fears that rather than improving the countries' prospects for development aid "will enrich transnational oil companies and an elite ruling class."

World Bank Group president, James Wolfensohn, expressed his hope that the project would succeed as an "unprecedented collaborative effort" between the Bank, companies and countries.

He acknowledged the controversy surrounding the project: "While some may still have doubts, I believe that the hard work of specialists from the Bank Group, the private companies and the two countries, combined with the strong participation of civil society within Chad and Cameroon and around the world, have made this a better, stronger project."

Campaigners allege that Chad and Cameroon both suffer from corruption and human rights abuses. They claim local communities fear they will see little benefit from the project which is expected to draw in US$2 billion (RM7.6 billion) for Chad and US$500 million (RM1.9 billion) for Cameroon.

A local politician who opposed the project was arrested last year which raised concerns over the safety of locals.

The consortium originally consisted of Shell, Elf and ExxonMobil but was reformulated into the current line-up in April this year.

YIN SHAO LOONG has worked on sustainable development and corporate accountability. He has spent several years sifting through corporate environmental reports and PR material and strongly believes that they are a leading cause of cancer amongst analysts.