Petroleum Africa
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Monday, October 6, 2014
ExxonMobil is delaying drilling plans for some offshore blocks in Liberia, according to the firm’s CEO Rex Tillerson. He said, “We are having to look at when it would be prudent to resume operations there because you do have to have shore-based support.”
In a USA Today report, Patrick McGinn said that the outbreak would delay Exxon’s first exploration well offshore Liberia, originally scheduled to commence in late-2014. Reuters alleges that the company is forbidding some employees from traveling to the region.
A new report predicts outbreaks to reach 1.4 million by February 2015 if the Ebola outbreak is not contained, a drastic increase from the current figure of 5,800 cases. With this information, stability hangs in the balance for some African nations already faced with rising numbers of Ebola victims.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ebola cases could increase to between 550,000 and 1.4 million in four months. The CDC also questions the current death toll as reported by the World Health Organization, standing at 2,800 out of at least 5,800 cases. The group said that the fatalities more likely total 2.5 times as many cases, or about 20,000.
Liberia’s Information Minister Lewis Brown said that he was fearful the country would slip back into civil war – shared concerns in Sierra Leone as well. Brown said that the outbreak had resulted in allowing a breakdown of societies in the region. “The effect of Ebola is being seen not just as a public health situation but it is also a political situation. Liberia is just 10 years out of our conflict,” said Brown. Neighboring Sierra Leone battled a 10-year civil war ending in 2002.
Guinea is also battling the outbreak, a place that is already plagued with civil unrest most recently between President Alpha Conde supporters and opposition factions. Most recently, eight bodies were discovered in the country after an attack was made on a team trying to educate locals on the risks of Ebola. The UN Security Council said the outbreak was a “threat to international peace and security” while the US just announced plans to send 3,000 members of its armed forces to the West African region in addition to training 500 healthcare professionals each week.
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