Reply #2: Grease is the word for oil in Equatorial Guinea [View All]

September 7, 2004

By Paul Lashmar

In January the US's fourth-largest oil company, Marathon Oil, began expanding its extraction infrastructure in the west African state of Equatorial Guinea.

In one private deal Marathon delivered a cheque for more than $611 000 (R4 million) for the purchase of 50ha of convenient and virgin land in Punta Europa.

The cheque was made out to Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who happens to be the president and effective dictator of the oil-rich but poverty-stricken country.

Shortly afterwards, Houston-based Marathon agreed to buy an additional 208ha of Punta Europa land for a proposed liquefied natural gas plant. The price is $1.4 million and the deal is also being conducted through Abayak, a company controlled privately by Obiang, who seems to own huge tranches of key property in the country.
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