African Oil Wars Looming on Horizon?

Fiction precedes fact in the continuous rush for oil exploitation in West Africa.

Little Rock, AR (PRWEB) February 7, 2005 -- In August, 2004, Stephan Zimmermann released pre-publication copies of his new political thriller, The Christmas Strike. The book became available world-wide through most booksellers in January this year. In the novel, Zimmermann posits the scenario of a major struggle for US control of oil resources offshore Sao Tome and Principe, an island nation off the coast of Nigeria.

Much of the premise is based on George W. Bush's first-term announcement that he intended to derive more than twenty-five percent of all US crude oil imports from West Africa.

Last week, Reuters released the announcement that Chevron/Texaco and Exxon/Mobil had signed a definitive contract for exploration and development rights in the small, volatile country of Sao Tome and Principe in West Africa.

At the same time, Murphy Oil, an Arkansas (US) based oil exploration company, struck oil at more than four thousand foot depths in Congolese offshore waters during the same week.

In commenting on the news, Zimmermann stated "I devoted considerable research time before releasing The Christmas Strike and am not at all surprised at the developments. I hope that the rest of the novel falls short of my dire predictions. Based on my Congressional research, I predict the establishment of a US naval facility in Sao Tome within eighteen months, although State Department and Pentagon sources deny any such plans. However, joint US-British naval maneuvers have already been conducted in the Atlantic waters not far from the offshore oil fields."

Zimmermann is a professor of international business and economics at Webster University in Little Rock.

For further details, see www.panaxus.com.

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