The Dirty Dozen #10: Lundin Petroleum

Lundin Petroleum of Sweden has ties to the oil industries of Iran and Sudan.  The company’s Iran projects are largely overshadowed, however, by its Sudan concessions that have been the subject of significant criticism and scrutiny.

In Iran, Lundin reportedly maintains a 30% non-operating interest in the country’s Munir oil block in the Khuzestan region.  In September 2003, the company announced that it had spent some $2.1 million that year on oil exploration activities in the country.1 

In Sudan, Lundin retains an interest in Block 5B of Sudan’s Muglad Basin.  According to the company, its current work in Sudan consists of analyzing existing data only, as on-the-ground operations have been suspended due to security concerns.  The company also reports that "Security permitting, drilling and seismic operations [in Sudan] will start simultaneously." 

In December 2005 Lundin announced that the security situation would allow them begin field operations on Block 5B.  This was to include the acquisition of 1,100 line kilometers of 2D seismic data in the first half of 2006, building of necessary infrastructure to support drilling operations, and drilling of up to three exploration wells commencing late 2006.2 

Lundin’s presence in Sudan is reportedly part of the company’s strategy to operate in risky countries where competitors often dare not go.  In the past, this strategy has led Lundin to establish operations in South Africa during the apartheid period, when many companies were coming under shareholder and other pressures to pull out, and in Zaire during the presidency of Sese Seko Mobutu.  Some reports have also cited ties to Syria and Iraq.3

Apart from Total SA, Lundin appears to be the only Western energy company that has not exited Sudan in response to humanitarian outrage over the oil industry’s role in perpetuating that country’s brutal civil war and the government-backed genocide. 

Lundin’s activities place it on the "Dirty Dozen" list for the following reasons:

• Revenues: In the coming years, Lundin will help generate significant revenues for the governments of Iran and Sudan.  Such hard currency revenues pave the way for Iran to accelerate its dangerous weapons of mass destruction program and for both countries to continue supporting terrorism with impunity.
• Moral and Political Cover:  A company’s willingness to partner with terrorist-sponsoring states diminishes the stigma associated with dangerous government policies.  In the case of Lundin, the company is apparently willing to retain interests in a country recently denounced by the U.S. Congress for genocidal attacks on its own Christian, animist and black Muslim populations.

1. Company Website, 10/2002.

2. Sudan Tribune,  8 December 2005

3. Company Website, 2003; and Global News Wire, 3/22/01.