 Read more PSL WikiBriefs |
BP has been accused of extorting the government of Azerbaijan and
stealing over $10 billion in oil and gas reserves, according to recently
released Wikileaks cables. The cables show that BP took advantage of a
2006 natural gas shortage in Azerbaijan in order to gain rights to huge
oil and gas reserves and to expand their profit-sharing contract.
According to the production sharing agreement that BP made with
Azerbaijan and the country’s national oil company, Socar, the revenues
collected Azerbaijan were supposed to increase in 2007. Instead, BP used
“increased transportation costs” as an excuse to withhold billions owed
to Socar and Azerbaijan.
Unrest in the region, which has increased since the overthrow of the
Soviet Union two decades ago, has lead to Azerbaijan conceding to nearly
every one of BP’s extortionist demands. Imperialist corporations have
sought to gain control of the vast natural oil and gas reserves of
weakened former Soviet states like Azerbaijan.
Click below to read the full text of the cables released by WikiLeaks:
