The Corporate Council on Africa published an investment guide to Equatorial Guinea, paid for by six oil companies, that said the Obiang regime had sought to "encourage political diversity" and address human rights problems.
Hayes of the corporate council acknowledged that tributes to Obiang at its events "sound like a love fest" but said his group was not lobbying for Obiang's government. Engaging with problematic governments rather than ostracizing them, Hayes said, generally offers "a better chance to change the nature of the country over the medium and long term."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday December 22, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 85 words Type of Material: Correction
Equatorial Guinea -- An article in Saturday's Section A included Noble Energy Inc. in a list of companies under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for their operations in Equatorial Guinea. Noble has a minority stake in an energy project in Equatorial Guinea but has not been contacted in regard to the investigation, a company spokesman said. The project operator, Marathon Oil Corp., said in a public filing that it was contacted by the SEC and that it was "cooperating fully" with the inquiry.
He said there were limits to how hard companies could press foreign governments to reform. "There is a constant fear that their contracts will be pulled. Could the companies be more courageous? Maybe."
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The oil industry's clearest success on behalf of Equatorial Guinea in Washington has been the reopening of the U.S. Embassy.
The campaign was coordinated by lobbyist K. Riva Levinson of BKSH & Associates, who previously worked for the Obiang regime. Triton and then Amerada Hess paid for the lobbying campaign, Levinson said.
"Most of the oil and gas concessions awarded in Equatorial Guinea to date have been awarded to U.S. firms," Levinson said in a 2001 memo to the Bush administration. "This is in stark contrast to neighboring countries in the region, where the United States has consistently lost out to ... [European] competitors."
The administration announced soon afterward that the embassy would be reopened, and it followed through in 2003. This year it announced that Niels Marquardt, its ambassador in neighboring Cameroon, another troubled, oil-rich nation, would serve as ambassador to Equatorial Guinea as well.
A State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Bush administration was pushing the Obiang regime to "adopt more people-friendly policies towards its citizens. To do that, and to facilitate the important American business interests at stake in Equatorial Guinea, it's better to try to persuade the government rather than to slam it at every opportunity."
In June, Obiang came to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Two months later, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding that aimed to expand the U.S. presence in Equatorial Guinea's oil and gas sector.
At a Corporate Council on Africa conference in Houston on Nov. 30, Mary Fleming of the State Department's Africa bureau said she had been struck by parallels between the early days of the oil booms in Equatorial Guinea and Alaska. She cited the "excitement of discovery" and the importance of each government ensuring that "wealth trickled down" to citizens.
And Marathon executive Steve Guidry said his company believed that Obiang's regime had "the will and desire ... to do the right thing."
