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Japanse Firms Cut Sudan Oil Imports; Trade Ministry to Consider Total Country Ban
[From the Sudan Divestment Task Force:]
WASHINGTON, DC—Kansai Electric Power Company, Japan’s second-largest electricity generation firm, will cut crude oil imports from Sudan over concern that oil revenues are being used to fund the
Sudanese government’s military campaign in Darfur, according to a recent Bloomberg News Report. Another major Japanese generator, Kyushu Electric Power Company, took similar action and urged importers to seek alternative varieties of crude.
Bloomberg also revealed that Japan’s trade ministry has held hearings with the country’s refiners and utilities to study the effects of a possible ban on all oil imports from Sudan in response to the situation in Darfur. Japan, the world’s second largest oil importer and a top importer of Sudanese oil, is the first nation to publicly consider such action since conflict broke out in Darfur over four years ago.
“We applaud the actions of Japanese companies to cut oil imports from Sudan and strongly recommend that Japan implement a total ban. Oil constitutes 90% of Sudan’s export revenue, and despite the country’s massive foreign debt and a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, most of its oil money is used for military expenditures,” said Scott Wisor from London, international coordinator for the Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project of the Washington, D.C.-based Genocide Intervention Network.
According to the United States Energy Information Administration, Sudan exported approximately 320,000 bbl/d of crude oil in 2006—124,000 bbl/d of which was imported to Japan. According to a 2005 statement by a former Sudanese finance minister, Sudan spent 70% of its annual oil revenue on military expenditures at the height of the Darfur conflict.
Japan’s actions come on the heels of global divestment campaign aimed at Sudan’s oil industry. The Genocide Intervention Network is currently working with Sudan divestment campaigns in over eight
countries and in the United States 22 states, 58 colleges and 10 cities have adopted Sudan divestment policies. A number of European investors are currently scrutinizing their holdings in targeted companies, and last week Dutch pension fund PGGM announced it would divest from several targeted companies in Sudan unresponsive to shareholder engagement. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Boston-based Fidelity Investments have also sold massive amounts of PetroChina shares. PetroChina is the largest listed arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, the largest oil producer in Sudan.
“Japan’s actions should serve as a wake-up call to the Sudanese government,” said Eric Reeves, Smith College professor and leading Sudan researcher. “The world will not stand by while Khartoum continues to obstruct efforts to bring peace to Darfur and to the rest of Sudan.”