On December 13, 2005, ConocoPhillips, the third largest U.S. oil and gas company agreed to acquire Burlington Resources in a $35.6 billion deal. The deal which was approved by Burllington’s board of directors on March 30 2006, makes ConocoPhillips one of the largest holders of North American natural gas reserves, but drags the company into some of most controversial oil projects in the Amazon today.
In a letter and dossier delivered to ConocoPhillips, Amazon Watch brought Burlington’s problematic drilling blocks in pristine rainforests and indigenous territories in the southern Ecuadorian and northeastern Peruvian Amazon Basin to the company’s attention (see link below).
In Ecuador, Burlington has held concession blocks 23 and 24, since 2000 and 2003 respectively, and both have faced years of protest and legal actions, are currently paralyzed, and have provoked concern among shareholders and the international community. The two concessions encompass nearly 1 million acres of pristine rainforest and fall entirely within the homelands of the Shuar, Achuar, and Kichwa peoples. In Peru, Burlington’s massive concession 104 is also in the heart of the Achuar territory expanding nearly 4 million acres. Burlington also holds portions of blocks 39 and 57 both in the Peruvian Amazon on indigenous lands. These traditional and remote peoples have successfully kept oil, logging, and mining companies out of their territories for nearly a decade and vow to fight to defend their land.
What will become of Burlington Resources’ extensive new investments in the Amazon Basin under the acquisition deal remains to be seen. For the Shuar and Achuar, their efforts to protect their homeland and people will continue, no matter which company wants to pursue drill: “We demand that our government immediately get the transnational oil companies to leave the concession areas that fall within the lands and settlements of our indigenous nations . . . It is us, the Achuar and the Shuar who are the owners of this rainforest and we are united to fight until our last breath.”
