According to a UN legal opinion from 2002, Morocco has no right to explore for oil in Western Sahara without first consulting the Saharawi people.
Yet, the Moroccan state oil firm ONHYM proceeds with its illegal operations on its onshore Boujdour II block. The drilling operation is named BJD-1 and takes place 28 kilometres to the east of the Western Sahara coastal town of Boujdour.
The information about the exact location of the drilling operation is mentioned in a recently published tender document on ONHYM’s webpages. The tender document was written 25 of October 2011, and published earlier this week. The tender closes on 17 November this year.
The document calls for a technician to do measurements of the mud extracted from the drilling operation. It is presupposed in the document that the mudlogging partner company would be a foreign entity. The job will take maximum 5 months.
No information is mentioned in the tender document that the location of the drilling is not in Morocco, but in Western Sahara, the territory it partially annexed in 1975. The rights to the natural resources in Western Sahara belong to the people of the territory, not to Morocco. When Morocco invaded the territory in 1975, half the people fled the country. No state in the world recognises Western Sahara as being part of Morocco.
Download the tender document here.
The photo above, showing drilling equipment under transport, was shot on Boujdour block last year.
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