Western Sahara propaganda website removed
636a2caad5672_kosmos11

Kosmos Energy has finally taken down a website that was set up to embellish its oil and gas exploration offshore Western Sahara. 

12 March 2025

Eight years have passed since the U.S. company Kosmos Energy announced its withdrawal from Western Sahara. The company held a major oil and gas exploration license off the coast of Boujdour, signed with Morocco, the occupying power of the territory.

Despite its departure, the website www.westernsaharaoil.com remained online, reflecting the company's stance on the Western Sahara conflict. The site contained significant misrepresentations of international law, omitting any reference to the Saharawi people's right to self-determination or their required consent. It also featured numerous letters and statements from the company that defended the operation.

In 2002, the United Nations legal service stated that any further oil exploration in Western Sahara would require the consent of the Saharawi people. Nevertheless, Kosmos entered the territory in 2004 under a license later named Boujdour Maritime. The company obtained operatorship in 2006 and, between 2014 and 2015, became the first to conduct offshore hydrocarbon drilling in the area since the occupation began.

After unsuccessful exploration results and the loss of key shareholders due to controversy, Kosmos Energy withdrew from Western Sahara in 2017. However, a statement from Morocco’s state oil company, ONHYM, in January 2018 suggested that Kosmos had left the door open for a possible return.

Now, the website is offline. The domain www.westernsaharaoil.com was purchased on 9 January 2015 and launched on 25 February 2015—just four days before the company announced that its exploratory well was dry. Kosmos appears to have let its ownership of the domain expire in January 2025, and it was seemingly acquired on 1 March 2025 by a domain reselling company.

A video of Kosmos Energy’s operations in occupied Western Sahara remains available on YouTube.

In 2014, Western Sahara Resource Watch published a report on Kosmos Energy’s planned drilling operations in the region.

In December 2022, NewMed Energy, a subsidiary of the Delek Group, announced that it had signed an exploration agreement with Adarco and ONHYM for the same area that Kosmos Energy once operated in. Under the agreement, NewMed and Adarco each hold a 37.5% stake, while ONHYM holds 25%. The agreement is set to last for a maximum of eight years. Whereas the terms of the Delek deal was agreed in 2022, the agreement only got approved by the Moroccan government in February 2025. 

In a curious turn, Kosmos Energy has recently, seemingly without irony, renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the incorrect "Gulf of America" on its official website, www.kosmosenergy.com.

 

Since you're here....
WSRW’s work is being read and used more than ever. We work totally independently and to a large extent voluntarily. Our work takes time, dedication and diligence. But we do it because we believe it matters – and we hope you do too. We look for more monthly donors to support our work. If you'd like to contribute to our work – 3€, 5€, 8€ monthly… what you can spare – the future of WSRW would be much more secure. You can set up a monthly donation to WSRW quickly here.

Heidelberg Materials confirms supplying controversial projects in occupied Western Sahara

The massive ports that Morocco is constructing in occupied Western Sahara are made with cement of the German multinational. 

30 May 2025

Allianz persists in using political propaganda to defend its operations on occupied land

Allianz congratulated the Moroccan people with what was one of the gravest violations of International law since the second world war.   

29 May 2025

TAQA and NAREVA won gigantic energy project in occupied Western Sahara

The firms are to construct 1,200 MW of wind power capacity in occupied Western Sahara, and a 1,400 km transmission line to transport the electricity to Morocco proper – assisting the North African kingdom in its blatant violation of international law and Saharawi rights.

23 May 2025

Bureau Veritas suggests Western Sahara is Morocco

The French company - which claims to excel at understanding of regulations - seemingly fails to know in which country it is supporting businesses. 

07 May 2025