A new mystery

I have always thought I had a good handle on geography. If somebody gave a place name I at the very least knew where on the map to look. That was true until just about every nation east of the Prime Meridian decided to change its name. The area i have chosen to call the "stans" comes to mind. You know, all those places in southcentral Asia that changed their names after the fall of the Soviet Union, and that all end in "stan." Still I can find most places. But, today there was a hit on this blog from a place where I didn't even know there was a place. The notation on the revolving map didn't even give a region or a place name, just a red dot in the Gulf of Guinea off the west coast of Africa. I had to enlarge the Google map almost to its extreme before anything showed up, but there were three islands named in that gulf and a few other smaller ones. There are lots of random hits so it's not certain that connection came from anyone I know, but it is kind of cool to log a hit from that part of the world.

I wondered what the connection might be. Then while looking along the shoreline of the continent, there it was, the mouth of the Niger River. And, believe it or not, that geographic feature has a strong connection with Alaska, someone I know could actually be there. To begin with the Niger River area and the Gulf of Guinea may be one of the biggest oil exploration areas in the world no one ever heard of. In my days working in oil spill response I met boat captains who operated work boats, rig tenders, crew boats, anchoring boats and mud boats in that area supporting oil industry work. They had wonderful stories to tell and several nights in wheelhouses I enjoyed those stories.

One that stuck with me was the description of a visit one night in which a couple of men in a small boat approached them and were welcomed aboard. No, they were not pirates, at least not in the traditional sense though in time they may turn out to be. These guys were employees of Royal Dutch Shell which has a large presence in the area. Over coffee and small talk the Shell people asked the boat crew if they had any company logo hats or jackets they would be willing to trade. It turned out Shell was not very popular with the locals there. Hated, even. And the natives had even shot at them on occasion as they worked along the river. Later i did a little reading about it and it came up that Shell may have been responsible in one way or another for moving and maybe destroying whole villages with some violence involved. Of course this may be easier to say than to prove, but one thing stands out -- that most often when an oil installation or a pipeline there has been attacked by locals, it is owned by Shell. These guys on the boat just wanted to disguise themselves so they could do their work without being shot at. Later I learned Shell employees had also approached Chevron people for the same reason.

The Alaska connection? That same company is now preparing to explore in the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea northwest and north of Alaska --- THE ARCTIC OCEAN. Their assurances to everyone are that it is perfectly safe and they've made comparisons to the Gulf of Mexico spill last summer saying the Alaska drilling is much safer largely because the wells will be shallower and at lower pressures. I wonder if they are also safer because Arctic Ocean pack ice will protect them. They have also employed a small fleet of boats for oil spill response. As I recall two larger mud boat types and half a dozen smaller boats. The next closest response equipment is a small cache at Prudhoe Bay from a coop I don't think they belong to, and after that it's more than a thousand miles to any other spill response equipment. A response in winter would be near impossible, especially if ice in the area hinders the work. Given their history in Africa, they probably think they can handle the folks who live along Alaska's Arctic coast as well.

You have to wonder how long it will be before Shell employes begin approaching Crowley tow boats bringing supplies to villages in northwest Alaska, seeking hats and jackets to camouflage themselves so they can hide from angry Eskimo whalers.

Oh, and speaking of mysteries: This post marks another record. A nickel to anyone who figures it out.