Estimating the Debt
The damages of Sudan’s oil war in Block 5A
Money cannot replace the life of a child, the destruction of a community, or the loss of education. It is embarrassing and problematic to translate human values into money, but money was the value that drove Lundin, OMV, and Petronas to enter a war zone. The damage estimate in the report Unpaid Debt of USD 600 million was intentionally extremely conservative. Underneath is an updated and more reasonable calculation.
The costs of the oil war in Block 5A (in USD)
| Kind of damage | Number | Value |
Total (USD) |
| Deaths | 12.000 | $ 25.000 | $300 million |
| Forced displacements | 160.000 | $ 2.000 | $320 million |
| Permanently uprooted | 20.000 | $ 15.000 | $300 million |
| Stables and houses | 40.000 | $500 | $20 million |
| Cattle | 500.000 | $500 | $250 million |
| Goats | 100.000 | $10 | 1 million |
| Schools, churches, clinics, personal items, food stocks | $10 million | ||
| Loss of income for 2 years | 240.000 | 500X2 | $240 million |
| Lost opportunities | 160.000 | 1.500 | $240 million |
| Lost education | 50.000 | 1.000 | $50 million |
| Total | $1,731 million |
The members of the Lundin Consortium and their investors have a debt to pay to the people who were severely harmed in the war that they benefitted from. The precise damages and attribution of liability will have to be assessed and allocated by independent experts. Our aqssumption is that the companies should contribute in accordance to their share in their consortium. Assuming that they can be held liable for half of the damages, and including interest since 2003, the debt of Lundin Energy to harmed communities in Block 5A stands at app. 1 billion US Dollars and that of Petronas and OMV at $500 million each.
