Sinopec, Enbridge's Chinese
business partner for the Northern Gateway Project, has a long record of
corruption, human rights violations, environmental pollution and doing
business with terrorist-linked governments.
A Tyee investigation found that the world's
seventh largest corporation has been the subject of major bribery
scandals at home and has systemically invested in rogue petro states
from Angola to Myanmar.
The state-owned company has tried to
improve its image in recent years with a series of multi-billion dollar
investments in North America and the oil sands.
Yet Sinopec's earlier deals in Syria and
Iran now are the subject of intense global controversy as the United
States and European Union intensify sanctions against both countries.
"Today, energy is already the main driver
of China's international behavior. Its energy needs have brought Beijing
to turn a blind eye to human rights violations in Sudan, Myanmar and
Uzbekistan," testified oil analyst Gal Luft before the U.S. House
Committee on Foreign Affairs last year. "China's energy deals with Iran
have already brought Beijing to block U.S. attempts to the UN Security
Council to impose crippling sanctions against Tehran for continuing to
develop nuclear weapons."
Sinopec also stands accused of violating
Canadian law. In 2007 the collapse of several storage tanks at Canadian
Natural Resources Horizon oil sands mine site killed two temporary
Chinese workers and injured several others. A subsidiary of Sinopec flew
the workers in for the job yet may have defrauded many of their wages, according to the Alberta government.
Two years later, the Alberta government
served Sinopec and CNRL with an unprecedented 53 charges for failing to
ensure worker health and safety. (Each charge comes with a maximum fine
of $500,000.) Ever since then, Sinopec has stubbornly fought the charges, saying that its subsidiary has no presence in Canada and that the charges weren't served properly.
2012/02/21