Atlantic Marine in Gabon

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Atlantic Marine in Gabon

• Karen Kaleta
• Mike Dougherty
• Susan Zukovich
• Paul Crozier
• 22 November 2002

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Franceville
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Libreville
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http//www.copsrus.com/anthems/gabon.html
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Our Business

• Marine/Offshore Oil Exploration and Drilling

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Introduction
Why we chose Gabon

• Per Capita GNP (Gross National Product)
• Three African nations with relatively high
  numbers regarding this measure
• Gabon, Botswana and South Africa

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Introduction
Some reasons for Gabons economic success
Offshore Oil
Oil Revenues More than 50 of GDP (Gross
Domestic Product)
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Introduction
Why go after Gabonese Oil?

• Middle East Instability
• OPEC (Organization for Petroleum Exporting
  Countries)
• Excellent Relations with the United States

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History

• Discovered by the Portuguese
• No written history prior to this
• Became a key element in Triangular Trade (Slave
  Trade)

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History
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History
Formal European Occupation in 1885
Occupied by the French
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History
Independence from France
August 17, 1960
The result of the Algerian Revolt of 1958
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History
Post Independence
Stable, Responsible Government -- U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell
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Geography Climate

• Coastal Nation
• Area 267,667
• Two Wet and Two Dry Seasons
• Heavily forested interior

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Language

• 40 ethnic groups with individual languages and
  cultures
• French is the official language
• Stability through the French language

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Population

• About 1.2 million people
• Concentrated on the coast
• Small work force of 600,000 people

Life Expectancy
Men 48 years Women 50 years
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EDUCATION
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Levels of Education

• Primary Sector
• Elementary School
• Secondary Sector
• Secondary education
• Comprehensive schools
• Technical schools
• Higher Education
• Administrative studies
• Education
• Engineering
• Technical Education
• Training of Magistrates
• Water Technology and Forestry

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Problems in Education

• Expenses for education paid from revenue from oil
• Expected to supply own books and school supplies
• Travel long distances
• Lack of formal structure
• Brain Drain

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FAMILY DYNAMICS
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Family Structures

• Matrilineal
• Polygamous or Monogamous
• Registered with State
• Equal distribution of assets in Divorce
• Does not need permission from wives to marry
  another female

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Women in Gabon

• Illegal to buy birth control
• Many become pregnant with no husband
• Ma femme (woman and wife)
• Equal access to Education, Business and
  Investment
• Own Businesses and Property, Participate in
  Politics ,and work in Government

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Religion

• 70 Roman Catholic
• 20 Protestants
• 1 Muslim
• Animist
• Banned Jehovahs Witnesses

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Death

• Most important rite of passage
• Funerals are elaborate affairs
• Mourners grieve for days
• Custom for widow to marry husbands younger
  brother
• Still property of husbands family

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DIET AND NUTRITION
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Gabonese and Food

• Largest meal in middle of day
• Leftovers eaten for dinner
• Common food is in form of porridge or stews
• Lack of refrigeration
• Special occasions meal is accompanied by beer,
  palm wine and Coca-Cola

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Popular Foods

• Meats Wild Monkey, BushPig, Pangolin, Gazelle,
  Chickens, Antelope, Grasscutter, Cat
• Seafood Shrimp, Crab, Carp, and Tilapia
• Fruits pineapples, Mangos, Lemons, Plantains,
  Bananas
• Common Dishes Nyembwe, Stuffed Crab, Fufu,
  Manioc, Gari

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Housing
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Rural Areas to Urban Areas

• Amenities problem
• Running Water
• Sanitation
• Electricity
• SNI Public Housing
• SEEG and companies produce and distribute power
  and water

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Clothing
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Gabonese Clothing

• Men
• Suits and Ties to the Office
• Jeans and T-shirts on weekends
• Boubou for Ceremonial Occasions
• Women
• Dresses and Skirts
• Boubou for Ceremonial Occasions
• Pagne casual wraparound or sling for child

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Recreation and Leisure
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Past-times

• Television
• Bold and the Beautiful
• Santa Barbara
• Dallas
• Music
• Stories and legends in musical form
• African Artists
• American Artists
• Visiting

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Common Games

• Soccer National Sport
• Basketball
• Martial Arts
• Checkers

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Gabonese Art

• Masks
• Sculptures
• Soapstone Carvings

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Statuary Produced by the FangSingle Piece
Couple
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HEALTH CARE
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Health Issues

• HIV and AIDS
• Meningitis
• Yellow Fever
• Typhoid
• Polio

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CDC Recommendations

• Vaccinations required prior to travel
• Washing of hands and feet
• Drinking only bottled water
• Eat only cooked foods
• Be cautious of insect bites
• Avoid all dairy products
• Only swim in salt water

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Atlantic Marine

• Educate employees of Gabonese traditions
• Assist in enrollment in education system
• Educate of common diets in Gabon
• Aid in finding suitable housing
• Provide clothing for work if necessary
• Acknowledge common recreational activities
• Provide proper health care to entire family

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RESOURCES
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Petroleum Oil

• Gabons most profitable resource
• Rabi Kounga oil field
• Six U.S. companies utilizing Gabons rich
  abundance of oil

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Tropical Forests

• Tropical forests cover two-thirds of Gabon
• Exploitable timber include
• - okume
• - ozigo
• - ilomba
• - azobe
• - padou

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Improving access to forestry reserves

• Transgabonais railroad
• Construction of new roads

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Mining Manganese

• Principle products are manganese and uranium
• Moanda deposits in Bateke region near
  Franceville
• COMILOG (U.S. Steel) and Compagnie Francaise des
  Mines Gabon
• Third leading producer of manganese

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Mining Uranium

• Haut-Ogooue region in the plateau of the Bateke
  near Franceville

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Forestry

• Forests cover near eighty percent of Gabon
• Network of access routes for finishing and
  stripping
• Dominated resource prior to excavation of oil
• Three hundred billion reserves
• Ogooue River plays indispensable role in
  transportation
• Okoume soft wood transported by water
• Azoic and miama hard woods are transported by
  logging trucks
• Hindrance during rainy season

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Agriculture

• Untapped potential to grow its own food
• Heavily dependent on other African states and
  Europe
• Daily living from indigenous food crops such as
  manioc roots, bananas, and peanuts until thirty
  years ago
• Petroleum industry and poor infrastructure
  minimized role of agriculture
• Agricultural products of today are cassava, taro,
  maize, plantain, yam, and rice
• Agricultural imports are corn rice and fresh
  vegetables

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Two Main Crops

• Food Crops
• Cash Crops
• 1. coffee
• 2. cocoa
• 3. palm oil
• 4. rubber

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Fishing

• Small-scale done by foreigners
• Industrial done by shrimpers, trawlers, and
  drifters belonging to several companies

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ECOMOMY

• Similar to many resource enriched countries
• Foundation of economy dominated by petroleum oil
• Oil accounts for over half of government revenue,
  fifty to sixty percent of gross investment and
  over three -quarters of merchandise exports
• Dependence on oil threatens Gabons
  competitiveness
• World price of oil fell in 1986 decreasing GDP by
  half and devaluating the franc (CFA)
• 1994 was first measurable increase in the GDP

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ECONOMY CONT

• Commercial contributors are French firms and
  subsidiaries
• Introduction of French legal code
• Per capita income of four times that of most
  Sub-Saharan Africa
• To date oil makes up fifty percent of Gabons GDP

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TRADE AND PRINCIPLE FOREIGN INVESMENT

• Foreign interest controls petroleum, manganese,
  uranium and forestry
• Port Gentil prime location for free trade zone to
  process exports and oil field reserves
• French primary investors in petroleum, mining,
  forestry and trade
• U.S. another prime investor due to Ameradas
  purchase of shares in the Rabi Kounga oil field
• Foreign investing among top ways to boosts
  economic conditions

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TRADE AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT CONT

• New investment code since decline of economic
  conditions since 1989
• Four investment regimes
• Regime I
• - Offers reduction of import duties,
  export taxes, indirect taxes and turnover taxes
  for investment in a variety of sectors
• Regime II
• - Offers digressive exoneration from
  corporate land, business license taxes, and
  reduction of other taxes and duties for
  investment in strategic sectors

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TRADE AND FOREIGN INEVSTMENT CONT

• Regime III and IV
• -Offers exoneration from certain taxes,
  fees and certain government guarantees to
  companies who are active in Gabon and another
  market of the UDEAC
• Smaller business and forestry not covered in one
  of these regimes are offered other preferences
• Screening procedures for foreign business very
  strict
• Common for foreign investor to have partner
• Petroleum oil sector does not have to abide by
  strict screening policies

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Principle Industries

• OIL PRODUCTION
• Accounts for over 50 of GDP
• Forms the base of the economy
• Rabi Kounga Oil field

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Principle Industries

• FORESTRY
• Primary industry until the discovery of oil in
  the 1970s
• Two thirds of Gabonese territory is covered by
  over 400 species of trees
• Renewable resource

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Labor Force/Working Conditions
Labor Code
Government workers get an additional 27 plus
benefits, housing, and transportation.
Minimum Wage is approximately 61 per month.
40 Hour Workweek with 48 consecutive hours of
rest. Government is said not to enforce labor
regulations where the workforce is primarily
foreign.
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Labor Force/Working Conditions

• Workday stops between 1200p.m. to 300p.m. due
  to extreme heat
• Most offices outside Libreville arent air
  conditioned
• 30 of the population works for the state
• Many Gabonese work informal jobs like driving
  unregistered taxis, selling produce, or tailoring

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Transportation and Communications
Trans-Gabonese Railroad

• Extends 433 miles to connect Libreville to
  Franceville.
• Serves mainly as transportation for minerals and
  timber from inside the country to the port of
  Owendo.

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Transportation and Communications
Roads

• 4,300 miles of road with only approximately 650
  miles paved
• Heavy rains and flood-swollen rivers makes
  maintaining roads difficult
• Many city roads are now being upgraded

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Transportation and Communications
Ports

• PORT GENTIL
• Deep waters
• Well developed service infrastructure

• OWENDO
• Shallow waters
• End of the Trans-Gabonese railroad

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Transportation and Communications
Air Travel

• Ten airports with paved runways 49 with unpaved
• Air Gabon is the primary airline

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Transportation and Communications
Communications

• Telecommunications network run by the government/
  Office of Posts and Telecommunications (OPT)
• 1980s started a major infrastructure advancement

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Government and Legal Systems
The Gabon Government is a republic. The Gabonese
Democratic party has been in power since 1968.
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Government and Legal Systems
Prime Minister Jean-Francois Ntoutoume-Emane
President El Hadj Omar Bongo
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Government and Legal Systems

• Public law is upheld by the national police
• The president is protected by the Republican
  Guard

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Government and Legal Systems

• Gabon has many laws in the constitution to
  protect citizens.
• Many are similar to the rights in America
• Corrupt government does not always follow laws

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Types of Business Opportunities
Oil Production

• Gabon has a large supply of oil
• Not a member of OPEC
• Ease dependancy on the Middle East supplies

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Types of Business Opportunities
Forestry

• Renewable Resource
• Tropical Rainforests cover approximately 85 of
  the country
• Was primary industry until oil discovery in the
  1970s

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Types of Business Opportunities
Mining

• Gabon is fourth largest producer of high
  concentrate manganese ore
• Deposits of other minerals exist

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Types of Business Opportunities
Telecommunications

• The telecommunications market is set to be
  privatized
• Signifigant opportunities for communications
  services and suppliers of equipment.

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SUMMARY

• In conclusion, the already existing oil industry,
  the infrastructure advancements, such as the
  Trans-Gabonese railroad, positive relations
  between the United States and Gabon, and
  favorable weather conditions, makes Gabon an
  excellent location for the establishment of
  Atlantic Marine.

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Works Cited Aicardi de
Saint-Paul, Marc. Gabon The Development of a
Nation. London, New York Routledge,
1989. Background Note Gabon. U.S.
Department of State. 20 Sept. 2002
lthttp//www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2826pf.htmgt.
Barnes, James F. Gabon Beyond the Colonial
Legacy. Boulder, Summertown Westview
Press, 1992. Center for Disease Control.
Health Information for Travelers to Central
Africa. 18 Sept. 2002. lt
http//www.cdc.gov/travel/cafrica.htmgt CIA
World Factbook Gabon. Central Intelligence
Agency. 3 Sept. 2002 lthttp//www.cia.gov/cia
/publications/factbook/geos/gb.htmlgt. Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2002
Gabon. United States Embassy Stockholm.
March 2002. lthttp//www.usemb.se/human/2001/africa
/gabon.htmlgt Dao, James. In Quietly Courting
Africa, White House Likes Dowry. New York
Times 19 Sept. 2002 1. Proquest Direct.
Penn State Hazleton Lib., Hazleton, PA. 19
Sept. 2002 lthttp//www.lias.psu.edu/alalllib.htmlgt
. Dao, James. In West African Visits, Powell
Seeks to Prime Oil Pumps. New York Times 6
Sept. 2002, late ed. A9. Expedition Earth.
Expedition Earth Gabon. 18 Sept. 2002.
lthttp//expedition.bensenville.lib.il.usgt Gall,
Timothy L. Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily
Life. Detroit, MI Gale Research, 1998. Hill,
Charles W.L. Global Business Today (Second
Edition). New York McGraw-Hill Irwin,
2003. Jackson, Derrick Z. Powells Oil
Quest. Boston Globe 6 Sept. 2002 A. 19.
Proquest Direct. Penn State Hazleton Lib.,
Hazleton, PA. 8 Sept. 2002
lthttp//www.lias.psu.edu/alalllib.htmlgt. Oversea
s Business Reports (Gabon). University of
Missouri-St. Louis. 15 Nov. 2002. lthttp
umsl.edu/services/govdocs/obr/obr_003.htmgt Peace
Corps. Peace Corp Volunteers in Gabon. 7
Oct. 2002. lthttpwww.peacecorps.gov/countries
/gabon.index.cfmgt Thank
You Any Questions?