In tracking the supply chain from Azerbaijan to Israel through the BTC pipeline and the marine shipments of BP’s oil to Israel, we recognise how political lobbying and BP’s social licences are also an integral part to this supply chain.
As investigated by Declassified, BP’s biggest exploration licences – including in Iraq, Nigeria, Venezuela and Libya – have been obtained through driving British support for neo-colonial wars in those countries and conspiring with the MI6.
As one relevant example, the MI6 was reportedly involved in the two coups of 1992 and 1993 in Azerbaijan that catalysed the rise of Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s President who oversaw the “Contract of the Century” which led to the BTC pipeline. From 2015 to 2022, Sir John Sawers, former head of MI6, even sat on BP’s board.
When Sawers’ appointment was announced, it became evident that BP was relying on the intelligence and diplomacy experience of the former special representative for Britain in Iraq, deepening the extensive crossover between BP and the British establishment.
More recently, BP has concealed lucrative, multi-million dollar deals with little scrutiny by lobbying former and current British MPs. Most notably Stephen Crabb, former MP and parliamentary chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel was given Wimbledon tickets by BP in July 2022 just five months before Israel organised the tender for gas exploration licences in Gaza in December 2022. We can only speculate as to the purpose of Crabb’s attendance as BP’s guest, however, it reveals the secretive and intimate dealings between BP and British state actors.
The normalisation of government figures being wined and dined by oil companies shows how Britain’s political establishment, whether Tory or Labour, is equally as open to the tempting, corrupting and clandestine lobbying offers of big business.
Beyond the corridors of Westminster, BP also entrenches itself into our everyday lives through its social licence to operate, bolstering its influence within society at large.
In BP’s own words, this social licence is important because it “makes people buy our products, apply for our vacancies, invest in our shares, or accept our presence in their communities.” Generating widespread acceptance of an image of their company as a force for good is vital for the formulation of BP as a legitimate enterprise.
A key event that illustrates the role of social licences in risk management within the supply chain is BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This explosion resulted in mass chemical poisoning of residents, the death of 11 workers, and years of damage to marine life. Despite initial costs, there was no impact on BP’s long term stock market performance.
Following the oil spill, BP sponsored a 10-year research and community engagement project entitled the “Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative” in an attempt to reconstruct its legitimacy and regain its social and political licences.
Through the initiative, scientists handpicked by BP framed its oil extraction as necessary for a functioning society, and failed to mention ‘climate change’ even once during the delivery of the synthesis publications used in community outreach. This demonstrates BP’s reliance on universities and scientists to shape public narratives and market BP-made catastrophes as unavoidable accidents.
Companies frequently use their social licence to take the lead in global expansion, acting as key players of empire rather than simply doing the dirty work of states. It is essential that our movements begin to move towards strategies that frame corporations at the heart of empire in this way.
In mainstream academic and tactical discourse, fuel supply chains are viewed in their physical form, from the extraction through to the tracking of jet fuel and where it docks. While this is correct and an important aspect of adding pressure to wherever jet fuel lands, it neglects the role of the social licence.
Manufactured consent through social licensing exists in every part of the supply chain. University scholarships and career fairs supply BP with young undergraduates turned petroleum and pipeline engineers who work at the point of extraction, to Arts, Museum and sports sponsorships that act as a playground for BP to woo foreign governments for drilling permits. Targeting social licences in the imperial core, where this genocide is fuelled, allows us to revoke our consent from all points of the supply chain.