1.Front section - IUCN

Extractive industries as a new constituency for protected areas 2
© Bill Konstant/Conservation International
international mineral companies have a combined
market capitalization of US$224 billion (MMSD,
2002), while the single largest private sector oil
company, ExxonMobil, exceeds that with a market
capitalization of US$289 billion.
Moreover, oil and gas production is not only
important for the economies of producing nations, but
a critical strategic issue in international relations. For
those regions that will increasingly depend on nondomestic
supply of hydrocarbons to meet their
demand for energy, North America, Europe, China
and Japan, continued energy security is essential to
assure the health of their diversified economies.
Governments in these regions will promote
exploration and development of oil and gas reserves in
countries endowed with hydrocarbon resources,
Baimaxueshan, Yunnan Province, China.
encourage their national companies to secure assets
abroad, and seek to ensure that oil and gas energy
products flow onto the international market through
lending their support to the construction of
transboundary pipelines and the establishment of new
shipping routes.
Despite these differences in size and importance to
international affairs, the energy and mining industries
have some similar characteristics. A few very large
companies, known as ‘super majors’ or ‘majors’,
dominate both industries. Some have recognisable
brands: Alcoa, Alcan, AngloAmerican, Barrick, BG
Group, BHP Billiton, BP, ExxonMobil,
ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Newmont,
RioTinto, Shell, and Total. Other companies in this
size category are state-owned enterprises the names of
which are less well known: CVRD and Petrobras in
Brazil; Codelco in Chile; Petronas in Malaysia;
PetroChina and Sinopec in China; PetroEcuador and
PetroPeru in the Andean countries; Saudi Aramco of
Saudi Arabia; Statoil in Norway; Pertamina in
Indonesia; and Sonangol of Angola. These national
companies often control the industry in their home
countries and have significant market shares in
exploration and production globally. These ‘super
majors’ are usually integrated across commodities, in
the mining industry, and vertically in the energy
industry, with businesses in exploration and
production, transport, and retail. They operate, are
joint venture partners, or have interests in a large
number of operations worldwide.
At the other end of the size spectrum, small
companies, known as ‘juniors’ or ‘independents’, take
high risks in pursuit of profits. In the mining industry,
their business is to explore and discover new resources
and negotiate an interest in operating the mine
with a larger company. In the oil industry, the
‘independents’ specialize in finding and developing
fields that are of little interest to the larger companies
that are searching for a larger ‘prize’. The agent
binding all businesses in the sector is the desire to win
access to land to explore for oil, gas or minerals and
replace reserves – a measure of a company’s market
value. Often, the land the sector covets is in the very
same places that are cherished by conservationists for
their natural features.
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