CORRECTION APPENDED

As Andrew Gould, the chairman and CEO of oil services firm Schlumberger Limited, addressed a packed Yenching auditorium yesterday during a panel on “The Future of Energy,” he faced some tough questions from members of the Harvard Divestment Action Group (HDAG) regarding the company’s alleged connections to the ongoing genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. [CORRECTION APPENDED]

HDAG is targeting Schlumberger for divestment because of the company’s ties to the Sudanese oil industry. According to a report by the Sudan Divestment Task Force—a national activist group that HDAG is a member of—Schlumberger has increased the number of oil rigs it has in Sudan by 400% since the start of the genocide in 2003.

Schlumberger’s “extensive placement of oil rigs in Sudan” led the state of Maine to divest from the company in early 2006.

According to Harvard’s most recent regulatory filings filed on Feb. 9, the University held 82,694 shares in Schlumberger stock, valued at approximately $5.7 million as of the end of trading yesterday.

During a question and answer session following the panel, Gould was asked about his company’s increasing presence in Sudan, to which he responded, “the information on the oileries is erroneous.”

Gould went on to say that the data came from an industry-wide report and Schlumberger’s operations had in reality increased by less than that.

When asked how he plans to deal with the political and economic risks of Schlumberger’s Sudan presence, Gould maintained that the company “does not have a relationship with the Sudanese government.”

“A presence in any country is characterized by a long-term commitment regardless of the regime.” Gould said.

Brandeis sophomore Daniel Millenson, the head of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, said in a phone interview last night that Schlumberger has ties—indirectly—to the Sudanese government through oil consortiums the firm participates in with native Sudanese companies.

What Gould said about direct ties is “technically correct, but it is disingenuous,” Millenson said.

According to Millenson, Schlumberger is one of the companies that has been enlisted by the Sudanese government to provide the expertise necessary to effectively use available oil reserves. He said that profits from these oil reserves are used to cover Sudanese military expenses.

“Over 70% percent of oil revenues go towards Sudan’s military expenditures. Genocide is not cheap,” Millenson said.

Peter N. Ganong ’09, an HDAG member, said he thought that Gould “obviously had answers prepared on the topic but he ignored the content of our questions.”

Going into the panel, Ganong said that “if they were to convincingly provide evidence that they have a corporate governance policy—for instance, that they would pressure president Bashir to change his policies or provide aid to the camps of displaced people—they would not be targeted.”

But given what he characterized as Gould’s staged and elusive responses, Ganong said that HDAG “will continue working with the University to adopt the targeted divestment plan.”

Currently, HDAG’s petition has 1236 signatures, most from Harvard affiliates.

—Staff writer Yelena S. Mironova can be reached at mironova@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

The March 23 article "Activists Target Oil CEO at Talk" gave the incorrect name for the Harvard Darfur Action Group.