Floating Gas, Sunken Ethics
The Financial Times lauds Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) plants, such as the one moored off Congo, as ingenious solutions for Europe's energy demands. The narrative frames these mobile behemoths as efficient bypasses to traditional infrastructure, ensuring a steady gas supply and bolstering 'energy security' amidst geopolitical shifts. The advanced technology allowing gas extraction,
liquefaction, and export directly from sea is presented as a marvel of modern engineering. Yet, this celebration of technological 'progress' deliberately neglects the pattern of resource extraction in the Global South. This isn’t innovation; it’s a re-packaging of colonial-era resource grabs, echoing the 1884 Berlin Conference where European powers carved up Africa without a single African
representative present. These floating factories enable corporations to evade the often-complex land-based regulations, environmental impact assessments, and community negotiations that would typically be required, leaving host nations with minimal oversight and maximum ecological risk. The promise of economic benefit frequently collapses into localized pollution and displacement, with profits
repatriated to the Global North. This arrangement is branded as 'cutting-edge' by those who profit from it, but offers the same old wounds to countries like Congo, whose resource wealth has historically fueled European industry while its people remain mired in poverty. The 'security' Europe gains is built on an insecure foundation for the extracting nations, a consistent theme since the scramble