Big Men

Everyone wants to be part of the ‘big boys’. Small American company Kosmos Energy nearly succeeds when a huge oil field is discovered in Ghana. They invest in the oil field and promise the Ghanaian population to share the revenues on a fair basis. But the crisis, corruption and a changing political climate queer the pitch.

The discovery of a huge oil field in 2007 could have been a major turning point for poor Ghana. Oil is scarce, prices are still high and so there are big interests at stake. The country is looking for investors to finance oil extraction and small Texan company Kosmos Energy seems set to get a slice of the cake. But when the crisis hits Kosmos Energy has to call upon big players like Enron for help. Furthermore, a new government comes to power in Ghana that takes no notice of previously made arrangements. The film investigates what it means for an African country to possess a sought-after resource, citing Nigeria as a notorious example of what can go wrong: militants there are engaged in an oil war with large corporations like Shell. The huge oil revenues from the Niger Delta do not flow back to the civilians and welfare has hardly increased, which cannot be said of the inequalities. Soon, Ghana gets off track due to corruption, greed, conflicting interests and abuse of power, raising the question whether the discovery of oil is a blessing or a curse for the African population.