How will oil affect Madagascar's environmental riches?

Amid the hills of western Madagascar, villagers have long been aware of a thick sticky substance naturally seeping out of the ground.

But it is only recently that these unconventional oil deposits in the region of Melaky have attracted the attention of investors.
The rising prices of oil on world markets, coupled with new technologies aim to turn the Indian Ocean island - famous for its unique habitat and wildlife - into a significant oil producer.

Tsimiroro is extremely remote - even by the vast island's standards - and most of Madagascar Oil's estimated 100 employees are flown by small plane from the capital, Antanarivo, 300km (about 185 miles) to the east of the oil field.
"Currently I work three weeks on the site and get one week off," says a 48 year old oil worker as he arrives at Tsimiroro airstrip after a week in Antananarivo with his wife in children.

Tsimiroro, south of the town of Morafenobe, has proven reserves of 1.7bn barrels of heavy oil - buried some 100m to 200m beneath the mountainous region.

"Our main objective now is to demonstrate that this oil is a world class asset with a great commercial value," says Laurie Hunter, the British CEO of Madagascar Oil, which has oil concessions totalling 30,000 sq km in the region.
Oil is already being pumped in Tsimiroro but only on a very small scale.
A few dozens of barrels a day are produced - with the objective of reaching 1,000 barrels a day during 2013.
But unlike light crude oil, the hydro carbon in Tsimiroro is hard to extract.
A pilot scheme is due to start in November designed to validate high-tech methods needed to extract it.
The new technology is able to inject steam into the ground to soften the oil.
Commercial exploitation may still be years away, but the prospects of oil being produced in the impoverished country has raised a mix of expectations and concerns among Malagasy people.

-culled from bbc ( By Christophe Pons BBC World Service, Tsimiroro)