The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), a U.K. and Ireland-based pressure group, says it has made a formal complaint to the Irish government about oil exploration firm San Leon Energy and its activities in the disputed territory of Western Sahara...

In its complaint, GLAN alleges that San Leon failed to secure the consent of the Western Saharan people (also known as the Sahrawi) before drilling for oil on their land, thereby contravening their human rights...

San Leon [...] has a stake in a number of exploration licenses including the Tarfaya and Zag licenses in Western Sahara...

In its annual report for 2017, San Leon said it was in “ongoing discussions” with the Moroccan authorities over the Zag license. The company said ONHYM had contacted it during the year “to take control of the bank guarantee on Zag and to request a further payment for work not performed”... [I]t believed the situation “should be subject to force majeure due to the security situation”. It also said there was no activity currently planned “on any other Moroccan assets” and the carrying values of those assets, including both Tarfaya and Zag, was reported at zero.

San Leon did not respond to questions for this article about its activities in Morocco or Western Sahara...