Kannvas Oil
Clearing the competition in oil manufacturing is Kannvas Oil, an oanie owned and operated business. The company is based in Hothiri, with a handful of subsidiary organisations operating on other planets.
The company was founded in 2899, 129 years before present date on Karkhala. Kannvas Oil has seen its ups and downs, recently caught in major controversies over its new nuclear investments.
The company harvests, refines, and distributes crude oil across the Milky Way, mostly around the Greater Oasis. Living conditions of the on-site workers raise more than a few eyebrows, with thousands petitioning through online spaces for these workers to unionise, protecting their rights and improve factory conditions.
History
Founding
Hothiri was claimed by Karkhala in 2877, investors and businesses drooling over a new planet with nigh infinite resources. Markan Kannvas, a millionare businessman with several prior successful business endeavours, saw an opportunity to break into a new market. As an already well-established commercialist, he had no trouble navigating the web of legal affairs in order to secure the rights to a new company.
He shuttled a thousand workers from his five existing businesses to Kannvas Oil, promising a significant pay rise and free housing, so long as they lived on-site on this brand new planet. Some were sceptical, others scared, and a few were overjoyed at the prospect of an exciting life on a tropical ocean planet.
Expansion
As the company continued to harvest pockets of crude oil nestled below the vast coral reefs, further stretches of the black gold were discovered even deeper below the surface. Kannvas Oil was quick to invest in newer, more advanced machinery that would allow them to reach further into the ground.
One factory turned into five, each one bigger and better than the last. Employee count tripled, forcing people to work longer hours for less pay, and living conditions became cramped and uncomfortable.
Findan Saodao
Findan Saodoa was one of a thousand employees working tirelessly to feed the endless greedy hands of Kannvas Oil.
After watching his close friend suffer a fatal accident at work, Findan made a daring escape and broke out of the heavily armed facility he was forced to call home. After hijacking a small cargo ship with enough supplies to last a lifetime, Findan set sail in the dark of the night.
Findan fled the company in 2987, and his whereabouts and status is unknown. Kannvas Oil initially led a search party to try and capture Findan, but after six months of pointless venture, they gave up and declared Findan dead. That was until a small green bottle, laced with gold imprints, washed up on Iroquet.
This bottle contained a small note, handwritten by Findan himself. It openly criticised the company he once worked for, claiming the company fumbled after the death of his close friend. In the next two weeks, three more diary entries washed up on the shores of different islands, summarising his night-time adventures around various Night Islands.
Findan and his friend's story raised concerns with the company's workers, worrying their lives were too at risk. Kannvas Oil released several statements claiming there was nothing that could have been done to save the worker's life, but nobody bought it.
Concerns raised began to brew up and cause even bigger issues. A number of workers began refusing to leave their on-site apartments out of fear for their personal safety.
Don't look for me. You will not find me. I have enough resources to keep me alive on this godforsaken planet til the day I die. If anyone reads this, Kannvas Oil is a scam. Rotten to the core. I watched as my friend was boiled to death in a distillation chamber. You know what the company did? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I can't support our people anymore. I don't even know why we need this much oil. I hear whispers about the people on our home planet building some kind of weapon of mass destruction... but it's not worth it.
Worker Strikes & Unionising
The first true worker strikes took place in 2988, just a year after Findan disappeared. The first organised strike took place among the workers of the Brightreef Factory, the oldest location under Kannvas Oil. Fifty-five workers, more than half of the building's population, refused to work for more than two weeks, advocating for safer working conditions, with stricter health and safety guidelines and adequate facilities.
Workers from three other factories all went on strikes periodically throughout the next five years, joining the Karkhalan Workers Union, an organisation designed to help workers under the thousands of Karkhalan multi-planetary businesses and corporations, employing tens of millions across the Milky Way.
The union fought back against Kannvas Oil, and several months of tough negotiations eventually led to higher health and safety standards, updated safety protocols and precautions, as well as improved sanitation. Things still weren't perfect, though. Conditions were still undeniably difficult, working hours extending from before sunrise to after sunset, for minimal pay. The union is still fighting against Kannvas Oil to this day.
Crude Oil on Hothiri
Crude oil is plentiful on Hothiri, especially around the shallow tropical reefs and the Night Islands. Massive oil reservoirs occasionally leak through the ground, revealing their location. Specialised machinery is used by the company to detect reservoirs deeper underground, hidden under millions of years of sediment buildup.
The factories are built on top of these reservoirs, using giant siphons to suck the oil from the ground. Hydraulic fracturing is used to extract oil and gas from massive stretches of shale and other rock deep under the seabed.
These extraction processes have been detrimental to the wildlife around the reefs. Oil leakage is one of the biggest causes of water pollution on Hothiri, causing countless species to suffer as a result. Noise pollution has caused millions of animals to flee the area, causing ripples in ecosystems in different regions across the planet.
Eco-Friendly Attempt
Kannvas Oil recently debuted its first eco-friendly factory, run on solar and lunar energy. The factory also features muffled siphons and fracturing machines to prevent as much noise pollution as possible, and oil leakage is minimal.
This factory was built after serious concerns over the planet and its welfare. While the oanie don't generally display concern over their planets, Hothiri has been an exception due to how valuable its resources are. Kannvas Oil is now in the process of rebuilding every factory to become eco-friendly, in order to preserve the planet while still stripping it of all of its resources.
I really hope working conditions here get better :c
Let's hope so!