News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Two human right groups staged a peaceful protest rally yesterday in remembrance of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni people who were killed on November 10, 1995. The members of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum and the United Action for Democracy protested in front of the Shell headquarters in Marina, Lagos.
Click to continue reading “Human right groups ask Shell to leave Nigeria”
Among the documents lodged with the New York court was a 1994 letter from Shell in which it agreed to pay a unit of the Nigerian army for services rendered. The unit had retrieved one of the company’s fire trucks from the village of Korokoro – an action that according to reports at the time left one Ogoni man dead and two wounded. Shell wrote it was making the payment “as a show of gratitude and motivation for a sustained favourable disposition in future assignments”.
Click to continue reading “Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing”
Shell spokesperson Robin Lebovitz said via email, “The allegations made in the complaints against Royal Dutch/Shell concerning the 1995 executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight fellow Ogonis are false and without merit. Shell in no way encouraged or advocated any act of violence against them or their fellow Ogonis.”
Click to continue reading “Nigerians get their day in court to fight oil companies”
The demonstration marked the 13th anniversary of the death of Saro-Wiwa. As reported in Student Direct, Shell has recently joined forces with the University of Manchester to develop biofuels.
This week saw the anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others by the Shell-backed Nigerian dictatorship in 1995, and business people from Mayo would be better served by inviting someone from the Niger Delta to tell them what sort of company Shell is
Click to continue reading “Shell to Sea Campaign protest plans for this weekend”
Lawyers for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights accuse the company of conspiring to torture and murder opponents in a pattern of human rights abuses.
Click to continue reading “Son takes on Shell to avenge dad’s death”
A suit similar to Bowoto’s, filed against Royal Dutch Shell by Nigerians including relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and activist hanged by the military regime in 1995, is scheduled to go to trial in New York in February.
Click to continue reading “Chevron faces suit over Nigerian violence”
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood set 9 February 2009 as the date for a trial stemming from two lawsuits accusing Shell of being complicit in decisions by Nigeria’s military government to hang oil industry opponents.
By Kingsley Nwezeh, 10.10.2008
The family of the slain writer and Ogoni rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, has said the impending trial of oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum, in the United States over the 1995 hanging of Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists is a big relief.
THISDAY had reported yesterday that after several years of litigation, the trial of Royal Dutch Shell for alleged complicity in the murder of Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists will be held next year.
The case entitled Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Shell and Wiwa v. Anderson concerns the November 10, 1995 hangings of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) known as “Ogoni Nine” and the shooting of a woman protesting the bulldozing of her farm by Shell in preparation for a pipeline project.
Justice Kimba Wood of the New York District Court had ruled that the trial would commence on February 9, 2009.
Officials of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the Nigerian arm of the company, were unwilling to react to the development last night.
A source said only Shell International could respond to the issue.
But reacting to the development, the family of late Saro-Wiwa said the news about the commencement of the trial was a relief to those whose rights were abused in the oil bearing communities of the Niger Delta region.
The family said in a statement yesterday that it was encouraged by the news that after 12 years Saro-Wiwa’s insistence that Shell would one day have its day in court had been finally vindicated.
“The family and all those who have had their human rights abused in resource bearing communities are humbled and greatly encouraged by this news. It is a relief that after 12 years, we have finally vindicated Ken Saro-Wiwa’s insistence that “Shell will one day have its day in court,” the statement said.
According to the family, the development in the US was an indication that non-violence and strict adherence to the rule of law remained the foundation of true justice even as it maintained that the legacy of injustice posed danger to lives, the environment and energy security in the Niger Delta region and beyond.
“We hope, ultimately, that this will reinforce the message that non-violence and the rule of law are the foundations of true justice especially at a time when the unacceptable legacy of injustice poses a clear and present danger to lives, the environment and energy security in the Niger Delta and around the globe,” it said.
The family expressed gratitude to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) for its persistence in the search for justice.
“We welcome the decision of the judge and would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Center for Constitutional Rights and other people of conscience who have stayed the course,î it said.
According to documents made available by EarthRights International, one of the counsel, Shell allegedly engaged in acts of oppression against peaceful opposition to the company’s environmental damage and human rights abuses in the Ogoni area.
The action was brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO)
The defendants dismissed the complaints of lack of personal jurisdiction over Royal/Shell and lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
According to the defendants, ACTA did not apply to a corporation and the claim was precluded by the political questions and act of state doctrines as well Nigerian law on corporate liability.
They also argued that the case should be heard in the Netherlands or England.
But on September 25, 1998, Judge Wood ruled that personal jurisdiction was appropriate in New York but also ruled that England was a more convenient forum and therefore that the defendant’s motion to dismiss should be granted for inconvienient forum.
Both plaintiffs and defendants appealed and cross-appealed prompting the Court of Appeal on September 15, 2000 to reverse the District Courtís inconvienient forum dismissal thereby concluding that the US was the proper forum.
The court further upheld the district court’s ruling that jurisdiction over the defendants was proper.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=124802
The Associated Press
Published: October 9, 2008
Shell was once a major driller in Nigeria’s oil-rich Ogoni region. The lawsuit alleged Shell made payments and provided arms to security forces that it knew was abusive to local communities.
A Shell lawyer said at a hearing Tuesday that the plaintiffs have never identified anyone with personal knowledge of the allegations in the lawsuit.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/08/business/NA-US-Shell-Nigeria.php
: Dear IMBer, or IBMer, or whatever - if you can explain to me the difference between the two quoted press release examples of geophysical applications in reasoned scientific terms, I shall be more than happy to admit to being a amateur geophysicist (not geologist). Perhaps it is you who is confused. Geophysics and Geology are not the same - close bed fellows, yes - but not the same. If so, then it is you who should get out your needles, wool and get on with "one plain, two purl" rather than embarking on such a commentary.
: Shellwaarbenjijnu has no clue what he/she is talking about. Probably some amateur geologist who wants to be important on the blog. Try to stick to your knitting!
: Paying over 7 mln $ to get rid of this monster of a woman shows how deeply Shell has sunk. She was a stealer of ideas. She was the ultimate token woman, a disgrace to her gender and it has put off many high quality women to pursue a career in Shell. Her disgusting behaviour of being the slave of Watts was evident to all. This latest scandal makes it clear she should never have been promoted to were she ended up. Another costly mistake of Shell. And the top echelon? They know no shame anymore and carry on with more spin stories as usual.
: Perhaps Voser will pull the same trick on Brinded as Watts did on v.d.Vijver. Watts announced that reserves would grow by 5% and that Walter would explain how.... The rest is history. I can only hope that history will repeat itself and Brinded finally gets fired for his gross underperformance and sustained bullshit. Perhaps I have said so before: never trust a man with facial hair.... I shall be watching the announcements how they will increase production with great interest.
: THE ARTICLE "Donovan email to Gavin White, Shell International Limited: 10 March 2010" has been updated with a self-explanatory email reply received on 11 March from Richard Wiseman, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
: The Forbes article implies that by stopping sales of gasoline to Iran, Shell is complying with US sanctions. Shell's investments in the upstream sector in Iran are not mentioned, even though these are of far greater significance for both Shell and the Iranians.
: Amnesty International has been an informed and courageous critic of Human Rights abuses around the world for many decades and they are certainly not adverse to criticising governments in Nigeria, Burma, Zimbabwe and all around the world. The point about international companies like Shell is that they have a choice. They are not obliged to operate anywhere if they find that the local conditions are in conflict with their principles. Amnesty’s recent criticisms of Shell have certainly been strong and I am aware that in Shell there is a feeling that they have been unfair and to some extent uninformed. So a dialogue between Amnesty and Shell is very much to be welcomed. Amnesty is a highly respected organisation – indeed a former top executive of Shell, Sir Geoffrey Chandler, was a senior officer of Amnesty in his post Shell years.
: Same old, same old. Amnesty International and their human rights again go for the soft underbelly of the international companies rather than the real problem in Nigeia which is their corrupt Government. Good on Shell for attending and agrreing to being questioned. BUT, surprise, surprise nobody from the Nigerian Government (perhaps they didn't get enough of a bribe to appear or perhaps Amnesty knew they would get nowhere with them). Pollution in the Niger Delta remains a problem, albeit that conditions are slowly improving. Living conditions, infrastructure and most other normal day-to-day things should be the responsibility of the corrupt Government not international oil companies. These evil governments such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Burma need to be bought down by the UN so that their people might have a better chance of a reasonable life.
: Very polite correspondence between Wiseman and the Donovans. I estimate Wiseman's hourly internal tariff at around 500 U$ per hour (his salary plus support plus extensive overheads). Over the years Shell must have spent a fortune discussing the Donovans, putting the most expensive lawyers on the case, and developing policy how to battle them. It becomes Churchillian: 'we will fight them on the web, and in the courtrooms, and in their own offices and on the streets. But we wil NEVER surrender. With unlimited funds this maybe so, but it is wasting shareholders money and it solves nothing. I do not see the Donovans give up anytime soon. So perhaps a new paradigm needs to be developed? Any ordinary man or woman at the coalface would solve this problem within minutes and for less money than what is being burned now. But the Shell kings are no ordinary people, they live in cloud cuckoo land. I will keep following with great interest how all this develops, it is even better than the daily Dilbert!!!
: W.E. Pratt knew it already a hundred years ago when he said "Oil is found in the minds of men" But he was one of the founders of the Standard Oil company, whereas the people who try to make us believe that IBM can come to the rescue of Shell appear to be only good at getting rid of their most experienced minds.
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