MILAN, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Oil majors Shell and Eni will be carefully monitoring a first ruling this week by a Milan judge in one of the energy industry’s biggest corruption scandals for clues to what might be round the corner for them.

The two companies are embroiled in a long-running graft case revolving around the purchase in 2011 of one of Africa’s biggest oilfields – Nigeria’s OPL 245 – for about $1.3 billion.

The case, which involves Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and four former Shell managers including one-time Shell Foundation Chairman Malcolm Brinded, has spawned legal cases spanning several countries and is expected to drag on for months. read more

The trial starts this week, with defendants that include former Shell Vice President for sub-Saharan Africa Peter Robinson, and former company board member Malcolm Brinded.

BY JOHN SMITHIES, EPOCH TIMES September 17, 2018 Updated: September 17, 2018

LONDON—Senior executives from oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Eni are facing corruption charges in Milan over a $1.3 billion deal for a huge African oil field.

Italian prosecutors allege that $1.1 billion from the deal didn’t go to Nigeria, where the oil field OPL 245 is located, but to accounts belonging to former oil lawmaker Dan Etete. Etete is accused of subsequently distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to others as bribes, including to former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. read more

Time running out for prosecutors to obtain potentially crucial documents seized in Geneva apartment raid

Ben Chapman: @b_c_chapman

Giant oil companies, offshore accounts, ex-MI6 agents, champagne lunches, a former Nigerian president and allegations of one of the biggest bribes ever paid – the corruption case against Shell and Italy’s Eni filed by prosecutors in Milan over a shady $1.3bn deal for a vast African oil field has could have been lifted from the pages of an espionage thriller.

The latest developments thicken the plot further with a cache of documents seized in a raid on a Swiss financier’s apartment that could be crucial to the case, leaving prosecutors in a race against time to get them to Milan as trial hearings get underway this week.

The Geneva raid uncovered a briefcase belonging to Emeka Obi, a middleman who received millions of dollars from the deal and is in the dock along with several senior Shell and Eni executives.

Inside the briefcase, Swiss prosecutors found a laptop, two Nigerian passports, five sim cards and a hard drive containing 41,000 documents that prosecutors believe could be crucial to the trial playing out on the other side of the Alps. read more

Article published by The New York Times 16 Sept 2018

OIL INDUSTRY

Corruption trial of major oil companies resumes.

On Tuesday, the trial of two large oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni, is expected to resume at a court in Milan after a summer break. The first session would most likely be devoted to procedural issues, but prosecutors are expected to lay out their case in the weeks ahead. Prosecutors are charging the companies with corruption over a deal for an offshore oil exploration tract off Nigeria. Both companies have denied wrongdoing. read more

EMAIL BEING SENT THIS WEEKEND TO EVERY UK MP. 

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Hypocrisy

Justin Welby is in hot water again. He has criticised another controversial company, last time Wonga and this time the tax-shy Amazon. Both later embarrassingly revealed to be businesses in which the Church of England is an investor. 

BBC Newsnight aired a package on Friday 14 Sept drawing attention to the subject and the Church of England’s numerous questionable investments. In particular, its holdings in BP and Shell, both described as being toxic. 

I can speak with some authority in relation to the toxicity of Shell. read more

In evidence to the Committee, Shell stated that neither Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) nor Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) “is or was at any point in the past involved in OPL 245”. But a cache of leaked internal Shell emails tells a very different story. Far from being “uninvolved”, RDS — the London-registered company at the pinnacle of the Shell group — appears to have the controlling mind behind the important decisions relating to Shell’s involvement in OPL 245.

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK, SEP 11, 2018

Anti-corruption groups are calling for an urgent inquiry into what would appear to be highly misleading statements made by Shell in evidence to an investigation by the 2012 Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives into the corrupt OPL 245 oil bloc deal.

In evidence to the Committee, Shell stated that that neither Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) nor Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) “is or was at any point in the past involved in OPL 245”.

But a cache of leaked internal Shell emails tells a very different story. Far from being “uninvolved”, RDS — the London-registered company at the pinnacle of the Shell group — appears to have the controlling mind behind the important decisions relating to Shell’s involvement in OPL 245. read more

A British criminal lawyer, Michael Birnbaum QC, who observed the trial, concluded that it was deeply unfair. “The judgement of the Tribunal is not merely wrong, illogical or perverse. It is downright dishonest. The Tribunal consistently advanced arguments which no experienced lawyer could possibly believe to be logical or just. I believe that the Tribunal first decided on its verdict and then sought for arguments to justify them. No barrel was too deep to be scraped.”

Extracts from pages 33 & 34 of an Amnesty International document entitled: “A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE? SHELL’S INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NIGERIA IN THE 1990s”

OGONI 9: UNFAIR TRIAL AND EXECUTION

On 6 February 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Dr Barinem Kiobel and the other prisoners were allowed to see their lawyers for the first time since their arrest in May the previous year.136 They were put on trial by a specially constituted tribunal – The Civil Disturbances Tribunal. Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, and Saro-Wiwa’s deputy in MOSOP, Ledum Mitee, were accused of inciting the murders. The other men were accused of carrying them out. They all faced the death penalty and were denied the chance to appeal. read more

…clearly, they cannot absolve themselves of responsibility because they (Shell) brought in the soldiers to Ogoniland…In the last seven days, at least 50 persons excluding children died in Gokana alone… It appears a strategy for Shell to use the fear of death to compel our people to give up on the oil… The company (Shell) has in their racist conduct of business in Ogoniland carted away over $100 billion worth of oil, completely destroyed the environment and now unwilling to cleanup the mess from its operations. read more

By John Donovan

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has refused to reconsider its extraordinary decision barring a Nigerian activist widow Esther Kiobel, from obtaining Royal Dutch Shell discovery documents from a U.S. case, held by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, for litigation she is pursuing against the oil and gas giant in the Dutch courts.

Her husband, Dr. Barinem Kiobel, was one of the “Ogoni 9,” executed by the then Nigerian military regime on false charges. Esther Kiobel holds Shell complicit in his hanging. read more

..reacting to the allegation of intimidation, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations Manager of Shell, denied use of force to compel the company’s host communities to sign the JIV report.

27 August 2018

The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta and oil major, Shell on Monday denied allegations of coercing the leadership of Aghoro 1 community in Bayelsa to sign a disputed report on oil spillage. FULL ARTICLE

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors including Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG providing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11 billion) in cost.

By Elena Mazneva and Anna Shiryaevskaya | Bloomberg
August 27 at 12:00 AM

A planned new natural-gas pipeline into Europe from Russia is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, worries leaders in Eastern Europe, has stirred the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump and has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the hot seat. FULL ARTICLE read more

By RestCo Principal Christopher Ives

Shell Nigeria recovers 95% spilled oil (Aug 20, 2018)

My colleague Darry MacMahon wrote – Pardon my skepticism, but how would they know? I’m making some assumptions here, based on typical oil industry and pipeline operation practice.

If you come up with a ratio number, like 95%, you need two underlying numbers: the amount recovered and the amount actually spilled.

The people doing the clean-up might have a reasonable number on how much they picked up. That number will likely be a little inflated, as they will also likely have picked up some water and small debris as part of the clean-up. Big vacuum units are not good at discriminating between oil and other things in and around the oil. So, the numerator is likely overstated. read more

Shell says it recovers 95% spilled oil in Bayelsa, Delta communities

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC)… acknowledged the spills and expressed regret over the incidents.

August 20, 2018: Agency Report

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) says it has recovered more than 95 per cent of spilled oil from the recent incidents in Bayelsa and Delta states.

SPDC Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, made this known in a statement he issued on Sunday in Port Harcourt.

Mr Odugbesan said that recoveries were made on sections of the Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) in Aghoro community, Bayelsa and Odimodi community, Delta.

He said that the pipeline, which remained shut-in since the incidents, supplied crude to the SPDC Joint Venture-owned Forcados Oil Terminal in western Niger Delta for export. read more

Renewal of Shell’s Ogoni Mining Rights: An Insult on our Collective Dignity MOSOP

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has reacted to the news of the renewal of Shell”s mining rights in Ogoni saying it comes as a shock and an insult on the collective dignity of the Ogoni people. read more

Shell Sees Gas as Answer in Nigeria After Decades of Oil Strife

After decades of difficulties in Nigeria over crude theft, pollution and oil-related corruption, Royal Dutch Shell Plc still feels optimistic a fossil fuel can improve life in the country. The Anglo-Dutch oil major is seeking to develop Nigeria’s domestic energy market around natural gas. It’s plentiful, harder to steal, better for the environment and can underpin a robust industrial sector that could potentially employ thousands…

Royal Dutch Shell plc “Shell-shocked” over Tax Structure Criticism

… it is reported that 45 billion euros of dividends have been paid via this arrangement, saving 7 billion euros in Dutch withholding tax. The question arises whether those claiming the Dutch parliament and the European Commission should launch a formal investigation have a leg to stand on. read more

Nigerian Government and Shell Should be Ashamed of Ogoni Pollution Rather Than Publicize It – MOSOP

7 AUGUST 2018

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says the Nigerian government and the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited aught to be ashamed of their conduct in Ogoniland rather than speaking of cleanup plans for Ogoni as an achievement.

Nsuke spoke yesterday in Bori, Khana local government area of Rivers State during an interactive session with Ogoni youths. The MOSOP spokesperson said it was absurd to celebrate a shameful conduct like we have seen with Shell in Ogoniland. “Shell polluted the area and denied any wrongdoing, now a scientific report has unveiled the misconduct they hid for over 50 years“. “It is quite unfortunate that after over 50 years of polluting Ogoniland, our government and Shell do not understand that they should be apologizing to the Ogoni People and hurry to restore the land” he said. Nsuke further said “Shell and Nigeria’s conduct over the Ogoni issue is a shame because the government and Shell have watched over the destruction of Ogoniland and now want us to celebrate them because they want to use the cleanup to nichodimously resume oil production in Ogoni”. He maintained that Shell must be brought to justice over the more than 4000 Ogonis that have died from state-sponsored persecution and terminal diseases which now threaten every individual living in Ogoni Nsuke called on the government and Shell to compensate the Ogoni People for their losses, respect the rights of the Ogoni people as outlined in the Ogoni Bill of Rights, decriminalize the 9 innocent Ogonis including Ken Saro-Wiwa whom they hanged on November 10, 1995 and stop further abuses of the Ogoni People.

Disclaimer

The views, information, allegations or opinions expressed above are those of the author of the article. They have not been substantiated by the publisher of this website and may not represent the publishers views. read more

Professor Richard Steiner (University of Alaska, ret.), a marine scientist and oil spill expert from Alaska who has worked on oil spills in the Niger Delta for many years, says the 2018 Aghoro spill is yet another tragic example of Shell’s reckless treatment of the Niger Delta environment and people. 

Scientists Call for Shell’s Immediate Response to Large Oil Spill from Trans-Ramos Pipeline in Niger Delta, Nigeria

Monday August 6, 2018

After more than 50 years of continuous oil spills into Nigeria’s Niger Delta, Shell oil recently caused yet another large oil spill, this time in and around the village of Aghoro, Bayelsa State (Niger Delta).  

On Thursday, May 17, 2018 (although some reports state the spill began much earlier, on April 24, 2018), the Aghoro community experienced a significant oil spill due to a mechanical failure in Shell’s 24” Trans-Ramos Pipeline across Bayelsa State.  

Dr. Ebikeme Festus Odubo, an Environmental Consultant and a Regulator in the United States, who also is from Aghoro Community, recently visited the spill site to examine the spill’s effects first hand.  “The impact of the ecological devastation from this oil spill on the community, its citizens, and our way of life is tremendous.  This tranquil community of fisherman, farmers and people who, for centuries, have relied upon our natural resources for life-sustaining purposes will be changed forever,” stated Dr. Odubo. read more