Wall Street is an invisible partner in Shell’s plunder: happy to enjoy the spoils, deaf to the spoils of war Shell waged on Nigeria’s environment
Cue the confetti: Shell is finally packing its bags after 87 years in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. But before anyone applauds, note that the oil giant is slipping out the back door largely to avoid cleaning up the monumental mess it created, all while still clinging to the profitable parts of the business. In a $2.8 billion “exit” deal announced in January, Shell agreed to sell its onshore Nigerian subsidiary to a local consortium called Renaissance. How noble—except Shell isn’t really riding off into the sunset. The company generously decided to loan the buyers $1.2 billion to help them purchase Shell’s assets and will pony up another $1.3 billion to fund future cleanup and gas projects. Why would an exiting company invest further? Perhaps because those projects conveniently benefit Shell’s remaining 25.6% stake in Nigeria’s gas enterprise. In other words, Shell is getting paid to “leave” while secretly keeping a foot in the door and a hand in the cookie jar.