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

…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

..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

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.

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

“It is a shameful thing that the people in Ogoni are dying by the day and Shell and the Nigerian government through HYPREP are busy calling press conferences and explaining their endless preparations”. read more

By John Donovan

The New York Law Journal has published an article about the recent outcome of an appeal heard by the U.S. Appeals Court regarding over 100,000 discovery documents assembled by Shell in the USA for an action brought against Shell by Esther Kiobel.

That litigation, which began some 22 years ago, ended with a U.S. Supreme Court decision on subject-matter jurisdiction grounds.

In June 2017, Esther Kiobel switched the same basic litigation to the Dutch Courts and tried to obtain the Shell discovery stored in a secure warehouse by Shell’s American law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore. read more

MOSOP Condemn Shell, Nigerian Military Over Repression of Ogoni Farmers

We are deeply saddened that the repression of our people continue unabated as soldiers attached to SPDC continue to harass our women and farmers and prevent them from accessing their farmlands, destroying crops and forcefully lay pipelines through Ogoni farms. read more

By Egufe Yafugborhi

Port Harcourt — Communities in Bayelsa State impacted by May 17 oil spillage from Shell Petroleum Development Company’s, SPDC, Trans-Ramos Pipeline have vowed to disrupt repairs on the key asset over perceived biased Joint Investigation Visit, JIV. However, Bamidele Odugbean, in a Shell feedback, said it would be hasty and unfair for any party to question the JIV process that was yet to be concluded, adding that the issues with relief materials would be looked into. FULL ARTICLE read more

Two Ogoni fishermen have described how they were arrested by members of the police unit seconded to guard Shell personnel and installations (known as the Supernumerary or SPY police) on 22 June 1994. In a letter faxed to journalists after their release
from prison in October 1998, Kagbara Bassee and Blessing Israel said that the police arrested them at Benson Beach, Akwa Ibon State. They said that the police officers, who were accompanied by Shell staff, beat them with batons, knocking Blessing Israel unconscious.

Extracts from pages 27, 28 & 29 of an Amnesty International document headed: “A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE? SHELL’S INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NIGERIA IN THE 1990s”

In July 1994, the Dutch ambassador told Shell Nigeria’s then chairperson Brian Anderson that the army had killed some 800 Ogonis.

EXTRACT BEGINS

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT OF DETAINEES

During this time, numerous people – mostly from Ogoniland – were detained and held in military-run camps and subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Many were arbitrarily arrested and detained without charge for varying periods in 1994 and 1995 at either Bori Military Camp, in Port Harcourt, or the military detention centre set up in what used to be the police station in Kpor, in Ogoniland.102

Two environmentalists (Oronto Douglas and Nick Ashton-Jones) who went to visit Ledum Mitee, the MOSOP vice-president, in detention in the Bori Military Camp, on 26 June 1994, have described how they were detained, flogged and threatened with execution, on Paul Okuntimo’s orders.103 Nick Ashton-Jones described his experience: read more

Shell Subsidiary to Pay $3.8 Million for 2016 Gulf Spill

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The May 11, 2016, spill of nearly 2,000 barrels (317974.6 liters) occurred about 97 miles (156 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast.

The New Orleans Advocate, citing court documents, reports that an investigation pointed to a leak in a piping system that is used to transport oil from a production well on the sea floor.

The settlement isn’t final. It must first be published in the Federal Register and have a 30-day public comment period before it can get final approval from a federal judge. read more

Esther Kiobel poses with a picture of her beloved late husband, Dr. Barinem Kiobel, one of “Ogoni 9” executed by Nigeria’s military government after a peaceful uprising against Shell in 1995. Photograph: Amnesty International

29 June 2018

Esther says Amnesty activists have given her the strength to carry on fighting for justice

A year ago today, Esther Kiobel stood on the steps of the Palace of Justice in The Hague. It had taken over twenty years to get there, but she had just filed a landmark case against the oil giant Shell over what she says is its role in the 1995 execution of her husband Dr. Barinem Kiobel. Dr Kiobel, a former government official, was hanged by the Nigerian military government in connection with widespread protests against oil pollution in the Niger Delta. read more

Nigeria: Court Orders Shell to Pay $3.6 Billion Fine Over Oil Spill

20 June 2018

Lagos — Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, sitting at a Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a suit by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd challenging the imposition of $3.6billion fine on it by the Federal Government. The court resolved all the issues in the defendant’s favour and dismissed the suit. Shell sued the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), challenging its powers to impose levies or fines over oil spills. FULL ARTICLE read more