Posts Tagged ‘Militant Attacks’

CNN

Shell escaped liability for oil spills in Nigeria for years. Then four farmers took them to court — and won

By Nimi Princewill and Krystina Shveda, CNN: Updated 1540 GMT (2340 HKT) May 25, 2022

Nigeria (CNN)When Nigerian environmental lawyer Chima Williams launched a lawsuit against oil giant Shell plc, he did not envisage a 13-year battle that would lead to a landmark ruling and land him a prestigious environmental award.

Williams, who is the executive director of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, successfully convinced the Court of Appeal in the Hague that Shell plc was responsible for the activities of its subsidiary in Nigeria — Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) — and for oil spills that ravaged local farmlands.

The suit against Shell Nigeria was brought by four farmers from the Goi and Oruma communities in the country’s oil-rich but impoverished Niger Delta region, who said their farms were left in ruins after major spills from underground pipelines.

The decision to allow Shell plc, formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell plc, to be sued in this jurisdiction set a precedent as it was the first time the Dutch parent company was sued in its home country for the actions of its foreign subsidiary, SPDC.

Shell Nigeria (SPDC) was eventually held liable for the oil spills and ordered to pay damages to the farmers in a January 29, 2021, ruling by the Court of Appeal of the Hague. SPDC was also ordered to carry out an intensive clean-up of the damage to the communities.

Williams was on Wednesday awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for his work in holding the company accountable for the environmental damage. read more

Reuters

Exclusive-Shell’s Nigerian oil assets attract interest from local firms, sources say

LONDON (Reuters) – At least five Nigerian oil and gas companies are preparing to submit bids this month for Royal Dutch Shell’s onshore oilfields in a sale that could fetch up to $3 billion, three sources involved in the process told Reuters.

Shell started talks with the Nigerian government last year about selling its stake in the West African country’s onshore fields, where it has been active since the 1930s, as part of a global drive to reduce its carbon emissions. read more

The Sunday Times

Shell pulling the plug on the Cambo North Sea oilfield is a problem for us, too

You can’t be sure of much when it comes to Shell these days — and Shell, it seems, can’t be sure of anything when it comes to politics. Last month, chief executive Ben van Beurden was fêted for moving the oil major’s headquarters from Holland to London as part of a simplification of its corporate structure.

On Thursday, Shell pulled out of a major oil project in a storm of recrimination, saying the economics were “not strong enough at this time” and complaining of “potential for delays”. read more

Bloomberg

Nigerians in Oil-Rich Delta Pin Hope on U.K. Trial Against Shell

In the heart of Nigeria’s oil region, communities and their leaders see a U.K. court as their best chance to resolve a legacy of environmental damage in the area that they blame on Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

More than 40,000 residents of the crude-rich Niger Delta were permitted by the U.K. Supreme Court in February to seek compensation over pollution, allegedly caused by Shell, in a reversal of two previous rulings. The communities see this process as a guarantor of their legal rights, even if Shell were to follow through on its plans to exit some of the oilfields. A date for a trial hasn’t been set. read more

REUTERS

Gunmen kill seven at Shell gas project site in Nigeria

Reuters Staff: AUGUST 17, 2021 10:54 AM

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) -Gunmen killed a police officer and six employees of a Nigerian oil and gas services contractor during an attack on buses transporting workers to a Shell project site in the southeastern state of Imo, police said on Tuesday.

The Nigerian arm of Shell, SPDC, confirmed that unknown gunmen had attacked a convoy of buses taking staff of its contractor, Lee Engineering, to its Assa North Gas development project site in the Ohaji area of Imo State on Monday morning. read more

Landmark court ruling could ‘end impunity’ for Shell and other multinationals

Okpabi and others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc (41 pages)

A major court defeat for oil and gas giant Shell could herald the end of “a long chapter of impunity” for multinationals implicated in human rights abuses overseas, lawyers and campaigners have said.

The UK Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Ogale and Bille communities in the Niger Delta can bring legal claims for clean-up and compensation against Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS) and its Nigerian subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC). read more

Nigerian Shell employees orchestrated oil spills for own profit-Dutch TV

By Bart H. Meijer, Anthony Deutsch: DECEMBER 10, 2020

AMSTERDAM, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Employees at Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian joint venture orchestrated damage to oil pipelines to profit from the money spent on clean-up operations, Dutch investigative TV programme Zembla reported on Thursday.

Employees of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) recruited local youth to sabotage the pipelines and then hired them back as workers to clean up the mess, the report said, citing research by Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie. read more

By: Dr Isaac Osuoka: November 2019

These are challenging times for residents of Nigeria’s Niger Delta area. Many leaders in the communities feel a high level of concern about travelling to Port Harcourt through the East-West Road due to the high level of banditry, kidnappings and killings recorded in recent weeks. Indeed, there is a heightened feeling of insecurity in Rivers State, and other Niger Delta communities, as elsewhere in the country. The situation may have gotten worse in the build-up to, and the aftermath of the 2019 General Election. read more

By Doris Esa: 20 MAY 2018

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has met with Shell companies in Nigeria to plan the protection of oil installations, including deployment and use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

The Air Force said it was ready to partner with Shell to deploy the drones to help secure the companies’ oil and gas pipelines.

The NAF said it would deploy the drones to other critical oil installations in the Niger Delta.

A statement by the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, AVM Olatokunbo Adesanya, announced this in Abuja. read more

By Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa: 21 Oct 2017

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) says the degradation of the environment in the Niger is mainly due to spillages from the activities of crude oil thieves, sabotage of facilities, illegal refining and other third party interferences, rather than negligence by the company.  FULL ARTICLE

Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is a big player in Nigeria, a country that has been dealing with increases in civil unrest and sporadic violence over the past few years, particularly from the Niger Delta Avengers group that wants a larger portion of the oil & gas tax revenue to go to the Niger Delta region. This is on top of Nigeria’s ongoing fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the northern parts of the country. The ongoing security situation is a major risk for Shell’s Nigerian operations, especially as the Niger Delta Avengers have shown the ability to repeatedly target bottlenecks like pipelines and force a lot of output offline. Let’s dig in by first going over what’s at stake for Shell. FULL ARTICLE read more

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) remitted 29.8 billion dollars to the federation account and 1.2 billion dollars to Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2002 and 2016, Igo Weli, General Manager, External Relations, made the disclosure on Monday. Mr. Weli spoke in Port Harcourt while reacting to the shut-down of SPDC flow station and gas plant in Belema community by angry youth. The youth accused the company of neglecting them and marginalising their community. Addressing journalists, Mr. Weli said the seizure of the company’s facilities by the youth would not only send wrong signal to the international community, but was capable of discouraging further investment in the Niger Delta. FULL ARTICLE read more

The protesters complained they were not benefiting from oil production in their area, a common refrain in the impoverished swampland that produces most of Nigeria’s oil. They also demanded an end to oil pollution in the area.

Soldiers and security guards did not disperse the crowd as it entered the Belema Flow Station in Rivers State, which feeds oil into Shell’s Bonny export terminal.

But the army sent reinforcements after protesters said they would stay at the facility for two weeks.

“I am a graduate for about eight years without a job,” said Anthony Bouye, one of the protest leaders. “Shell won’t employ me despite us having so much wealth in our backyard.” read more

Nigeria Seizes Foreign Vessel for Alleged Theft of Shell Crude: Bloomberg: 27 April 2017

Nigeria detained a vessel with crew members from countries including Pakistan, Indonesia and Ukraine for alleged theft of crude from a facility owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the navy said.

Bar, business groups back Cravath on fighting disclosure of Shell documents: Reuters 27 April 2017

The New York City Bar Association has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in backing law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore in its appeal of an order to turn over documents belonging to client Royal Dutch Shell plc in a possible overseas lawsuit accusing the oil giant of facilitating human rights violations.

Shell Signs Oil Exploration Cooperation Deal In Oman: OilPrice.com: 26 April 2017

Royal Dutch Shell and Oman Oil Company Exploration & Production (OOCEP) have signed a Heads of Agreement for cooperation in resource exploration in an oil and gas block in Oman, the Omani company said on Twitter on Wednesday. read more

Bearing in mind the avalanche of recent news stories about Shell’s Nigerian problems, it is interesting to reflect on the content of a 93-page report by WAC Global Services commissioned by Shell over a decade ago. I can only assume that no one at Shell bothered to pay attention to the warnings in the report arising from its evil activities feeding corruption, violence and pollution.

Some extracts

(Please note SCIN = SHELL COMPANIES IN NIGERIA)

From page 8

It is easy to conclude that any type of company or trade bringing resources to the Niger Delta will be confronted with the same problem. While this view is valid, it is also true that the manner in which the SCIN operates and it staff behaves creates, feeds into, or exacerbates conflict. After over 50 years in Nigeria, it is therefore reasonable to say that SCIN has become an integral part of the Niger Delta conflict system. read more

By John Donovan

As we approach the start of 2017, Shell’s conduct in Nigeria is coming under intense scrutiny by prosecution authorities and is also the subject of civil litigation, both current and pending.

The charges include corruption, environmental contamination, and gross human rights abuses, including cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. 

Shell senior management cannot say that it was not warned. The following is an extract from a letter sent in February 2012 to Shell executives in London, Nigeria and Den Haag. read more