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Oil Spills

Guardian Front Page Story 4 August 2011

Shell accepts liability for two oil spills in Nigeria

Oil giant faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars following class action suit brought on behalf of communities in Bodo, Ogoniland

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Oil in Nigeria: a history of spills, fines and fights for rights

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On Wednesday Shell admitted liability for two massive oil spills in Nigeria. Ever since oil was discovered in the country in 1956, it has been a source of strife

: Thursday 4 August 2011 09.22 BST

Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1993, two years before he was executed by the Nigerian government. Photograph: Greenpeace/AFP

Oil was first found in Nigeria in 1956, then a British protectorate, by a joint operation between Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum. The two begun production in 1958, and were soon joined by a host of other foreign oil companies in the 1960s after the country gained independence and, shortly after, fell into civil war.

The rapidly expanding oil industry was dogged in controversy from early on, with criticism that its financial proceeds were being exported or lost in corruption rather than used to help the millions living on $1 a day in the Niger delta or reduce its impact on the local environment. read more

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Shell admits liability for huge oil spills in Niger delta

…amount leaked into the local environment could be as much as 10 million gallons.

…”one of the most devastating oil spills the world has ever seen…”

By Richard Hall: Thursday, 4 August 2011

Oil company Shell could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars after accepting responsibility for two devastating oil spills in Nigeria’s Ogoniland region.

The agreement comes after the community in the Delta region of Nigeria brought a class-action lawsuit against Shell in the UK, alleging that spills in 2008 and 2009 had destroyed the environment and ruined their livelihoods.

Until now, Shell has claimed that less than 40,000 gallons were spilt in the accidents. But experts who have studied the spills in Bodo, Ogoniland, said the amount leaked into the local environment could be as much as 10 million gallons. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Ogoniland oil spills: Shell admits Nigeria liability

3 August 2011 Last updated at 16:15

Oil giant Shell has accepted responsibility for two devastating oil spills in Nigeria’s Ogoniland region.

The Bodo fishing community sued Shell in the UK, alleging that spills in 2008 and 2009 had destroyed the environment and ruined their livelihoods.

Their lawyer said they would seek hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for one of the world’s “most devastating oil spills”.

Shell told the BBC it would settle the case under Nigerian law. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell accepts liability for two oil spills in Nigeria

guardian.co.uk home

Oil giant faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars following class action suit brought on behalf of communities in Bodo, Ogoniland

The impact of an oil spill near Ikarama in the Niger delta. Photograph: Amnesty International UK

Shell faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars after accepting full liability for two massive oil spills that devastated a Nigerian community of 69,000 people and may take at least 20 years to clean up.

Experts who studied video footage of the spills at Bodo in Ogoniland say they could together be as large as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, when 10m gallons of oil destroyed the remote coastline.

Until now, Shell has claimed that less than 40,000 gallons were spilt in Nigeria. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Ogoni pollution: Delayed release of UNEP report is suspicious?

Press Release

July 21, 2011

Ogoni pollution: Delayed release of UNEP report is suspicious, says ERA

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and other civil society groups have cautioned the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) from further prevarication on the planned release of its two-year assessment of the environmental and public health impacts of oil spills in Ogoniland.

In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN said the people of Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta are becoming worried over UNEP’s continued delay in releasing the report after failing to honour a pledge to do same earlier in the year. read more

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Welcome to the Niger Delta

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ne0nBc4JKI

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Is Arctic drilling safe? Scientists aren’t sure

latimes.com June 24, 2011 Escalating oil prices and diminishing supplies around the world are focusing more attention than ever on the vast petroleum reserves under the Arctic seabed, and in the relatively pristine shoreline areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.The Obama administration is moving to speed up drilling where possible, but the nagging problem with a wholesale move into the Arctic is how much we don’t know about the remote, fragile region. How much more drilling can safely be accommodated?

Can polar bears survive the twin threats of shrinking sea ice and greater ship traffic? What about fish stocks and an acidifying ocean? Bowhead whales might be able to migrate around new oil platforms, but will they be stressed out by drilling noise? And what if their food supplies are shrinking as well?

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in March 2010 ordered up a report on what we don’t know, and need to know, about what is happening to the Arctic environment. This week, the answer finally arrived, in the form of a long-awaited new report from the U.S. Geological Survey on what science gaps need to be filled to safely carry on the march into one of the coldest and least-understood places on the planet. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell oil spills in the Niger Delta

From pages 7, 8, 9 & 10 of “Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles” – Background report to the Erratum of Shell’s Annual Report 2010

The report is made on behalf of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Author: Albert ten Kate: May 2011.

Oil spills

Oil spills in the Niger Delta

Oil spills from oil installations (pipelines, flowlines, well-heads, flowstations, storage tanks etc.) occur at a regular basis in the Niger Delta, some ten times a week. According to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), oil companies reported 2,054 cases of oil spill incidents (spills of more than one barrel) between June 2006 and June 2010.

Human suffering

Amnesty International has concluded that the oil companies in the Niger Delta are linked to violations of several internationally recognized human rights as stipulated by the United Nations. These rights comprise the right to food, the right to work, the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to health and a healthy environment. Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Head of Business and Human Rights, describes the impacts of oil spills on communities as follows: “People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water. They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins – if they are lucky enough to be able to still find fish. The land they farm on is being destroyed. After oil spills the air they breathe smells of oil, gas and other pollutants. People complain of breathing problems and skin lesions – and yet neither the government nor the oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution”. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell targets $3 billion investment in domestic gas

Monday, 06 June 2011 00:00 Olusola Bello

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is committing over $3 billion to domestic gas projects which will help boost economic growth in the country and end gas flaring. Specifically, the gas from the projects will provide feed stocks to the power and fertiliser plants and is expected to boost power generation in the country.

Mutiu Sunmonu, chairman, Shell Group of Companies in Nigeria and also managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Company, who confirmed this to BusinessDay, observed that the company’s gas gathering project had suffered significantly in the last four to five years due to insecurity in the Niger Delta and funding challenges on the part of the Federal Government. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell in Nigeria

From page 6 of “Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles” – Background report to the Erratum of Shell’s Annual Report 2010

The report is made on behalf of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Author: Albert ten Kate: May 2011.

PART ONE

Shell in Nigeria

In oil production, Nigeria is the most important country for Shell. During the period 2006-2010, Nigeria accounted for about 16% of Shell’s worldwide production of oil and liquid natural gas. During the year 2009, production falls due to disrupting activities by militant groups in the Niger Delta reached their peak for the time being. During the year 2010, production climbed back again, with Nigeria accounting for almost 19% of Shell’s worldwide production of oil and liquid natural gas. read more

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NIGERIANS FILE OIL LAWSUIT AGAINST SHELL IN THE NETHERLAND

Liesbeth Zegveld said: “Shell headquarters believes it is untouchable, but we believe it is legally responsible for damage caused in Nigeria. Shell headquarters has the authority and control to ensure that its oil spills in Nigeria are prevented and cleaned up. We accuse Shell of negligence.”

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Group, Nigerians to sue Shell over oil spills

The group made good an earlier warning in May, to sue Shell due to the slow pace of court proceedings in Nigeria, and Shell’s refusal to obey court orders.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

SHELL FACES LEGAL ACTION IN THE NETHERLANDS OVER NIGERIAN POLLUTION

Amsterdam (The Netherlands) – May 14, 2008 - Shell-headquarters in the Netherlands is held liable by Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Nigeria and four Nigerians, for the massive damage that oil spills are causing to villages in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Los Angeles Times: Militiamen ‘Reclaim’ Oil for Nigerians

Los Angeles Times: Militiamen ‘Reclaim’ Oil for Nigerians:consultants commissioned by Royal Dutch/Shell Group… compare the Delta’s level of violence to the turmoil in Chechnya and Colombia.”

By Michael Peel,

July 19, 2004

The siphoning of crude is part of a complex dispute that highlights a deepening crisis.

LAGOS, Nigeria — At a riverside hide-out in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, a local militia commander, stands near three large barrels and describes how his armed gang takes oil from pipelines, refines it and sells it cheaply to the local people.

Hundreds of barrels of crude at a time are siphoned by members of his militia. Asked if he considers this theft, Dokubo-Asari replies that he is reclaiming for the people what belongs to them. “As far as we are concerned, it’s the Nigerian state that is stealing oil,” he said. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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