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Tag: shell

  • JTF arrests two Shell officials for oil theft in Rivers

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) has arrested two officials of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) in Rivers State for oil theft.

    Operatives of the JTF, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, on Monday night arrested Bori Friday and Young Apahia at Kporgho-Ogoni in Gokana Local Government Area and handed them over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    The suspects are Shell’s surveillance workers.

    Spokesman of the 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, Maj. Michael Etete, who doubles as JTF Sector 2 spokesman said the suspects were arrested at about 9:30pm.

    Etete said: “Troops of Sector 2, JTF Pulo Shield on patrol discovered an illegal connection on SPDC’s pipeline in Kporgho.

    “Two SPDC surveillance staff were found on the scene and were suspected to be responsible for the vandalism. The two suspects were arrested and transferred to NSCDC, Rivers State Command, for prosecution.

    “All oil companies are advised to weed out persons of questionable character in their employ.”

    He said JTF is committed to ending crude oil theft and illegal bunkering.

    Shell spokesman Mr. Precious Okolobo refused to comment on the arrest

     

  • Shell’s operations getting more injurious in Delta

    Shell’s operations getting more injurious in Delta

    SIR: Shell has been operating in Nigeria for more than 50 years now, and the Nigerian people have nothing to show for their operations. Crude Oil is being produced, refined and sold at the expense of the Nigerian people. Shell, being a very large Multinational Oil and Gas Company has infiltrated the very corrupt Nigerian Government officials and held them hostage. For instance, the Petroleum Industry Bill has not been passed because Shell and other oil companies are opposing the Tax Regime, whereas, they pay more taxes in other places like UK and Holland where they operate. Shell allegedly a means of engaging, bribing and infiltrating government officials and regulatorsso that favourable policies are passed. These they do through alleged award of contracts to influential community members. Most of Shell’s Surveillance Contracts are allegedly given to the kings or leaders of the host communities to silence them.

    In UK, Oman, Russia and such other countries, there are strict Corporate Governance Guidelines and Codes which Shell adhere strictly to. But in Nigeria, it is the direct opposite. In Nigeria, they do whatever they want and get away with it because they have willing accomplices in the corrupt government officials and regulators who are on their payroll. Shell is flaring millions of cubic feet of gas into the Nigerian atmosphere daily (SCF/d) irrespective of all the cries and noticeable effects about Global Warming and Ozone Layer Depletion.

    These things are currently being experienced in Nigeria that we didn’t used to experience: Acid rain, sea-level rise (as is being experienced where villages have been sacked), ecosystem imbalance, extreme weather like hurricanes, and extinction of plants and animals.

    However, Shell is not bothered and still smiling to the bank. Instead of having Gas Gathering Facilities to gather, compress and use the gas for useful purposes, Shell is more comfortable flaring it, thereby, wilfully sabotaging the Nigerian economy of the millions of dollars accruable from the sale of gas to Nigerian users, African users and to the rest of the world. Terrible things will happen in the future if Shell does not stop gas flaring immediately.

    Responsible companies consider the environment and social wellbeing, in addition to profit. But Shell considers only profit and doesn’t care about the environment (evidenced by the continuous gas flaring, crude oil spillages, improper remediation activities, etc) or People (malicious sack of employees in the name of Divestment, sack of uncooperating Union workers, etc).

    We are appealing to international bodies to call Shell to order before they destroy our country and leave for elsewhere. We have borne it enough. Crude oil is more of a curse to we the Niger Deltans than blessing. They have polluted our environment, destroyed our ecosystem, rendered our youths, farmers and fishermen jobless and sacked the few they managed to employ.

     

    • Delta Rights Group,

    Delta State.

     

  • NUPENG threatens strike over sack in Shell

    • We’re divesting from some assets, says oil giant

     

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called for the reinstatement of its members sacked by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    In a statement signed by the union’s Deputy President, Comrade John Eddy Ossai and Acting General Secretary, Comrade Isaac Aberare, the union condemned the “victimisation and severance of its officials in the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)”

    The call for the recall of the workers was made in view of the on-going dialogue by the Labour Minister, Chief Emeka Wogu and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to resolve the matter.

    SPDC, however, denied the accusations of anti-union policies targeted at NUPENG members in its fold.

    The union officials warned that “if the SPDC management does not reinstate the union officials as it is a clear case of intimidation, harassment and victimisation, the industrial action that will follow by the union will be serious, as an injury to one, is an injury to all.”

    The statement reads in part: “The Union reiterates that the NUPENG SPDC caretaker committee Chairman, Comrade Enomate Kingsley and 16 other

    Union members affected by the severance should immediately be reinstated in the interest of industrial peace and harmony.

    “NUPENG  states that it dissolved the executive committee of Shell Branch of NUPENG for anti-union activities and set up a care-taker committee to run the affairs of the union in the interim.

    “It adds that the management of SPDC refused to recognise the care-taker committee and have since been planning to victimise the union officials.

    “The union stresses that SPDC planned to outsource the fire department where majority of the workers are based notwithstanding the union’s vehement opposition to the plan.

    ‘’To actualise their plan, the SPDC management transferred the former Chairman, Comrade Fidelis Okandeji, expelled by the union for anti-union activities and his loyalists out of the department leaving members of the caretaker committee vulnerable while hiding under the guise of divestment and management business decision to severe the union officials.”

    The statement further said NUPENG leadership was taken aback when on October, 22, 2012, the SPDC management carried out their threat and distributed severance letters to the Union officials including the Chairman of the caretaker Committee, Comrade Enomate Kingsley.

    NUPENG described this as a case of victimisation for Union activities and vowed to resist it.

    The union noted that contract workers in SPDC will also be affected. It said: “The management has refused to enter negotiation on collective bargaining agreement with the union and that means contract workers who served ten years and above will go with nothing.”

    In its statement, signed by the company’s spokesman, Mr Precious Okolobo, SPDC said it has no disagreement with NUPENG members.

    Okolobo said allegations of interference and intimidation of union officials made in some media reports against SPDC by some members of the union outside its employment, were false and baseless.

    “The fact is that SPDC is divesting from a number of its assets in Western Niger Delta as agreed by joint venture partners and approved by the Federal Government. This is part of a portfolio realignment that will also help to grow indigenous capacity in the oil and gas industry.

    “Staff and unions have been briefed on the exercise, including the implications for the structure of the business in Western operations. Affected staff are being compensated in line with company policies.

    ”We are also aware that there is a dispute between national NUPENG and the Shell Branch of the union, which is the subject of a court case. The court order is for all parties to maintain the status quo and SPDC is complying with that order,” he said.

  • Youths disrupt operations at Shell facility

    Youths have disrupted operations at the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) facility at Daewoo in Afam, Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State in the past two days.

    Over 100 youths mounted a blockade at the entrance of the company’s power station.

    They are protesting the company’s alleged failure to fulfill its corporate social responsibilities to the host community.

    The protesters want the company to employ youths in the community, build roads, establish an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre (ICT) and review the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) between the council and SPDC, among others.

    They are also demanding the transfer of the Operational Manager of Afam Power Station, Mr. Ben Agbagiogwu, from Oyigbo facility.

    This is the second time the youths have barricaded the entrance of the power station in three months.

    The peaceful protest began on Monday by 5am.

    President of the National Youth Council (NYC), Oyigbo chapter, Mr. Israel Agomuo said: “We are not going to leave this place until SPDC answers us. We will remain here until they are ready to meet our demands. No Shell staff will be allowed to enter the premises until they have agreed to our terms.

    “Since SPDC began oil exploration in our community in 1957, it has continually denied us employment opportunities, even though the council has produced many qualified graduates in various fields.

    “We have sent series of letters to the company, which we copied the authorities in the state, including Governor Chibuike Amaechi, so that they can appeal to Shell to listen to us, to no avail.”

    On their grievances against Agbagiougwu, Agomuo said: “At a meeting with representatives of the company, the state government, and the Council Chairman, Mr. Felix Nweke, Agbagiogwu said they cannot employ Oyigbo youths because they cannot compete favourably with youths from other areas.

    “This is an insult against our youths and we are here to make sure SPDC listens to us.”

    SPDC Corporate Affairs Manager Mr. Precious Okulogbo could not be reached as at press time.

     

  • ‘Shell’s, Eni’s oil deal may violate UK laws’

    ‘Shell’s, Eni’s oil deal may violate UK laws’

    Royal Dutch Shell and Eni could “fall foul of anti-corruption legislation” in Britain over a $1.1 billion Nigerian offshore oil block the companies bought last year, campaign group’s Global Witness, said on Monday.

    Block OPL 245, which holds an estimated 9 billion barrels of oil, had been owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete’s company Malabu Oil and Gas. It was later awarded to Shell, starting a decade-long legal dispute that ended last year.

    Shell and Eni according to Reuters, have repeatedly said they paid the Nigerian government last year for the oil block, which Eni operates, and that they never dealt with Malabu.

    Etete originally acquired the asset in a deal conducted while he was Oil Minister under Sani Abacha’s regim. He was convicted for money laundering in France in 2007.

    Local newspapers quoted Nigeria’s Attorney General Mohammed Adoke in May as saying that Shell and Italian company Eni agreed to pay Malabu the money for the block, with the government as an intermediary.

  • Shell undecided on a force majeure

    Shell undecided on a force majeure

    Shell cannot yet say when a force majeure on exports of Nigeria’s Bonny and Forcados crude that has cut about 20 percent of its exports will be lifted, after a stoppage caused by theft and flooding in the Niger Delta, the company said on Tuesday.

    Shell, the biggest oil operator in Nigeria, reported on Monday it had declared force majeure on the crude grades on Friday afternoon, after damage caused by oil thieves and flooding affecting a third party supplier it did not identify, Reuters reports.

    Bonny Light and Forcados are two of Nigeria’s most important oil grades and in October accounted for 427,000 barrels per day, about a fifth of the country’s total exports of 2.048 million bpd.

    A force majeure allows a company to suspend contractual obligations in the face of unexpected events.

    The outages underscore the scale of the problem of oil theft, or “bunkering,” as it is known in Nigeria, to which officials say up to 20 percent of its oil is lost.

    It would also be the first confirmed evidence of an impact on oil output by the worst flooding Nigeria has experienced in five decades.

    The Niger River burst its banks last month, submerging stretches of the oil rich region in flood waters.

    “Shell cannot yet say at this time when the force majeure will be lifted,” Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said by telephone, declining to give further details.

     

  • Naira firms on Shell, NLNG dollar sales

    Naira firms on Shell, NLNG dollar sales

    The naira firmed against the U.S dollar on the interbank market yesterday, supported by dollar sales by two energy companies, which boosted greenback supplies.

    The local currency strengthened to N157.30 to the dollar on the interbank market, firmer than the N157.40 it closed on Friday.

    “The market liquidity was boosted through dollar sales by Shell and Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company, which provided support for the naira,” one dealer said.

    Traders said the naira should remain stable around the present level as dollar inflows from month-end sales by energy companies and offshore investors buying treasury bills at an auction this week could balance out demand in the market.

    On the bi-weekly auction, the Central Bank of Nigeria sold $150 million at N155.76, same amount and rate at the last auction.

    The naira had weakened to around a three week low last week, pressured by demand for dollars from gasoline importers, but the local currency rallied on dollar inflows from oil companies and from offshore investors buying bonds.

  • Shell faces lawsuit over Niger Delta pollution

    Shell faces lawsuit over Niger Delta pollution

    Oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc will defend its environmental record in the Niger Delta on Thursday as it faces a lawsuit that may set a precedent for damage claims related to the activities of international companies.

    The case, filed in a local court in The Hague where Shell has its joint global headquarters, seeks to make Shell and other corporations responsible for pollution resulting from three oil spills in 2004, 2005 and 2007 in Nigeria, Reuters says.

    Plaintiffs are four Nigerians and campaigning group Friends of the Earth.

    The four, who are fishermen and farmers, are seeking unspecified compensation and argued they can no longer feed their families because the area has been polluted with oil from Shell’s pipelines and production facilities.

    Shell said the pollution was caused by oil thieves and that it has played its part in cleaning up.

    “The real tragedy of the Niger Delta is the widespread and continual criminal activity, including sabotage, theft and illegal refining, that causes the vast majority of oil spills,” the group said in a statement.

    Friends of the Earth said it hopes the case – set to last a day during which attorneys for both sides will present arguments before the judges retire to give their verdicts next year – will set a precedent and lead to “an end to the corporate crimes committed by oil giants like Shell in Nigeria and around the world.”

     

  • Shell shuts Bonny oil pipeline

    Shell shuts Bonny oil pipeline

    Shell’s Nigerian unit shut its Bonny oil pipeline and deferred 150,000 barrels per day of production on Sunday after oil thieves caused a fire, the company said.

    “Shell … has shut the 28-inch Bomu-Bonny Trunkline after discovering a fire on it early this morning,” Reuters quoted the company as saying in a statement on Monday.

    “A burning vessel, thought to be involved in the theft of crude oil from the line, was sighted near the incident site. The line conveys crude oil to Bonny Terminal.”

    Shell said it was mobilizing to fight the fire and would investigate the cause and carry out repairs as soon as possible.

    Bonny Light is Nigeria’s benchmark crude, used to price other grades of oil, and makes up around 10 percent of the total oil exported out of the country.

    Nigeria was due to export around 205,000 bpd of Bonny Light in November and 229,000 bpd in October, according to provisional loading programs. The grade is gasoline-rich and is popular with United States refiners.

     

  • Anger in Imo over Shell oil spill, neglect

    Anger in Imo over Shell oil spill, neglect

    THE people of the oil-producing communities of Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta in Imo State are angry. They are angry, like many oil -bearing areas of the country, that their rich deposits are not yielding them the desired joy and good life.

    Instead of the good things of life that should ordinarily flow in their direction they say all they have to show for 48 years of oil exploration are pain, death, deprivation and environmental abuse.

    They are accusing Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in particular, of hazardous environmental practices and refusal to give something back to the society under the principle of Social Corporate Responsibility.

    Such was the frustration of the people that some youths and elderly women from in Umudike, Etekwuru and other adjoining villages in Ohaji Egbema Council Area recently publicly protested their plight, taking over the Umudike-Assa-Etekwuru delivery pipeline.

    They also stopped the maintenance team sent by Shell to clean up a crude oil spillage along the pipeline.

    The angry protesters who displayed placards with various inscriptions like ‘SHELL stop killing our people’; ‘Compensate victims of the 2001 pipeline explosion’; ‘SHELL activities have destroyed our environment’; “We demand an end to SPDC marginalization’; “SPDC has turned our oil into a curse’, among others, refused all entreaties by the SPDC team to allow them clean up the spilled oil.

    Leader of the youths, Mr Reginald Egini, said the spill was a disaster too many for the communities, having rendered hundreds of acres of farmland unproductive.

    “This is not the first time we are suffering as a result of oil spillage. In 2001, there was a pipeline explosion that killed about 13 people with several others severely burnt and eventually incapacitated and SHELL promised to pay compensation but nothing has been done up till today,” he said.

    The youth leader who vowed that the people would resist repair of the pipeline or clean up of the spilled oil until the company properly negotiates with the people added: “There should first be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to ascertain the level of damage on the environment because we are farmers and any damage on the soil will drastically affect our means of livelihood”.

    He said the communities have nothing to show for all the oil sourced from the area since 1964.

    “There is no single hospital, school, market built by SPDC in the community. Neither has it given our youths employment or scholarships but they have kept making promises they never cared to fulfil.”

    He handed Shell a list of demands that includes replacement of the old pipelines to avoid continuous oil spillage; payment of all outstanding compensation, including the N4billion awarded the community by a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt; provision of employment for graduates and artisans from the community.

    A 99-year-old woman who gave her name as Mama Felicia told The Nation that she decided to join the protest because the community is no longer safe and the land is no longer productive for agriculture.

    “If we didn’t join the youths the protest might not be taken seriously, but when they see me they will understand the weight of our pain,” she said.

    When contacted the traditional ruler of Umudike community, Ezeali James Nwanro, said the protest was premature.

    He said: “When the spillage occurred, I was informed and I knew that SPDC would first embark on preliminary investigation to know if the spillage was an act of sabotage, in which case no compensation will be made or equipment failure; where the communities will be paid for any damage as a result of the spillage. It is only after the investigation that we can know what to do as a community.

    “The youths are not in a position to speak for the community, we have leaders and myself as the traditional ruler and we will do everything possible to ensure that Shell does the right thing. So preventing the team from carrying out the inspection is not in the best interest of both parties”.

    The SPDC team declined to speak.