NIGERIA: Activists comment on Amnesty report of false claims by Shell about Nigerian oil spills

Record ID: 236240

  • Title: NIGERIA: Activists comment on Amnesty report of false claims by Shell about Nigerian oil spills
  • Date: 11th November 2013
  • Summary: BAYELSA, NIGERIA (NOVEMBER 09, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RECENT SPILLAGE FROM SHELL MANIFOLD AT OKORDIA COMMUNITY IN BAYELSA STATE PORT-HARCOURT, NIGERIA (NOVEMBER 09, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STYVN OBODOEKWE WORKING ON HIS COMPUTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) STYVN OBODOEKWE, DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMES, CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT, HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT, SAYING: "Now that report has revealed a lot of discrepancies. It has revealed that, although Shell claim that their process is good, you find out that it is actually flawed. They claimed that it is transparent but the report found out that it is not transparent - it is a closure, you know... they only do what they feel that they want to do. We think that what they actually do is that they have pre-determined agenda. They now use the JIV (Joint Investigation Visit) as cover up because they always want to turn out to say, 'this spill was caused by sabotage or third party interference,' and the reason is that in Nigeria's law, if sabotage is involved, Shell does not pay compensation."
  • Embargoed: 26th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Business,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA7DHYF09RNTASPIGZLFWW28C2O
  • Story Text: Heavy black streaks from a recent oil spill choke a water creek in Nigeria's Bayelsa State. Every year, hundreds of leaks from pipelines that pass through the creeks and swamplands of the oil rich Niger Delta, damage the environment, put thousands of people at risk and cut into profits of oil companies.
    Amnesty International last week called into question Royal Dutch Shell's accounting for oil spill amounts and causes, saying the oil major was seeking to avoid compensation payments and damage to its reputation.
    The Anglo-Dutch oil company responded in a statement, firmly rejecting the claims. Shell says most of its oil spills are caused by sabotage and theft and that it cleans up the damage whatever the cause.
    Widespread oil theft, sabotage and pipeline operational failures are cited as the main reasons for leaks, but the official cause of a leak is often disputed between oil companies and local communities.
    Styvn Obodoekwe, director of an environmental and human rights organisation in Port Harcourt says the report revealed Shell's claims have been dishonest.

    "Now that report has revealed a lot of discrepancies. It has revealed that, although Shell claim that their process is good, you find out that it is actually flawed. They claimed that it is transparent but the report found out that it is not transparent - it is a closure, you know... they only do what they feel that they want to do. We think that what they actually do is that they have pre-determined agenda. They now use the JIV (Joint Investigation Visit) as cover up because they always want to turn out to say, 'this spill was caused by sabotage or third party interference,' and the reason is that in Nigeria's law, if sabotage is involved, Shell does not pay compensation," said Obodoekwe.
    Amnesty International said it saw reports of spills that stated the reason as sabotage without any further explanation and also examples in which Shell had calculated the size of a spill behind closed doors.
    Amnesty also said it worked with U.S. pipeline specialist Accufacts, which found that some pictures on Shell's website showed that spills categorized as being caused by sabotage, were more likely due to corrosion of ageing pipelines.
    Accufacts also questioned the methodology used by Shell in calculating the cause and size of spills.
    Shell said that since 2011 it has published spill investigations including photographs on its website, the only oil major operating in Nigeria to do so.
    Amnesty acknowledged that Shell had improved its transparency over oil spills since 2011 and that the Nigerian government needed to improve the capacity of its regulators.
    When an oil spill occurs in Nigeria, there is a Joint Inspection Visit (JIV) to determine the size and cause, which includes representatives from the oil company and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).
    Amnesty's report said, based on interviews, that in many cases NOSDRA has little involvement in determining the cause and size in the JIV because of a lack of capacity and funding, leaving Shell to be "judge and jury".
    Meanwhile, the people living in oil producing areas suffer deplorable living conditions without access to clean water and being exposed to dangerous pollutants.
    Activists say, whatever the cause of the spills, action needs to be taken to protect the people.

    "Shell is somewhere claiming that it was caused by sabotage. Now who sabotaged that? Because we know that it was not Ogi people and now Ogi people are suffering (from) it. But meanwhile the people are saying that it was actually caused by... because the equipment they have, I think they are too old. So these are the problems we think that need to be tackled. It is not the matter of saying it is sabotage. Something happened somewhere! Even if it was sabotaged by some criminals, is it fair to now punish a whole community that are not even involved in that sabotage. That is part of the thing that the report tends to expose," said Obodoekwe.
    The decision over the cause of an oil spill can have serious financial and reputational consequences for oil firms.
    Shell is locked in a legal dispute with thousands of villagers in Nigeria's Bodo community over damage caused by two spills in 2008, for which the company has taken responsibility. The two sides dispute the size of the oil spill and the damage caused.
    The community rejected a compensation offer of 7.5 billion naira (47 million US dollars) in September.
    Shell and U.S. oil firms Chevron and ConocoPhillips are selling assets in the Niger Delta, partly due to the damage caused by oil theft and spills.
    Celestine Akpobari, an activist in the Niger Delta says the problem is that there is no political will in Nigeria to enforce the law.

    "With the government officials that regulate the oil industries going to bed together with the oil industries so what do you expect? You expect worst scenario, the victims of course, the community people who have lost their means of livelihood, who lost their beautiful environment, who have lost their mangrove forest, who have lost their farmlands, who lost their only source of drinking water. So it is sad that we found ourselves in this situation. Nothing the government can do because Nigeria has one of the best set of laws," Akpobari said.
    The Niger Delta has for years been plagued by a range of problems including environmental degradation, kidnappings, oil theft, armed rebellions, and conflict between communities over clean-up contracts or compensation deals.
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