AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Nigeria: Shell must clean up devastating oil spills in the Niger Delta

February 2, 2023

Reacting to the news that two Nigerian communities, which have been devastated by oil spills, have filed claims against Shell at the High Court in London, Amnesty International’s Head of Business and Human Rights Mark Dummett, said:

“More than 13,500 residents from the Ogale and Bille communities in the Niger Delta have now filed claims against Shell asking that the company clean up oil spills which they say have wrecked their livelihoods, poisoned their wells, and polluted their land and water, which means they can no longer farm or fish.”

“Amnesty stands by these two communities in the Niger Delta, which have been engaged in litigation against Shell for seven years, asking that the company clean up the damage caused and compensate them for their lost livelihoods.

“Shell announced in 2021 that it plans to sell its onshore oilfields and assets in the Niger Delta after 60 years of highly profitable operations in the area. It is concerning that Shell has not explained how it plans to address the widespread and systemic pollution of Nigerian communities linked to its operations over many years before it sells up and leaves. read more

The struggle continues: Please show compassion for the widows of the Ogoni 9

JANUARY 16, 2023 BY ANDY ROWELL BLOG POST

Extracts

When the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was murdered in 1995 along with eight other colleagues, his reported final words were: “Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues”.

Saro-Wiwa and the others had been campaigning against Shell’s ecological destruction of Ogoniland. Thirty years ago this month, on January 4 1995, some 300,000 Ogoni, some sixty per cent of the population, peacefully protested against the oil giant’s activities. At the time, it was the largest mobilisation against an oil company worldwide. read more

Large-scale polluter Shell loses legal battle

The Guardian: Isabella Kaminski: Thu 29 Dec 2022 12.00 GMT

Between 2004 and 2007, the villages of Oruma, Goi and Ikot Ada Udo in Nigeria were polluted with oil from infrastructure built by Royal Dutch Shell. More than 15 years later, in late December, the company finally agreed to pay four farmers and their communities €15m in compensation and install a leak detection system after a court in the Netherlands ruled that Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary was liable and the parent company had a duty of care. read more

REUTERS

Shell to pay 15 mln euros in settlement over Nigerian oil spills

December 23, 20229:31 AM GM

AMSTERDAM, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Shell (SHEL.L) will pay 15 million euros ($15.9 million) to communities in Nigeria that were affected by multiple oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta, the oil company on Friday said in a joint statement with the Dutch division of Friends of the Earth.

The compensation is the result of a Dutch court case brought by Friends of the Earth, in which Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary last year was found to be responsible for the oil spills and was ordered to pay for damages to farmers. read more

REUTERS

Nigeria’s top court allows Shell to appeal order holding back assets sale

12/02/2022 | 12:35pm EST

LAGOS, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s Supreme Court on Friday allowed Shell Plc’s local unit to appeal a ruling that directed the company to pay $1.8 billion compensation over an alleged spill, in a dispute that has held back the company’s sale of its onshore assets.

Shell said in June it would pause the disposal of local assets until the court ruled on an appeal brought by its subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) and partner NNPC Ltd against a lower court judgment. read more

REUTERS

Court rejects Nigeria’s compensation request against Eni, Shell

By Alfredo Faieta and Francesca Landini: November 11, 2022

MILAN, Nov 11 (Reuters) – An appeals court in Milan on Friday rejected Nigeria’s $1.092 billion compensation request against Italian energy group Eni SpA (ENI.MI) and Shell Plc (SHEL.L) in civil proceedings relating to a $1.3 billion oilfield deal.

The decision was read out in court.

In July prosecutors had dropped related criminal proceedings, clearing Eni and Shell, as well as managers including Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi, in one of the oil industry’s biggest alleged corruption cases. read more

Reuters

Shell to buy African solar firm Daystar

STORY: Royal Dutch Shell will buy African solar provide Daystar Power, the two companies said on Wednesday (September 28).

That’s as the oil giant pursues a mandate of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

Shell is one of the most influential oil producers in Africa but the Daystar purchase is its first power acquisition on the continent.

Thomas Brostrom, Shell’s vice president for renewable generation, said in a statement that Shell was helping to address a “critical energy gap for many who rely on diesel generators for backup power”. read more

Bloomberg

Shell-Backed Cleanup in Niger Delta Is Worse Than Estimated: NGO

William Clowes, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) — Restoration work at a Shell Plc-financed cleanup of oil pollution in southern Nigeria may be of poorer quality than previously thought, an organization that monitors the effort said after it re-tested samples in an overseas laboratory.

The $1 billion restoration of Ogoniland – a small kingdom in the Niger Delta — began in 2019, on the advice of a 2011 UNEP report. The project was backed by promised funding from Shell and support from the UN agency. read more

Extracted from pages 18 & 19 of Shell Sustainability Report 2020

SHELL PLC BUSINESS ETHICS AND TRANSPARENCY

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

Our core values of honesty, integrity and respect for people underpin our work with employees, customers, investors, contractors, suppliers, non-governmental organisations and others. The Shell General Business Principles, introduced more than 40 years ago, describe our core values, our responsibilities and the principles and behaviours that guide how we do business. read more

SHELL COMMENTS ON THE VERDICT FROM THE MILAN TRIBUNAL OVER OPL-245

Mar 17, 2021

Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell plc (“RDS” or the “Company”), today made the following statement after the Milan Tribunal acquitted the company of charges related to Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 in Nigeria:

“We welcome today’s decision by the Milan Tribunal. We have always maintained that the 2011 settlement was legal, designed to resolve a decade-long legal dispute and unlock development of the OPL 245 block. At the same time, this has been a difficult learning experience for us. Shell is a company that operates with integrity and we work hard every day to ensure our actions not only follow the letter and spirit of the law, but also live up to society’s wider expectations of us.” read more

REUTERS

Exxon, Shell May Pursue Part of $1.8 Billion Nigerian Award–US Appeals Court

By Reuters: July 8, 2022, at 11:34 a.m.

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Friday said Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc affiliates may try to enforce part of a $1.8 billion arbitration award against Nigeria’s state-run oil company, in a dispute concerning oil extraction near the African country’s coastline.

It said the judge should have determined which parts of the award had been deemed enforceable by a Nigerian appeals court. Lawyers for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. read more

REUTERS

Shell says its Nigeria asset sale not affected by court ruling

ABUJA, June 21 (Reuters) – Shell Plc (SHEL.L) has said its planned sale of onshore assets in Nigeria will go ahead and was not affected by a Supreme Court ruling in a case in which a Niger Delta community is seeking compensation for a 2019 oil spill.

Bamidele Odugbesan, spokesman for Shell in Nigeria, said the June 16 Supreme Court ruling was in response to an appeal launched by Shell against a contempt ruling linked to the dispute with the Niger Delta community.

The lawyer for the community said the ruling, which was made public on Monday, barred Shell from disposing its assets as ordered by a lower court in March.

“The Supreme Court ruling on 16 June was with respect to the contempt proceedings and not related to (the) onshore portfolio review,” Odugbesan said.

Shell has invited bids for its onshore assets. Odugbesan did not say how many bids had been received.

Eighty-eight communities in Rivers state were awarded $1.95 billion compensation for an oil spill they blamed on Shell and which damaged their farms and waterways. Shell denies causing the spill. read more read more

The Guardian

The village that stood up to big oil – and won

The fossil fuel industry faces a reckoning in the Niger Delta after a disaster left families ‘eating, drinking, breathing the oil’

Wednesday 1 June 2022

Today, the oil industry in Nigeria faces a reckoning with Shell at the helm. According to Amnesty International, the oil company has come under “unprecedented legal scrutiny” in recent years for its negligent and criminal practices in the Niger Delta. Several lawsuits are ongoing while others have culminated in courts ordering Shell to pay plaintiffs billions of dollars in damages. The mounting pressure has Shell considering a rapid departure from the region’s oil market. In early August 2021, the company announced it would sell off all remaining onshore oilfields in Nigeria, citing challenges with community unrest, sabotage and a company-wide refocus on promoting green energy. But locals and lawyers see the move as Shell ducking its responsibility to clean up after itself. A court in March barred Shell from selling any more assets in Nigeria while the company appeals against a ruling in which it was found liable for a 2019 oil spill and ordered to pay affected communities nearly $2bn in damages. read more

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

The New York Times

Oil Giants Sell Dirty Wells to Buyers With Looser Climate Goals, Study Finds

The transactions can help major oil and gas companies clean up their own production by transferring polluting assets to a different firm, the analysis said.

By Hiroko Tabuchi: May 10, 2022

When Royal Dutch Shell sold off its stake in the Umuechem oil field in Nigeria last year, it was, on paper, a step forward for the company’s climate ambitions: Shell could clean up its holdings, raise money to invest in cleaner technologies, and move toward its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. read more

Reuters

Shell 2021 oil spills in Nigeria double in volume

April 5, 2022 11:54 AM 

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) – Shell (SHEL.L) said on Tuesday the volume of crude oil spills caused by sabotage in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta more than doubled to 3,300 tonnes last year, a level last seen in 2016.

While the volume of spills rose, the number of major spills fell to 106 in 2021 from 122 incidents the previous year, Shell said in its sustainability report.

It said in 2020, oil spills in Nigeria stood at 1,500 tonnes. read more