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

Nigeria: Dutch court rejects suit of ‘Ogoni Nine’ widows against Shell

The court said there was insufficient evidence to support claims of the families of the activists executed alongside the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.

23 March 2022

A Dutch court has thrown out a suit against Shell brought by four widows of activists who were executed by late Nigerian military leader Sani Abacha in 1995 after protests against the company’s exploitation of the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The court said there was not enough evidence to support the widows’ claim that Shell had been involved in bribing witnesses related to the case.

In 2019, the court had handed the widows a rare win in their long-running battle by allowing the case to continue. But it had also said the claimants needed to prove Shell’s liability.

Shell has always denied wrongdoing.

Esther Kiobel, whose husband Barinem Kiobel was among those executed, said she would file an appeal at The Hague.

“We can’t do it in Nigeria because they [the government] are the collaborators,” she said. “I want their [activists] names exonerated. That’s what I want and that’s what I’m fighting for.” read more

The Hague: Esther Kiobel vows to continue her campaign for justice

23 March 2022

Human rights defender Esther Kiobel today lost her civil case against oil giant Shell, which she accuses of complicity in the 1995 execution of her husband by the Nigerian military government, but has promised to continue her campaign for justice. Esther has spent 27 years seeking justice for her husband Dr Barinem Kiobel, who was hanged along with eight other men in connection with widespread protests against oil pollution in the Niger Delta.At a witness hearing in 2019, three men told the Dutch court that Shell and the Nigerian government had given them money and offered them other bribes in order to incriminate Esther’s husband and eight other men, known collectively as the “Ogoni Nine”. But today, the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Shell had been involved.

Esther Kiobel brought the case against Shell along with three other women, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula, whose husbands were also executed in 1995. Amnesty International’s research into the historic injustice has revealed how Shell’s requests for ‘assistance’ in handling environmental protests led to a brutal government crackdown, culminating in the arrests and unlawful executions of the women’s husbands, as well as renowned activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and four other men.

“This is a disappointing outcome, but these extraordinarily brave women are not giving up. Their voices have been heard. They should be commended for their resilience and unbreaking commitment to exposing the truth, and for the invaluable work they have done to highlight the global culture of impunity for multinationals accused of human rights abuses,” said Mark Dummett, Head of Business and Human Rights at Amnesty International.

“It has taken years of legal wrangling for Esther Kiobel to get Shell to face her in a courtroom. Shell tried every trick in the book, from disputing jurisdiction to refusing to hand over crucial documents. The fact that it took more than twenty years for a court to hear Esther’s argument is a grim indictment of how corporations are able to evade accountability for terrible crimes and human rights abuses. Despite the ruling today, Esther’s battle for justice has not been in vain – her persistence represents a powerful argument for change. Governments must do more to hold companies accountable for human rights abuses, and make it possible for the victims to seek justice.”

Esther Kiobel fled Nigeria and settled in the US following her husband’s killing. She first filed a case against Shell in New York in 2002, but in 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled that the US did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. In 2017, Amnesty International supported Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula in bringing a new case against Shell in the Netherlands. The four plaintiffs accused Shell of being instrumental in the unlawful arrest and detention of their husbands; the violation of their husbands’ physical integrity; and the violation of their right to a fair trial and to life, and their own right to a family life. The case was held up when Shell refused to hand over crucial documents relating to the case, and it was not until 2019 that the District Court of The Hague heard the women’s arguments for the first time.

Amnesty International has extensively detailed Shell’s role in the crackdown in Ogoniland. In a 2017 report read more

English translation of extracts from a Forbes article published in German on 1st March 2022. 

FORBES

CAN SHELL GREEN?

In the public perception, Shell is an industrial giant – now Fabian Ziegler, Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Shell Holding GmbH since spring 2020, wants to make the company greener.

Will the Swiss succeed in pulling off the coup so vital to the group’s survival?

Text: Matthias Lauerer
Photo: Deutsche Shell Holding GmbH

1st March 2022

Is Shell on its way to a carbon-neutral future? Will this be a reimagined world, where green hydrogen, e-mobility and decarbonization have become a reality? Or do they prefer to greenwash to perpetuate the dirty old business model on which the global economy hangs? read more

Bloomberg Green

Shell Faces U.K. Showdown Over Impact of ‘Cataclysmic’ Oil Spill

• Communities claim impact of spill not felt until years later
• Shell said it’s implausible, damage is from other pollutants

By Katharine Gemmell: 26 February 2022, 08:32 GMT

A group of Nigerians want a trial against Royal Dutch Shell Plc in the U.K. for what they allege was a “cataclysmic” oil spill that wreaked havoc on their communities years later.

The pollution was caused by oil from the so-called Bonga Spill in 2011 but was only felt following flooding and storms three to four years after the initial mishap, say lawyers for Harrison Jalla and Abel Chujor, the two lead claimants in the lawsuit. read more

The Telegraph

JP Morgan accused of negligence over corrupt $1.3bn Nigerian oil deal

By Mark Hollingsworth: 20 February 2022 

The case revolves around $876m of missing money from an oil field sale in 2011

JP Morgan negligently allowed corrupt Nigerian officials to siphon off more than three quarters of a $1.3bn oil investment to a former oil minister’s company and assorted middlemen, the High Court will hear this week.

The world’s largest bank is being sued by the Nigerian state for allegedly allowing corrupt former state officials to extract $875m between 2011 and 2013 from a government account opened with JP Morgan in London. read more

allAfrica.com

Nigeria: Bonga Oil Spill Victims Urge Shell to Pay $3.4bn NOSDRA Fine

Leadership (Abuja)

By Anayo Onukwugha: 24 Jan 2022

Victims of the 2011 Bonga oil spill have demanded that Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) should immediately pay the sum of $3.4billion fines and awards to them as imposed by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).

“We demand on behalf of all the victims of the Shell (SNEPCO) Bonga Oil Spill which is rated globally as one of the most devastating, that Shell pay immediately the fines/awards of $3.4billion imposed on it by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) which fines/awards were upheld both by the National Assembly through the House Committee on Environment and a competent court of the land -the Federal High Court in Lagos. read more

BNN Bloomberg

Shell Appeals $2 Billion Judgment in Nigeria Pollution Case

William Clowes, Bloomberg News: 20 Jan 2022

(Bloomberg) — A Nigerian court will hear Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s appeal to overturn an almost $2 billion award against the company for allegedly spilling oil in the West African country.

The energy giant is challenging a November 2020 judgment in favor of community members claiming a leak from a company pipeline damaged their land and waterways. A federal court of appeal in the city of Owerri is scheduled to consider applications from both sides on Jan. 25, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs. 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

SHELL ASSETS DIVESTMENT IN THE NIGER DELTA: THE WHOLE TRUTH FROM AN INSIDER’S VIEW

By Zik Gbemre

• I am vindicated by the unbiased account expressed by a former Shell General Manager on why the oil major left Delta state.
• Until we situate the blame in all honesty and amend our ways, we will remain stagnated as a state and in the south of the Niger Delta at large.

When stakeholders often rationalise where to situate the blame over the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) unforgettable divestment of its key assets in Delta state which drastically shattered the state’s economy, I tell people not to look too far to find the key actors who forced that situation.

People may blame Shell, but Shell wasn’t the problem. Even if Shell genuinely intended to leave Delta, it never meant to leave the way it did. The greedy, thieving PDP hegemony of government over the state gave much recognition to violent youths above the law-abiding from the greed of James Ibori to the insensitivity of his successor cousin forced the Shell exit. 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

Royal Dutch Shell: How Nigeria’s Ex-Attorney General Bayo Ojo Received $10 Million From Malabu Largesse

10/05/2021 | 03:07am EDT

Christopher Bayo Ojo, who between June 2005 and May 2007 was Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, received $10.026 million the infamous Malabu OPL 245 share-outs, a payment investigators said was a “bribe” for his earlier controversial decision to reassign the lucrative oil block to Dan Etete, Nigeria’s former petroleum minister. read more

Contracts are the legal instruments that regulate the behaviour of individuals and parties in the corporate world. Developed societies have very high regard for contracts because it builds trust, makes for ease of doing business and reduce risks involved with investments.

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is the pioneer leader of the Petroleum industry in Nigeria.

Shell is not only the leading energy company in Nigeria, the company is also a global brand with a presence in the most advanced economies in the world. Shell ought to know better about the sacrality of the contractual agreement and the imperativeness of their demands on implicated parties. read more

Fresh Trouble, Panic hits Shell Hqrs as Oil Giant, AITEO launches $2.5b lawsuit against Shell over the sale of OML 29  with fraud and misrepresentations  read more

Royal Dutch Shell: How Nigeria’s Ex-Attorney General Bayo Ojo Received $10 Million From Malabu Largesse

Extracts from an article published by Premium Times on 5 October 2021

Christopher Bayo Ojo, who between June 2005 and May 2007 was Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, received $10.026 million from the infamous Malabu OPL 245 share-outs, a payment investigators said was a “bribe” for his earlier controversial decision to reassign the lucrative oil block to Dan Etete, Nigeria’s former petroleum minister. read more

Image Credit: KICKBACK NEWS

By John Donovan

KickBack.news, the anti-corruption website recently founded by Javier Ferrandis has published a remarkable article under the headline:

DONOVAN vs. SHELL: A 30 Years Epic battle against a corporate giant.

Extract

Disgruntled employees, interested in learning about or airing the dirty laundry of the Shell Group, or journalists, who want to find out what’s up at one of the largest corporations in the world, know that you have to start your search by simply typing royaldutchshellplc.com on your browser. read more