Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria says it paid over $1.7million compensation in 2010 to the victims of oil spill in the Niger Delta area of the country.
The recipients of the compensation are those affected by the spills in Shell’s areas of operation in the oil-rich region.
Managing Director and country chair of Shell companies in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu who disclosed this in Lagos said 27,580 barrels of oil were spilled by the company.
He said 18,763 barrels of oil spilled, (68%) were however recovered.
“In the last five years(since 2006), SPDC has been dealing with an average of 169 oil spills per year, slightly fewer than the 175 average for the 1995 to 2009 period. In 2010, there were 144 spills over 100kg.
“There were 32 operational spills in 2010(37 in 2009), but the volume spilled increased to 5,270 barrels from 2,300 in 2009. Most of this additional spillage happened when we started up production from assets that had been out of commission for some time-mainly as a result of deliberate damage.
“Sabotage and crude oil theft was the cause of 22,310 barrels spilled from SPDC facilities in 112 incidents, an average of about one spill every three days, accounting for over 80% of the spilled volume during the year.”
The company’s helmsman said in order to prevent operational spills, SPDC operates a programme designed to ensure that equipment and infrastructure are kept in good shape.
According to him, the company replaced 132kilometres of pipelines and flow lines last year, in addition to the 318kilometres it replaced in 2009.
He said the programme include completing the replacement of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.
