Health, Safety & Environment

Nigeria’s state oil company and partners spent $360 million on Delta cleanup: NNPC

February 19, 2020 | Health, Safety & Environment, Nigeria, Politics & Social Unrest

Yenagoa, Nigeria | –  Nigeria’s state oil company and its joint venture partners have spent $360 million on cleaning up the Niger Delta oil heartland in the past two years, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Monday, but locals said little work had been done. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest crude oil exporter. Oil sales account for around 90% of its foreign currency earnings but oil spills in the southern Niger Delta region have caused pollution and angered locals. Royal Dutch Shell Plc was …

Nigeria’s oil-rich Bayelsa State opens inquiry on spills

March 27, 2019 | Government & Regulations, Health, Safety & Environment, Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria | — Nigeria’s oil-rich Bayelsa state started an inquiry into the human and environmental impact of spills caused by multinational businesses operating in the region, opening a potential new conflict with companies that pump the bulk of the nation’s crude. The Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission is in charge of the inquiry, which will be led by the British Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. It’s the first time such an investigation will be launched by a Nigerian oil-producing state, indicating concerns about …

Over 50 people missing after Nigerian oil pipeline explosion

March 05, 2019 | Health, Safety & Environment, Nigeria, Pipelines

Warri, Nigeria | — More than 50 people were reported missing after a leaking oil pipeline exploded and caused a stampede in southern Nigeria, a local official said on Saturday. Nengi James-Eriworio, a spokesman for the Nembe Chiefs Council, told reporters that the blast on Friday caused a massive oil spill in the Nembe Kingdom in Bayelsa State. There was no immediate word on injuries or other casualties beyond those missing. The Nembe trunk line is operated by the Port Harcourt-based Aiteo Group and carries …

Shell shuts Trans Ramos pipeline feeding into Nigeria’s Forcados oil terminal

August 23, 2018 | Health, Safety & Environment, Nigeria

London, UK |— Multinational oil supermajor Shell shut-in the Trans Ramos pipeline which feeds into Nigeria’s Forcados oil export terminal, to clean up crude oil spilled from a ruptured section, it said late-Sunday. “The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited…has recovered over 95% of spilled oil from the recent spill incidents on sections of the Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) in Aghoro community, Bayelsa State, and in Odimodi community in Delta State,” Shell said in a statement. Forcados, a gasoil-rich sweet crude blend, is one of …

Shell, ENI accused of negligence over Nigeria oil spills

March 16, 2018 | Health, Safety & Environment, Nigeria

London, UK | – Nigeria was on Friday urged to re-open investigations into 89 oil spills in its southern delta region, after claims that Shell and ENI misreported the causes. Rights group Amnesty International said there were “reasonable doubts” about how the spills happened, suggesting corrosion rather than oil theft were behind the pollution. A total of 46 spills came from pipelines operated by Shell’s local subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, and 43 from ENI’s Nigerian Agip Oil Company, it added. The …

Shell helped Nigeria’s military to commit human rights abuses – Amnesty

November 28, 2017 | Health, Safety & Environment, Nigeria, Politics & Social Unrest

London, UK | – Oil giant Shell should be investigated for alleged complicity in” horrific crimes” committed by the military in Nigeria in the 1990s, Amnesty International has said. Shell encouraged a crackdown, which led to killings and the burning of villages in the oil-producing Ogoniland region of Nigeria’s restive Niger Delta, the rights group added. The Anglo-Dutch oil supermajor said the allegations were “without merit”. The region was hit by protests over oil pollution and poverty in the 1990s. It led to a massive …

Shell taken to court over complicity in 1995 execution of 9 Nigerians

June 29, 2017 | Health, Safety & Environment, Legal, Politics & Social Unrest

London, UK | – Royal Dutch Shell Plc has been accused of complicity in the executions of nine activists in Nigeria in 1995 following the launch of a legal case filed in the Netherlands by widows of four of the “Ogoni Nine,” a prominent human rights watchdog said Thursday The so-called Ogoni Nine were activists from the Ogoni region of Nigeria, who were hanged in 1995 for allegations that were later proven false. The activists were led by Ken Saro-Wiwa and protested both Shell and the Nigerian government, accusing them …

Trump dismays, angers allies by abandoning global climate pact

June 02, 2017 | Health, Safety & Environment, Renewable Energy, United States & Canada

London, UK | – President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would withdraw the United States from the landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, drawing anger and condemnation from world leaders and heads of industry. Trump, tapping into the “America First” message he used when he was elected president last year, said the Paris accord would undermine the U.S. economy, cost U.S. jobs, weaken American national sovereignty and put the country at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world. “We’re …