Shell faces huge payout for spills in Niger Delta and further resistance against Corrib gas project in Ireland, but also wins drilling rights in Arctic.
Niger Delta
Shell has admitted liability for two enormous oil spills and faces a possible bill of hundreds of millions of dollars following a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of communities in the Bodo region of Ogoniland, Southern Nigeria.
The company has accepted responsibility for the double rupture of the Bodo-Bonny trans-Niger pipeline in 2008. Combined, the spills could be larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.
Shell was forced to leave Ogoniland, a small region of the Niger delta, by the local Ogoni tribe in 1993, protesting against its pollution of the area. In 2009 the company agreed to pay a last minute settlement of $15.5m (£9.6m) during legal action in which it was accused of having collaborated in the execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other leaders of the Ogoni tribe that led the campaign against it.
The admission of liability was followed by the publication of a report by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) saying that oil spills in a 1,000sq km of area of land and water in Ogoniland will cost up to $1 billion to clean up over the next five years, with much more money possibly needed over the full 30 years it will take to clean up the region. In a statement UNEP said: "control and maintenance of oil field infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate: the Shell Petroleum Development Company's own procedures have not been applied, creating public health and safety issues."
Responding to the UNEP report, Mutiu Sunmonu, the managing director of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, blamed most of the environmental damage in the Niger Delta on oil theft, illegal refining and other criminal activities, a regular claim made by the company: "All oil spills are bad – bad for local communities, bad for the environment, bad for Nigeria and bad for [the company]. Although we haven't produced oil in Ogoniland since 1993 we clean up all spills from our facilities, whatever the cause, and restore the land to its original state. The majority of oil spills in Nigeria are caused by sabotage, theft and illegal refining. We urge the Nigerian authorities to do all they can to curb such activity, and we will continue working with our partners in Nigeria, including the government, to solve these problems and on the next steps to help clean up Ogoniland." Activists strongly reject this explanation. The Movement for the Survival of the Ogonio People (Mosop), founded by Ken Saro-Wiwa and a powerful political voice in the region, also rejected the UN report, pointing to the fact that it was paid for by Shell. Mosop president Goodluck Diigbo asked: "Who determined that restoration of Ogoniland would last for 30 years? What is the extent or estimate of overall damage? Everything is dictated to us, the Ogoni people, who have lost our means of livelihood, [and been] subjected to economic burden and poverty," Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria called for the creation of a $100bn environmental restoration fund for the whole Niger Delta, parts of which they said were just as polluted as Ogoniland. The director, Nnimmo Bassey, said: "The $1bn initial restoration fund that the report has proposed is negligible compared with the mammoth ecological disaster caused by Shell. Other communities must now also be considered for a comprehensive environmental audit."
Rossport, Ireland The local community and solidarity activists have promised to continue their campaign of resistance against Shell's Corrib gas project off the western coast of Ireland. Shell has now begun preparatory work for the onshore pipeline. The Corrib Gas Field is a reserve of natural gas situated 80km off the west coast of County Mayo, containing at least 1 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas. The project, directed by a consortium of companies led by Shell, seeks to bring the gas ashore at Glengad in the Barrony of Erris in North West Mayo and to pump the unrefined gas 9km inland. Local resistance has delayed Shell's plans for years, supported since June 2005 by the Rossport Solidarity Camp, set up at the invitation of the community on the route of the proposed Shell pipeline. The construction of the onshore pipeline has been met with determined resistance from the community and the solidarity camp. Lock-ons, road blocks, and monkey wrenching has left the onshore stage of the project already seriously behind schedule.
Beafort Sea, Arctic On Thursday the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved a 2012 Beaufort Sea exploratory drilling plan for Shell Offshore, Inc. The company's plans had been put on hold following the Gulf of Mexico's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. "The conditional approval of our Plan of Exploration is welcome news and adds to our cautious optimism that we will be drilling our Alaska leases by this time next year," said Curtis Smith, a spokesperson for Shell's Alaska operations.
The decision could prove to be a significant step in the rush to exploit resources in the Arctic. Shell's intends to drill up to four exploratory wells over two years starting in July 2012. The company is also pursuing drilling along Alaska's western Arctic Coast in the Chukchi Sea. Opponents to the drilling reacted angrily and a highly critical press release was issued by more than a dozen groups opposing offshore Arctic drilling -- including the Sierra Club, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Alaska Wilderness League, Oceana and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The admission of liability was followed by the publication of a report by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) saying that oil spills in a 1,000sq km of area of land and water in Ogoniland will cost up to $1 billion to clean up over the next five years, with much more money possibly needed over the full 30 years it will take to clean up the region. In a statement UNEP said: "control and maintenance of oil field infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate: the Shell Petroleum Development Company's own procedures have not been applied, creating public health and safety issues."
Responding to the UNEP report, Mutiu Sunmonu, the managing director of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, blamed most of the environmental damage in the Niger Delta on oil theft, illegal refining and other criminal activities, a regular claim made by the company: "All oil spills are bad – bad for local communities, bad for the environment, bad for Nigeria and bad for [the company]. Although we haven't produced oil in Ogoniland since 1993 we clean up all spills from our facilities, whatever the cause, and restore the land to its original state. The majority of oil spills in Nigeria are caused by sabotage, theft and illegal refining. We urge the Nigerian authorities to do all they can to curb such activity, and we will continue working with our partners in Nigeria, including the government, to solve these problems and on the next steps to help clean up Ogoniland." Activists strongly reject this explanation. The Movement for the Survival of the Ogonio People (Mosop), founded by Ken Saro-Wiwa and a powerful political voice in the region, also rejected the UN report, pointing to the fact that it was paid for by Shell. Mosop president Goodluck Diigbo asked: "Who determined that restoration of Ogoniland would last for 30 years? What is the extent or estimate of overall damage? Everything is dictated to us, the Ogoni people, who have lost our means of livelihood, [and been] subjected to economic burden and poverty," Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria called for the creation of a $100bn environmental restoration fund for the whole Niger Delta, parts of which they said were just as polluted as Ogoniland. The director, Nnimmo Bassey, said: "The $1bn initial restoration fund that the report has proposed is negligible compared with the mammoth ecological disaster caused by Shell. Other communities must now also be considered for a comprehensive environmental audit."
Rossport, Ireland The local community and solidarity activists have promised to continue their campaign of resistance against Shell's Corrib gas project off the western coast of Ireland. Shell has now begun preparatory work for the onshore pipeline. The Corrib Gas Field is a reserve of natural gas situated 80km off the west coast of County Mayo, containing at least 1 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas. The project, directed by a consortium of companies led by Shell, seeks to bring the gas ashore at Glengad in the Barrony of Erris in North West Mayo and to pump the unrefined gas 9km inland. Local resistance has delayed Shell's plans for years, supported since June 2005 by the Rossport Solidarity Camp, set up at the invitation of the community on the route of the proposed Shell pipeline. The construction of the onshore pipeline has been met with determined resistance from the community and the solidarity camp. Lock-ons, road blocks, and monkey wrenching has left the onshore stage of the project already seriously behind schedule.
Beafort Sea, Arctic On Thursday the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved a 2012 Beaufort Sea exploratory drilling plan for Shell Offshore, Inc. The company's plans had been put on hold following the Gulf of Mexico's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. "The conditional approval of our Plan of Exploration is welcome news and adds to our cautious optimism that we will be drilling our Alaska leases by this time next year," said Curtis Smith, a spokesperson for Shell's Alaska operations.
The decision could prove to be a significant step in the rush to exploit resources in the Arctic. Shell's intends to drill up to four exploratory wells over two years starting in July 2012. The company is also pursuing drilling along Alaska's western Arctic Coast in the Chukchi Sea. Opponents to the drilling reacted angrily and a highly critical press release was issued by more than a dozen groups opposing offshore Arctic drilling -- including the Sierra Club, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Alaska Wilderness League, Oceana and the Natural Resources Defense Council.