Nigeria’s Ogonis Divided Over Resuming Oil Production

Nigeria’s Ogonis Divided Over Resuming Oil Production

Mar 6th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By Chris Stein – Voice of America, 06 March 2015

Nigeria’s Ogonis Divided Over Resuming Oil Production

KEGBARA DERE, NIGERIA—

Oil once flowed in Ogoniland, as it does from wells throughout the creeks and swamps of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.

But in 1993, the Ogoni people said enough. Leaking pipelines were polluting the fields they farmed and the waterways they fished.

Oil giant Shell was forced to pull out of Ogoniland that year in the face of protests led by the charismatic Ken Saro-Wiwa, head of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, or MOSOP. He was hanged two years later by the military dictatorship that ran Nigeria, in a move widely seen as retaliation for his activism.

Nearly 20 years after Saro-Wiwa’s death, some Ogonis think they would be better off if production resumed.

“It will generate some sort of employment. It will definitely engage our youth. And you know if there is money, people can have access to good education. If there’s money people will have access to good food.  And if there is money people will have access to good shelter,” said Donald Gberesu, the high chief of the town of Kegbara Dere.

In the years since Shell left, Ogoniland has remained polluted. An United Nations Environment Program report released in 2011 said it will take up to 30 years of cleanup to undo all the damage done by the decades of oil exploration.

Many in the region, such as Young Kigbara, a former member of the MOSOP leadership, feel the pollution issue needs to be addressed before Ogoni oil can flow once again.

“It is a precondition for any company to come in, which means the federal government first and foremost and Shell ought to clean Ogoni properly before any oil resumption can take place. It is after that any other company will come,” said Kigbara.

Some say Shell alienated the Ogonis by developing the region only to suit the needs of its business. Roads were paved, but only to access Shell infrastructure.  Resident Gbarakporo Amstel Monday said a new contract will make sure locals benefit from the extraction.

“We are now going to start a new beginning. You are getting me. We are going to get a new beginning. Because we are going to negotiate. You give me what and I give you what,” said Monday.

In the meantime, Ogoniland’s creeks remain blackened by crude, much as they were when anti-drilling activist Saro-Wiwa was alive.

SOURCE

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Posted in: Africa, Business Principles, Corruption, Environment, Human Rights, Nigeria,Ogoniland, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, Toxic contamination.
Tagged: Nigeria · Ogoni · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Voice of America

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Shell Nigeria: Allegations of insider trading and sharp practices

Shell Nigeria: Allegations of insider trading and sharp practices

Mar 6th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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From an article published by ThisDayLive on 6 March 2015 under the headline:

House Summons Alison-Madueke, Shell over Divestment from Oil Block

The Nigerian House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, and the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) over allegations of sharp practices in the divestment of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11 by the Anglo-Dutch oil multinational.

Prompted by a motion sponsored by Hon. Uzoma Nkem Abonta (PDP, Abia), the House would probe the circumstances surrounding Shell’s exit from the said oil block and host communities knowing how interested it was in the build-up to the acquisition process.

According to Abonta, “Shell Petroleum is desirous of relinquishing its interest in some oil blocks especially OML11.

“We aware of the discrepancies, lack of transparency and insider trading arrangements in the bidding process by SPDC,” he said.

FULL ARTICLE

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Posted in: Africa, Business Principles, Nigeria, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell.
Tagged: Nigeria · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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Shell confirms oil leak from underwater facility in Bayelsa

Shell confirms oil leak from underwater facility in Bayelsa

Mar 6th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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From an article published in the Premium Times on 5 March 2015:

Shell confirms oil leak from underwater facility in Bayelsa

Extracts

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on Thursday confirmed an oil leak incident from its underwater line within its oil fields in Bayelsa.

According to a statement issued by Joesph Obari, Spokesperson for the oil firm, the leakage was reported on January 23, 2015, and the company subsequently shut the facility.

A site visit however showed that residual leak from Seibou Deep facility operated by SPDC, has been discharging crude into Ogboinbiri River in Bayelsa.

“A spill was detected from an underwater flow line riser at the Seibou 2 Wellhead in the night of January 23, 2015,” the statement said.

“The well was closed-in about fifteen hours later, once it was safe to do so and the impacted area boomed off to prevent further spread of the spill.

“ A Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) has been conducted, but it only determined the quantity of oil spilled and mapped the area of impact to the environment.

“A follow up JIV is being planned to lift the line from underwater and determine the cause of leak.”

Residents of the coastal settlements in Ogboinbiri and neigbouring communities say the oil leak had damaged the fishing activities of the people.

Some residents, who depend on the river for drinking and domestic use, say the leak had continued unabated for over a month, compelling them to resort to sachet water.

“This major spill started a long time ago like a small leak but has turned a serious issue by 15 February at the Seibou 2 facility of Shell at Ogboinbiri.

“The spill first affected rivers in the Ogboinbiri axis before spreading to other communities; the volume of crude oil was really heavy. It covered the whole of our river.

SOURCE

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Posted in: Africa, Environment, Nigeria, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc,Toxic contamination.
Tagged: Motiva Enterprises · Niger Delta · Nigeria · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS' IMAGES 6MAR15

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Yet Another Oil Train Has Derailed and Caught Fire

Mother Jones

Yet Another Oil Train Has Derailed and Caught Fire

—By Luke Whelan

| Thu Mar. 5, 2015 9:44 PM EST

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14

The scene of crude oil train that derailed in Ontario, Canada on February 14. Transportation Safety Board of Canada/AP

Earlier today, yet another massive train carrying crude oil derailed and caught on fire, this time in northern Illinois near the Mississippi River. One-hundred-and-three of the the train's 105 cars were carrying crude oil—from where was not immediately clear—eight of which derailed. Two of the derailed cars have caught on fire, according to BNSF Railway which owns the train, sending plumes of smoke and fire into the sky above Galena, Illinois, a town of just over 3,300.

The image of smoldering oil train cars is now a familiar sight: Incidences of exploding oil trains have been rapidly rising in North America thanks to the fracking boom in North Dakota's Bakken oil fields (Bakken oil is potentially more flammable than normal crude) and the slow transition away from old, unsafe rail cars. Oil-by-rail carloads are up 4000 percent from 2008 in the United States and this is the the third derailment in North America in the last three weeks, including a massive explosion in West Virginia on February 16 that injured one person and spilled oil into the nearby Kanawha River. In fact, a Department of Transportation report predicted trains carrying crude and ethanol would derail an average of 10 times per year in the next two decades. This is bad news for people who live near railways and the ecosystems in which they reside.

People living within a mile radius of today's derailment have begun evacuating,and authorities are monitoring the Mississippi River for leakage. BNSF Railway has not responded to inquiries from Mother Jones about the age of the trains' cars and whether the train was carrying Bakken crude. We will update the post with when we have that information. The Birkshire Hathaway subsidiary did tell Reuters, however, that no injuries had been sustained.

LUKE WHELAN

Editorial Fellow

Luke Whelan is an editorial fellow at Mother Jones whose work has appeared in Grist and Vermont'sBurlington Free Press. He enjoys road biking and working on his Chinese. RSS | TWITTER

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FROM NBC NEWS

Freight Train Carrying Oil Derails, Catches Fire in Illinois

A train loaded with crude oil derailed, and some of its cars caught fire, in Illinois Thursday while travelling through a rural part of the state, authorities said. There were no injuries reported, but at least two of the 103 train cars carrying crude oil were set ablaze.

The train derailed at around 1:20 p.m. local time (2:20 p.m. ET) near Galena, a town of about 3,400 people in the northwestern part of the state near the Iowa border, BNSF Railway said in a statement. At least five of the train cars derailed, emergency officials said.

A voluntary evacuation area was established for a mile around the derailment. Out of 500 families in that area, only one chose to leave, Galena City Administrator Mark Moran told The Associated Press late Thursday.

The scene of the derailment is near the Mississippi River, and there is a concern that oil and other materials on the train may spill into the waterway, a spokesperson for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said. State and federal EPA officials were en route to the scene of the derailment Thursday afternoon.

BNSF on Thursday evening couldn't immediately say how many train cars derailed, and said the cause of the accident was not yet known. The company said the train consisted of 105 loaded cars, and all but two of those contained crude oil; the other two were buffer cars loaded with sand. The company did not say how much oil was on the train.

The train was coming from North Dakota, BNSF said. The company did not say where the train was headed.

The Federal Railroad Administration said it was sending a team of investigators to the scene of the accident.

BNSF said it was taking steps to prevent any crude oil from spilling into waterways, and will conduct air monitoring. "Protection of the communities we serve, the safety of our employees and protection of the environment are our highest priorities. We are guided by these priorities as we respond to this situation," BNSF said in a statement.

TH MEDIA

Smoke rises from the scene of a train derailment near Galena, Illinois, Thursday. The train was carrying crude oil, and at least two train cars caught fire, authorities said.

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