Working for Shell didn’t stop me having morals or accepting climate change, says Mark Moody-Stuart

Working for Shell didn’t stop me having morals or accepting climate change, says Mark Moody-Stuart

Mar 6th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By John Donovan

The Guardian has published anotherarticle by former Royal Dutch Shell Group Chairman, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart.

He is apparently attempting to deal with the recent suggestion by Jonathan Porritt  that oil company employees should conducer quitting their jobs on moral grounds.

Sir Mark says that working for Shell didn’t stop him from having morals or accepting climate change.

He clearly holds himself in high esteem.

Surprising, since all manner of unethical activity took place during his time at the top of Shell, including:

• Cloak and dagger activities targeting Greenpeace, The BodyShop and other perceived Shell enemies by a private spy firm in which his titled colleagues on the Shell Transport and Trading Company board were major shareholders and the ultimate spymasters.
• Undercover activities directed at my family and me by Shell. Activities that I made him personally aware of and that Shell was forced to admit in writing.
• Spectacularly bad survey results generated from a survey involving over a 1,000 Shell petrol stations in the UK, which revealed that 75% who participated, thought Shell was an unethical company.
• The seeds of the reserves scandal that were sown by his hydrocarbon value creation teams.
• Environmental abuses in Nigeria, including unfulfilled promises to end gas flaring.

Sir Mark strove to retain his high self regard even when boss of Anglo American and continues to do so although now in bed with the hardline Saudi regime. The regime that sentenced a blogger to a 1,000 lashes and are threatening to upgrade that insane sentence to a death penalty.

Under the circumstances, it is a bit rich for Sir Mark to give himself a pass as being a person of high integrity.

It would be fairer to leave that assessment to the judgement of impartial observers.

Having said all of that, I do think that Sir Mark’s natural inclination, encouraged by his good wife, is to act with integrity, more so than with most past and current leaders in the extractive industries.

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Posted in: Business Principles, Corporate Governance, Environment, GoogleNews,Human Rights, John Donovan, Jorma Ollila, Nigeria, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc,Shell.
Tagged: John Donovan · Nigeria · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Sir Mark Moody-Stuart

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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

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

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

The TRUTH will set you FREE.