Shell Launches Investigation Into Nigerian Oil Spill

Oil major Shell has launched an investigation into the source of a crude oil spill observed around water at the Forcados Terminal in Nigeria.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) said the incident happened earlier this month.

NUPENG asks Federal Government to stop Chevron, Shell on Moves to Sack 18,500 Workers

Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday called on the Federal Government to stop Chevron and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, from extending the planned sack of 18,500 workers globally to Nigeria.

NUPENG in a statement by its President, Mr. Igwe Achese, insisted that the union was worried and concerned about the purported sack threat of about 18,500 workers, though, globally in Chevron and Shell, describing the planned sack as alarming.

It claimed the planned sack was a sack too many, as oil workers in Chevron Nigeria and Shell would be affected, as the two companies had adduced dwindling oil prices in the international market for the planned sack.

Shell Refutes Amnesty International’s Cclaims on Ogoni Spills

 
Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC), has said that Amnesty International did not carry out a thorough check before releasing the report that indicted it (Shell) for failing to clean up four oil spill sites in Ogoni land, which it had claimed to have cleaned up since 2011, The Guardian reports.

Shell’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli and Chairman of Bodo Mediation Initiative, Inemo Samiama, in an interaction with journalists in Port Harcourt noted that proper remediation was done on the Bomu manifold oil spill site and was certified by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), in 2011.

Weli explained however that some illegal oil bunkering activities in the area must have re-polluted the remediated site, insisting that the amnesty report was conflicting, especially, as it failed to produce the geographical data base of the polluted area. He also said that as part of its contributions towards remediating the spill sites, the firm was determined and ready to go back and carry out the cleanup exercise but called on government to put up measures towards addressing the attitude of people in the community who prefer pecuniary benefits to the clean up exercise. 

 

Source: Energy Mix Report News

Football Pitch in Nigeria Powered by Kinetic Energy: Vanity Project for Oil Multinational or Future for Renewables?

 

An innovative new football pitch in Lagos opened in December using power generated by the players running on special tiles that capture kinetic energy. The project at the Federal College of Education in Akoka is supported by multinational oil company Shell and uses technology developed by British company Pavegen.

“We found a community that had no light, has no way at night time for people to socialise or play sport,” Pavegen founder Laurence Kemball-Cook told RFI. “We're creating a real legacy project here to really change the way energy used and viewed in Africa,” he adds.

Radio report
More than 90 tiles located under the pitch capture kinetic energy generated by the movement of the players.

“Each tile produces up to 7 watts of power per footstep,” says Kemball-Cook. “If you had 8 people continuously walking over the tiles you could produce up to 56 watts of power continuously.”

SPDC Wins 2015 PETAN Local Content Operator Award

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has won the 2015 Local Content Operator of the Year Award by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), in recognition of its achievements in embedding Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

SPDC was commended for many initiatives that have promoted Nigerian content including the domestication of original equipment manufacturing services; contractor funding schemes; and the collaboration with PETAN on similar programmes and projects.

"The award is a strong endorsement for the many successful interventions we have made in the Nigerian content space and an impetus for us to continue to grow indigenous capacity for the industry," said SPDC's General Manager, Business and Government Relations, Simbi Wabote, while receiving the award from the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Denzil Kentebe.

Dutch Court Set to Rule On Case Seeking To Hold Shell Liable For Niger Delta Degradation

Multinational oil giant, Shell, may finally be held liable for the degradation of the Niger Delta caused by decades of its negligent oil exploration activities if the Dutch Appeal Court rule in favour of respondents in a judgement expected to be made on Friday.

The company may also be made to release previously withheld documents showing it failed to stop and clean oil pollution in the case which is first of its kind.

Amnesty International said in a statement that allowing the respondents access to internally held documents would reveal the extent of the damage done to communities by oil spills which still continues at a rate of 100 per day. 

The organisation also stated that the documents would also show shell had knowledge that its pipes were rusty and faulty.

The case, brought by environment group, Friends of the Earth, on behalf of four Niger Delta farmers, will also make it possible for those whose means of livelihood was destroyed by oil pollution to seek compensation from Shell. 

“This case is especially important as it could pave the way for further cases from other communities devastated by Shell’s negligence. It is vital that multinationals are made to answer for action abroad that would never be accepted in their home countries,” said Amnesty International researcher, Mark Dummett.

“There have been thousands of spills from Shell’s pipelines since the company started pumping oil in the Niger Delta in 1958, with devastating consequences for the people living there. They have heard endless false promises from Shell. Our research shows that even when Shell says it has cleaned up land, there are visible signs of the oil pollution that scars the land and destroys the economic prospects of a community that depends on farming and fishing.”

Source:  Premium Time News