Response by Shell to articles & statement re cleanup of Bodo spill, Nigeria
13 August 2012
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Shell to respond to the following articles and statement:
- "Fallout from Nigerian oil spill haunts locals", Al Jazeera, 4 Aug 2012
- "Amnesty Int’l, CEHRD Fault Shell’s Sabotage Claim", This Day (Nigeria), 7 Aug 2012
- "Nigeria: Oil spill investigations 'a fiasco' in the Niger Delta", Amnesty International, 2 Aug 2012
Shell sent the following response:
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the points raised in Amnesty International and EHRD's press statements. Shell welcomes the Centre’s ability to bring international attention to the challenging operating environment in Nigeria, and in particular to raise the important issue of illegal oil theft and refining to a wider audience. The matter deserves attention.
Regarding the specific incident referred to:
Shell would like to stress that the joint investigation, conducted by the regulator, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and community members, has not yet been concluded. SPDC will publish the joint investigation report, as per normal procedure, once it is complete. The affected pipeline section is being removed for off-site testing. This approach was jointly agreed by the regulator and SPDC and supported by the community members that are part of the Joint Investigation Team. Community representatives will have ongoing access to the section of pipe.
The issue of illegal bunkering has been widely reported by the international media e.g. and
Unfortunately, there are also instances where spills are caused by operational failures, such as equipment failure and human error. SPDC pays compensation to those affected by operational spills, and cleans up all spills – including those caused by third parties – no matter what their cause as soon as possible. Staff and contractors are working hard to eliminate operational spill incidents.
As part of a drive for transparency SPDC is also making it easier for you to track its progress on spills management. In January 2011 for example, it launched a website that publishes information on all spills from its facilities, including weekly progress updates on clean up, investigation reports and photographs. The new website can be found here: SPDC is the only operating company in the Niger Delta to publicly report like this.
We would like to take this opportunity to also share with you a series of articles written by the Financial Times about the operating environment in Nigeria:
“Multinationals: Groups struggle with bewildering difficulties” -
“Amnesty: Questions raised over the price of delta peace” -
“Guest column: ‘We have to track down the oil thieves’ “ -
Andrew Vickers
Vice President, NGO and Stakeholder Relations