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Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has insisted that oil spills in its operational areas is caused by oil theft, sabotage of pipelines as well as illegal oil refining.
The company in its 2017 sustainability report just released said that the vast majority of oil spills in the Niger Delta continue to be caused by crude oil theft or sabotage of pipelines, as well as illegal oil refining.
“In 2017, close to 90% of the number of oil spills from SPDC JV facilities was due to illegal activities. Regrettably, spills also occur due to operational reasons,” it said.
It stated that regardless of the cause, it cleans up and remediates areas impacted by spills that come from its facilities and in the case of operational spills, it also pays compensation to people and communities impacted by the spill once the clean-up and remediation are completed, the work is inspected, and, if satisfactory, approved and certified by Nigerian government regulators.
Crude oil theft from SPDC JV’s pipeline network amounted to around 9,000 barrels of oil a day (b/d) in 2017, an increase from around 6,000 b/d in the previous year. The increase in 2017 can in part be explained by the militant-induced shutdown of the Forcados export terminal in 2016, which reduced opportunities for third-party interference.
This demonstrates that continued air and ground surveillance as well as the action by the government security forces remain necessary to prevent crude oil theft. Since 2012, SPDC has removed more than 950 illegal theft points.
However, the volume of oil spilled in operational incidents decreased to 0.1 thousand tonnes compared to 0.3 thousand tonnes in 2016.
The number of sabotage-related spills in 2017 increased to 62 from 48 in 2016. Theft and sabotage caused close to 90% of the number of spills of more than 100 kilograms from SPDC JV pipelines, with the balance being operational spills.
In 2017, 92 sites were remediated and certified (out of 251 identified for this work), with 32 in Ogoniland. During 2017, 84 new sites requiring remediation were identified, of which eight are in Ogoniland. In total, there are 243 oil spill sites that require remediation.
SPDC, the report stated works with government agencies, non-governmental organisations and communities to prevent and minimise spills from illegal activity.
“When a leak is identified on SPDC JV or SNEPCo assets, production is suspended and efforts are made to contain any spilled oil as part of our emergency spill response. We carry out this response in compliance with government regulations and in line with other standards at Shell-operated ventures globally.
On Ogoni clean up, the reports said the company is working with the relevant stakeholders to implement the 2011 UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.
“Over the last six years, SPDC has taken action on all the UNEP recommendations addressed specifically to it as operator of the joint venture and has completed the majority of these recommendations”.
The UNEP report recommended the creation of an Ogoni Restoration Fund with $1 billion capital, to be co-funded by the Nigerian government, the SPDC JV and other operators in the area. SPDC is supporting and contributing its share to the fund and on behalf of the SPDC JV made $10 million available in 2017 to help set up the Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project (HYPREP), a government-led body to clean up contaminated sites.
The body agreed to $33 million in funding for areas such as emergency water supply, scoping of contaminated sites and alternative livelihood programmes.
Throughout 2017, SPDC representatives continued to actively support the clean-up process within the governance framework established in August 2016 by the Nigerian government.
Some stakeholders have expressed concern about the pace of reaching decisions and taking action on the clean-up process. The Nigerian government and HYPREP strongly advocate setting up a transparent governance structure before starting actual clean-up.
