Shell employees in Nigeria have purposefully caused oil spills in order to win clean-up business, the Netherlands’ Milieudefensie has claimed.
The NGO said the super-major had blamed locals for the spills for years. However, it said, Shell and the Dutch embassy knew that the company’s employees caused some spills in Bayelsa State.
Shell employees caused leaks and then directed clean-up contracts to family and friends, the NGO said.
A Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) spokesperson said the company “like other Shell companies globally, investigates all credible reports it receives of misconduct or unethical behaviour and takes robust action where evidence exists. SPDC has multiple ways the public can report allegations of wrongdoing by anyone working for SPDC, including a 24/7 telephone and email helpline.
“All spills are assessed by a government-led investigation team. Where sabotage is established, community contractors are not awarded the clean-up contract to ensure that possible accomplices do not benefit from such activities. SPDC cleans up and remediates areas impacted by spills that come from its operations, irrespective of cause of spill.”
Ikarama
The NGO said it had carried out research on Ikarama, a village northeast of Yenagoa, in Bayelsa State. There have been more than 30 leaks from Shell pipelines over the last 13 years, it said. These spills have caused local problems including harming health, reducing agricultural yields, polluting drinking water and harming fish.
Shell has blamed sabotage. Milieudefensie, citing interviews with employees and ex-employees of Shell Nigeria, residents and saboteurs, disagree. Rather, Shell Nigeria employees cause the “vast majority” of spills, it said.
The NGO said the Dutch ambassador to Nigeria Robert Petri had visited Ikarama in 2018. Locals had voiced concerns around Shell employees but the embassy did nothing in response, it said.
Various groups have also told Shell about this practice, but the company has done nothing, the NGO said.
Milieudefensie said Shell should pay compensation to the residents of the Niger Delta, clean up the mess caused and invest in a sustainable clean energy future for Nigeria.
The NGO’s study was based on research carried out by Environmental Rights Action (ERA) in 2019-20. Specifically, the report involved discussions with five individuals.
The study reported a conversation alleging a cleaning contractor paid a 250,000 naira ($652) bribe to a worker in Shell’s remediation department.
Code of conduct
The SPDC representative went on to say the company monitored its joint venture facilities and that any incident or suspected criminal activity was “promptly reported to the regulators and government security agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.
“As of now, we are not aware of any staff or contractor(s) having been involved in acts causing oil spills in the Niger Delta.”
SPDC reported seven spills of more than 100 kilograms of oil in 2019, with a total of 28 tonnes spilled. This is down from 15 incidents, and 413 tonnes, in 2018.
Internal investigations in 2019 revealed 263 violations of the code of conduct across its 80,000 odd workers. This led to the dismissal or termination of 93 employees and contractors.