Shell Nigeria

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Shell Nigeria is the more common colloquial name for the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC). The company is a joint venture operated by Shell which accounts for more than forty percent of Nigeria's total oil production (899,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 1997) from more than eighty oil fields. The joint venture is composed of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55 percent), Shell (30 percent), TotalFinaElf (10 percent) and Agip (5 percent) and operates largely onshore on dry land or in the mangrove swamp. "The company has more than 100 producing oil fields, and a network of more than 6,000 kilometres of pipelines, flowing through 87 flowstations. SPDC operates 2 coastal oil export terminals". Shell has been operating in Nigeria since the 1960s and was the first corporation to begin drilling petroleum in the country.Shell operates in Nigeria primarily through Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, and owns concessions on four companies. They are (with descriptions from the Shell Nigeria website):

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC): "Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is the largest oil and gas company in Nigeria and has over 6,000 kilometres of pipelines and flowlines, 87 flowstations, eight gas plants and more than 1,000 producing wells."

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO): "Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) is geared to become Africa's leading deepwater oil and gas company. SNEPCO has made an immense contribution to technology transfer into Nigeria through the introduction of complex deep water technology."

Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG): "Natural Gas may be the driving force behind Nigerian industry by 2010."

Shell Nigeria Oil Products (SNOP): "A serious player in the downstream sector developing the market for Shell branded products and services."

Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG): "Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) is a joint venture agreement focused on harnessing Nigeria's natural gas reserves." [Shell owns a partial stake in this company and its role is largely advisory]

[edit] Human Rights Controversies

See also: Conflict in the Niger Delta

In the 1990s tensions arose between the native Ogoni people of the Niger Delta and Shell. The concerns of the locals were that very little of the money earned from oil on their land was getting to the people who live there, and the environmental damages caused by Shell's practices ^[1]. In 1993 the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) organised a large protest against Shell and the government. Shell withdrew its operations from the Ogoni areas but the Nigerian government raided their villages and arrested some of the protest leaders. Some of these arrested protesters, Ken Saro-Wiwa being the most prominent, were later executed against international opposition from the Commonwealth of Nations.^[2].

Shell asked the Nigerian government for clemency towards those found guilty, but its request was refused. However, a 2001 Greenpeace report found that "two witnesses that accused them later admitted that Shell and the military had bribed them with promises of money and jobs at Shell. Shell admitted having given money to the Nigerian military..." ^[3].

In December 2003 Shell Nigeria acknowledged that "we sometimes feed conflict by the way we award contracts, gain access to land, and deal with community representatives"^[4], and that it intends to improve on its practices ^[5].

[edit] References

^ United Nations Economic and Social Council report Situation of human rights in Nigeria, submitted by the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Soli Jehangir Sorabjee, pursuant to Commission resolution 1997/53 [1]
^ Okonata, Ike, Douglas,Oronto (2003). Where Vultures Feast. Verso. ISBN 1-85984-473-1.
^ Karen Suassuna (2001). "Contamination in Paulina by Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin and other toxic chemicals produced and disposed of by Shell Chemicals of Brazil". Greenpeace. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
^ BBC news. "Shell admits fuelling corruption", 2004-06-11. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
^ The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (2003). People and the Environment Annual Report. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.