Shell admits to two Niger Delta oil spills

It is estimated that there are six oil spills a day in the Niger Delta. The spills often go unreported, so most of them never get cleaned up. The oil industry blames sabotage for most of the spills, and that does happen in some cases. A recent class action lawsuit filed in the UK forced Shell oil to admit liability for one spill from 2008.

From the Guardian, writer John Vidal talks about the forced admission. A photo gallery of some of the damage the spill left behind can be found here.

Papers seen by the Guardian show that following a class action suit in London over the past four months, the company has accepted responsibility for the 2008 double rupture of the Bodo-Bonny trans-Niger pipeline that pumps 120,000 barrels of oil a day though the community.

Ogoniland is a small region of the Niger delta which threw out Shell in 1994 for its pollution but then saw eight of its leaders, including the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed by the government.

The crude oil that gushed unchecked from the two Bodo spills, which occurred within months of each other, in 2008 has clearly devastated the 20 sq km network of creeks and inlets on which Bodo and as many as 30 other smaller settlements depend for food, water and fuel.

No attempt has been made to clean up the oil, which has collected on the creek sides, washes in and out on the tides and has seeped deep into the water table and farmland.

According to the communities in Bodo, in two years the company has only offered £3,500 together with 50 bags of rice, 50 bags of beans and a few cartons of sugar, tomatoes and groundnut oil. The offers were rejected as "insulting, provocative and beggarly" by the chiefs of Bodo, but later accepted on legal advice.

Shell's acceptance of full liability for the spills follows a class action suit bought on behalf of communities by London law firm Leigh Day and Co, which represented the Ivory Coast community that suffered health damage following the dumping of toxic waste by a ship leased to multinational oil company Trafigura in 2006.

Video: Desperate Kenyans scramble for petrol

From NTV Kenya, a video about a real oil crisis currently going on in Kenya.

Video: Chinese build new pipeline in Western Kenya

From NTV Kenya, this video shows an example of the China Africa development relationship that we talked about in our previous post.

How would you like 50 years of oil spills?

In the "you think you've got it bad category" we turn to the Niger Delta. While the Gulf of Mexico oil spill dominates the news headlines, the Niger Delta has seen far worse. The oil spills that have dumped millions of gallons oil into the delta's wetlands have rendered much of it dead. What has spilled into the Gulf is only a fraction of what is dumped into the Niger Delta wetlands over the last 50 years.

There are several causes for the continuous oil dumplings in Nigeria. Sabotage from the local militant opposition, aging and poorly maintained pipes cause another fraction of the spills, also an ineffective oversight from the government.

From this Associated Press article that we found at the Sarasota Herald Tribune, writer Adam Nossiter gives us this unique perspective.

Perhaps no place on Earth has been as battered by oil, experts say, leaving residents here astonished at the nonstop attention paid to the gusher half a world away in the Gulf of Mexico. It was only a few weeks ago, they say, that a burst pipe belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the mangroves was finally shut after flowing for two months: Now nothing living moves in a black-and-brown world once teeming with shrimp and crab.

Not far away, there is still black crude on Gio Creek from an April spill, and just across the state line in Akwa Ibom the fishermen curse their oil-blackened nets, doubly useless in a barren sea buffeted by a spill from an offshore Exxon Mobil pipe in May that lasted for weeks.

The oil spews from rusted and aging pipes, unchecked by what analysts say is ineffectual or collusive regulation, and abetted by deficient maintenance and sabotage. In the face of this black tide is an infrequent protest -- soldiers guarding an Exxon Mobil facility beat women who were demonstrating last month, according to witnesses -- but mostly resentful resignation.

Small children swim in the polluted estuary here, fishermen take their skiffs out ever farther -- "There's nothing we can catch here," said Pius Doron, perched anxiously over his boat -- and market women trudge through oily streams.

"There is Shell oil on my body," said Hannah Baage, emerging from Gio Creek with a machete she used to cut the cassava stalks balanced on her head.

Amnesty report calls the Niger Delta a "resource curse"

Amnesty International has released a report that talks about the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The Niger Delta is rich with oil, and only a few people get rich from the oil.

However, wastes from the oil production has caused contamination of the area's water and soil. Many in Delta region have not seen any benefits in their lives from the sale of the oil.

The poverty and resentment have spawned violent groups who sabotage the oil production, only leading to more pollution. The militia groups cause oil spills, waste dumping, and set fires to wells.

From Canada com, this AFP tells us more about the Amnesty report on Nigeria.

In a report released Tuesday, Amnesty described the situation in the Niger Delta, home to 31 million people, as a "human rights tragedy" which has fuelled anger and conflict.

"People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with, and wash in polluted water; they eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins -- if they are lucky enough to still be able to find fish," said the report.

Farmland in the region, one of the most important wetlands on earth, is being destroyed by oil spills.

"After oil spills the air they breathe reeks of oil, gas and other pollutants; they complain of breathing problems, skin lesions and other health problems, but their concerns are not taken seriously," the report added.

Amnesty blames both the government and multi-national oil giants for the rights abuses in the south of Africa's most populous country.

"Their poverty, and its contrast with the wealth generated by oil, has become one of the world's starkest and most disturbing examples of the resource curse," the report said.

Nations pressure Big Oil for poverty money

from The El Paso times

TORONTO -- The oil industry is under assault globally by nations and even provinces that want companies like Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Suncor to cough up more royalties they can use to solve problems such as poverty and poor education.

First it was Venezuela. Now, Nigeria is reviewing its relationships with international oil companies, and the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta is set to announce a decision today on increasing royalties from the energy industry. That move, the industry warns, could devastate Alberta's oil patch.

At least one analyst compared Alberta with Venezuela last month after a government-appointed panel called for the province to boost its total take from the energy industry by 20 percent a year, or roughly $2 billion.

Under President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela raised royalty and tax rates on foreign oil companies, then later took majority control of all oil projects as part of a larger nationalization drive of "strategic" economic sectors.

Chavez says those policies are ensuring that oil benefits Venezuelans instead of foreign corporations and governments.

In recent years, Russia and Bolivia have also asserted greater state control over their oil or natural gas assets.

A report by Alberta's provincial panel says royalties have not kept pace with world energy markets; a barrel of crude oil recently reached record levels of more than $90.

It says all projects in the booming oil region should pay more because "Albertans do not receive their fair share from energy development."

"There's definitely been a trend over the last year or two, a lot of countries looking to nationalize oil reserves," said Kyle Preston, an oil and gas analyst with Salman Partners. "It's a function of higher commodities prices. Oil companies are making more money and governments want a bigger share."

Alberta is home to vast reserves of oil sands, a tarlike bitumen that is extracted using mining techniques. Industry officials estimate that the region will yield as much as 175 billion barrels of oil, making Canada second only to Saudi Arabia in crude oil reserves.

"Chavez is not the kinda guy you want to be compared to. But yes, I could see that comparison since Chavez has increased royalties in his country," Preston said.

Greg Stringham, vice president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, called increased revenue sharing the biggest economic decision in Canada this year.

"The energy industry has been a phenomenal driver," Stringham said. "It not only affects Alberta ... . It's going to set the direction for where this industry goes and where Alberta goes the next five to 10 years."

In Nigeria, meanwhile, an energy adviser to President Umaru Yar'Adua said Tuesday that his country needs to make the most of its position as Africa's largest oil exporter.

Nigeria, a top supplier of oil for the United States, remains desperately poor due to years of corruption and lack of development.

Nigeria is the fifth-largest supplier of crude to the United States. Despite producing tens of billions of dollars worth of crude every year, few Nigerians have access to clean water or electricity.