Forty civil society organizations, including Amnesty International, today said that the proposed sale of Shell's onshore oil operations in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta region risks exacerbating human rights abuses and that unless a series of safeguards are put in place, governments will said that it should be prevented. .
In an open letter to the Nigerian Industry Regulatory Authority, the group said that the sale of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to Renaissance Africa Energy will be prohibited unless the environmental pollution caused by SPDC is fully assessed and adequate funding is provided. , said it should not be allowed to proceed. SPDC is able to guarantee the clean-up costs and extensive consultation has been carried out with local communities.
Shell's decades-long operations in the Niger Delta have come at the cost of gross human rights violations against the people who live there. “Frequent oil leaks from infrastructure and inadequate maintenance and cleaning practices are contaminating groundwater and drinking water sources, contaminating agricultural land and fisheries, and seriously harming the health and livelihoods of the population.” said Olanrewaju Suraj, chairman of the environmental group. Development Agenda (HEDA).
Issa Sanusi, Amnesty International's Nigeria director, said: “Shell will walk away with billions of dollars in this sale, leaving those who have already been harmed without relief and subjecting them to continued abuse and health risks.'' “There are significant risks that we face.” Before this sale is allowed, existing contamination must be remedied immediately and warranties and financial safeguards must be put in place to protect people from future harm. Shell cannot be allowed to shirk its responsibility to clean up and remediate the legacy of pollution in this region. ”
There is now a huge risk that Shell will walk away with billions of dollars from the sale of the business, leaving those already harmed without redress and facing continued abuse and health risks.
Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International Nigeria Director
The letter follows Shell's announcement in January that it had agreed to sell SPDC to the Renaissance consortium, made up of four Nigeria-based exploration and production companies and international energy groups, for up to $2.4 billion. A substantial deal was financed in part by loans to Nigeria. Purchaser from Shell.
The deal appears to significantly fail to meet several regulatory and legal requirements, the letter said. These include a clear lack of environmental studies to assess cleanup requirements and assessments to ensure sufficient funding is secured for potential decommissioning of oil infrastructure. The amount is likely to be in the billions of US dollars. It also noted a lack of inventory of physical assets to be sold, which it said could be a red flag of damaged pipelines and infrastructure, which are the source of many breaches. . Water leaks often have a devastating impact on the health and well-being of local people. Everyone has the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The letter notes that in similar past sales in Nigeria, buyers sometimes lacked sufficient funds to effectively manage infrastructure or ceased operations altogether, resulting in contaminated communities. It pointed out that it could expose people to permanent harm.
The report states that after Shell sold Oil Mining Lease 26 (OML 26) to First Hydrocarbon Nigeria in 2010, the majority shareholder of the acquired company went into liquidation and the company's chief executive and It points out that the person in charge of enforcement was convicted in the UK. Of fraud.
background
Signatories of the letter to the regulator, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), include Amnesty International Nigeria, Stichting Onderzog Multinational Ondernemingen – Multinational Enterprise Research Center (SOMO) , The Corner House and the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA). ), ReCommon, Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), Hawkmoth, Friends of the Earth/Environmental Rights Action. The letter with a complete list of signatories is available here.
Renaissance African Energy is a consortium consisting of ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc, FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited, Waltersmith Group, and Petrolin Group.
Over the decades that Shell has operated in Nigeria, there have been hundreds of oil spills from Shell's infrastructure.
