Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




ENERGY TECH
Shell returns to massively polluted Nigeria oil region
by Staff Writers
Lagos (AFP) April 11, 2013


Shell on Thursday said it had launched a review of its oil and gas assets in Nigeria's massively polluted Ogoniland region, resuming work in the area two decades after unrest forced the company to pull out.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major said the move was not part of an attempt to restart oil production in Ogoniland, describing it instead as a bid to comply with a 2011 UN report that called for one of the world's biggest ever environmental clean-ups.

"The intention is to determine the state of our facilities since we suspended operations in the area in 1993, and determine how best to decommission them," the head of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Mutiu Sunmonu, said in a statement.

Spokesman Precious Okolobo told AFP the review was "a key step" in complying with the United Nations Environmental Programme report, which detailed the devastating impact that decades of oil pollution had brought to the southern region.

The report called for the oil industry and the Nigerian government to contribute $1 billion (762 million euros) to a clean-up fund for the region, adding that restoration could take up to 30 years.

Among the most condemned episodes in Ogoniland's past was the 1995 execution of renowned environmental activist Ken Saro Wiwa under the regime of dictator Sani Abacha. Wiwa had fiercely criticised Shell before his death.

His brother, Harry Wiwa, told AFP Thursday that Shell could be welcomed back to the region after the two-decade absence.

"If the purpose is to clean the spills, they are welcome but UNEP should supervise the exercise... The problem we have with Shell is that it is not socially responsible," said Wiwa, an activist with the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People.

Okolobo said the company has sent community outreach staff to the region in recent years, but the review exercise marks the first time oil and gas workers have been to Ogoniland since the pull-out.

The firm still controls at least seven oil fields in the area, as well as flowstations, gas plants and pipelines, according to the SPDC statement.

Nigeria's is Africa's top oil producer, but the country remains deeply impoverished, partly due to massive corruption in the energy sector.

.


Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








ENERGY TECH
Conoco halts offshore drilling in Alaskan Arctic
New York (AFP) April 10, 2013
US oil giant ConocoPhillips on Wednesday announced it is suspending its offshore Alaska drilling program in the Alaskan Arctic due to changing regulations. Two months after a similar move by Shell, ConocoPhillips cited "evolving" federal regulatory requirements in putting on hold its 2014 exploration drilling plans in the Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northern coast. "While we are confident in ... read more


ENERGY TECH
Characterizing The Lunar Radiation Environment

Russia rekindles Moon exploration program, intends setting up first human outposts there

Pre-existing mineralogy may survive lunar impacts

Lunar cycle determines hunting behaviour of nocturnal gulls

ENERGY TECH
NASA spacecraft may have spotted pieces of Soviet spacecraft on Mars

Opportunity For A Quiet Period for Next Three Weeks

Twin Mars craters suggest subsurface water in planet's past

Shaking ExoMars

ENERGY TECH
Obama's budget would boost science, health

Underwater for outer space

NASA Celebrates Four Decades of Plucky Pioneer 11

Do Intellectual Property Rights on Existing Technologies Hinder Subsequent Innovation

ENERGY TECH
Shenzhou's Shadow Crew

Shenzhou 10 sent to launch site

China's Next Women Astronauts

Shenzhou 10 - Next Stop: Jiuquan

ENERGY TECH
Europe sets June 5 for launch of space freighter

Spooky action at a distance aboard the ISS

First data released from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Team Publishes First Findings

ENERGY TECH
Ecuador to launch first homemade satellite

Arianespace receives the second Vega for launch from French Guiana

Future Looks Bright for Private US Space Ventures

Europe's next ATV resupply spacecraft enters final preparatio?ns for its Ariane 5 launch

ENERGY TECH
Retired Star Found With Planets And Debris Disc

The Great Exoplanet Debate

NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation

The Great Exoplanet Debate Part Four

ENERGY TECH
Florida Tech professors present 'dark side of dark lightning' at conference

PETRA Reveals Coexisting Structures in Glass

Northrop Grumman G/ATOR Radar System Completes Government Testing at Wallops Island

Accidental discovery may lead to improved polymers




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement