tagged w/ Niger Delta
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The oil company says up to 40,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled 75 miles off the coast of Nigerian coastal and fishing communities were on Thursday put on alert after Shell admitted to an oil spill that is likely to be the worst in the area for a decade, according to government officials..
An oil spill on the shores of the Niger Delta swamps. Shell has said the recent oil spill is likely to be worst in a decade. Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images The company said up to 40,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled on Wednesday while it was transferred from a floating oil platform to a tanker 75 miles off the coast of the Niger delta.
All production from the Bonga field, which produces around 200,000 barrels a day, was last night suspended. "Early indications show that less than 40,000 barrels of oil have leaked in total. Spill response procedures have been initiated and emergency control and spill risk procedures are up and running," said Tony Okonedo, a Shell Nigeria spokesman.
Satellite pictures obtained by independent monitors Skytruth suggested that the spill was 70km-long and was spread over 923 square kilometers (356 sq miles).
But a leading Nigerian human rights group said Shell's figures about the quantity of oil spilled or the clean-up could not be relied on. "Shell says 40,000 barrels were spilled and production was shut but we do not trust them because past incidents show that the company consistently under-reports the amounts and impacts of its carelessness," said Nnimmo Bassey, head of Environmental Rights Action, based in Lagos.
"We are alerting fisher folks and coastal communities to be on the look out. It just adds to the list of Shell's environmental atrocities in the Niger delta."
The spill, one of the worst off the coast of Nigeria in 10 years, is particularly embarrassing for Shell, coming only four months after a major UN study said it could take Shell and other oil companies 30 years and $1bn to clean spills in Ogoniland, one small part of the oil-rich delta. The company also admitted responsibility in August for two major spills in the Bodo region of the delta that took place in 2008, but has yet to pay compensation.
Shell, which works in partnership with the Nigerian government in the delta, claims that 98% of all its oil spills are caused by vandalism, theft or sabotage by militants and only a minimal amount by deteriorating infrastructure. But this is disputed by communities.
Yesterday Shell said it had also closed a Gulf of Mexico deep drilling operation after spilling 319 barrels of contaminated fluids.The oil company says up to 40,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled 75 miles off the... more
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Rights group says oil giant's 2008 spills have wrecked livelihoods of 69,000 people and will take 30 years to clean up
Royal Dutch Shell's failure to mop up two oil spills in the Niger Delta has caused huge suffering to locals whose fisheries and farmland were poisoned, and the firm and its partners must pay $1bn to start cleaning up the region, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
A spokesman for Shell said the company and its partners had already acknowledged the two oil spills and started cleaning up, adding it had been hampered by oil theft, which was responsible for most spills in the Delta.
The report by the human rights group to mark the 16th anniversary of the execution of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by Nigerian authorities said the two spills in 2008 in Bodo, Ogoniland, had wrecked the livelihoods of 69,000 people.
"The prolonged failure of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria to clean up the oil that was spilled, continues to have catastrophic consequences," it said.
The SPDC is a Shell-run joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which holds 55%, Shell, which holds 30%, EPNL 10% and Agip, with 5%.
Amnesty said the community's UK lawyers suggested the spill had leaked 4,000 barrels a day for 10 weeks, which would make it bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.
"Those who used to rely on fishing for a living have lost their incomes and livelihoods. Farmers say their harvests are smaller than before. Overall, people in Bodo are now much less able to grow their own food or catch fish," the report said.
Shell agreed in August that a Nigerian community affected by the spill can claim compensation in a British court setting a precedent for such claims.
The Amnesty report urged implementation of a United Nations Environment Programme report in August that was critical of both Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in Ogoniland, a region in the labyrinthine creeks, swamps and rivers of the oil-rich Niger Delta.
The Unep said the region needs the world's largest ever oil clean-up, costing an initial $1bn and taking 30 years – proposing that each of the partners of the SPDC pay its share, based on their stake in the operator.
Amnesty urged SPDC to set up a $1bn clean up fund, citing Bodo as an example of a place needing urgent attention.
"Bodo is a disaster … that, due to Shell's inaction, continues to this day. It is time this multi-billion dollar company owns up, cleans up and pays up," Aster van Kregten, Amnesty International's Nigeria researcher said in a statement.
Shell stopped pumping oil from most of Ogoniland after a campaign led by Saro-Wiwa, a writer and activist, but it continues to be the dominant player in the Niger Delta.
"SPDC has publicly acknowledged that two oil spills that affected the Bodo community in 2008 were caused by operational issues," Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said, adding Shell estimated the total size of the spill to be 4,000 barrels.
"The reality is that our efforts to undertake cleanup in Bodo have been hampered by the repeated impact of sabotage and bunkering spills," he added.
Oil is often spilled during sabotage attacks on facilities and bunkering – tapping pipelines to steal crude. Okolobo said 150,000 barrels of oil are stolen each day in the Delta.
"If Amnesty really wanted to make a difference … it would join with us in calling for more action to address this criminal activity, which is responsible for the majority of spills."
But Amnesty said even if some spills were caused by theft, "this does not justify a failure to clean up after an oil spill – all oil companies are required to do so, regardless of cause."Rights group says oil giant's 2008 spills have wrecked livelihoods of 69,000... more
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Shell has never denied that its oil operations have polluted large areas of the Niger Delta – land and air. But it had resisted charges of complicity in human rights abuses.
Court documents now reveal that in the 1990s Shell routinely worked with Nigeria's military and mobile police to suppress resistance to its oil activities, often from activists in Ogoniland, in the delta region.
Confidential memos, faxes, witness statements and other documents, released in 2009, show the company regularly paid the military to stop the peaceful protest movement against the pollution, even helping to plan raids on villages suspected of opposing the company.
According to Ogoni activists, several thousand people were killed in the 1990s and many more fled that wave of terror that took place in the 1990s.
In 2009, in a New York federal court, that evidence never saw light during the trial. Shell had been accused of collaborating with the state in the execution in 1995 of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and other leaders of the Ogoni tribe. Instead, Shell paid $15.5m (£9.6m) to the eight families in settlement.
Among the documents was a 1994 letter from Shell agreeing to pay a unit of the Nigerian army to retrieve a truck, an action that left one Ogoni man dead and two wounded. Shell said it was making the payment "as a show of gratitude and motivation for a sustained favourable disposition in future assignments".
Brian Anderson, the director of Shell Nigeria during those years, said in 2009, after the New York settlement, the company had "played no part in any military operations against the Ogoni people, or any other communities in the Niger Delta, and we have never been approached for financial or logistical support for any action".
But he conceded that Shell had paid the military on two occasions.
The company has been sued many times over its conduct in Nigeria. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) say oil companies working in the delta, of which Shell is the largest, have overseen a "human rights tragedy". Most of the alleged human rights abuses, they say, follow the companies' refusal to abide by acceptable environmental standards.
Despite the flood of lawsuits, cases can be delayed for years. Very few people are able to take on the oil giant, which has 90 oil fields in the delta where it has operated since the 1950s.
Increasingly, though, international groups are using courts in Europe and the US against big oil companies. Shell's Nigerian subsidiary SPDC admitted liability last month in a British court for two oil spills in 2008 around Bodo, which has severely affected the lives of 69,000 people. The company is negotiating a settlement. A similar case is being heard in a Netherlands court for three other spills.
In 2009, Amnesty international said oil companies in Nigeria had fostered a "human rights tragedy" with continual oil spills, gas flaring and waste dumping. "The people of the Niger Delta have seen their human rights constantly abused by oil companies that their government cannot or will not hold to account," said Audrey Gaughran, the group's global issues director.
HRW investigators visited the Niger Delta in 1997. Their report, in 1999, said: "People are brutalised for attempting to raise grievances with the companies; in some cases security forces threatened, beat, and jailed members of community delegations even before they presented their cases."
In a related article it has also been found that Shell has fuelled armed conflict in Nigeria by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to feuding militant groups,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/03/shell-accused-of-fuelling-nigeria-conflictShell has never denied that its oil operations have polluted large areas of the Niger... more
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In 2008 an oil pipeline owned by Shell, failed and began spilling oil in Bodo Creek. Oil kept pouring out for more than two months before it was repaired. By then, many of the 70.000 people living in Bodo village had lost an important means of livelihood.
The pollution killed much of the marine life in the river.
Without the ability to fish the community of Bodo has become impoverished.Loading...
In 2008 an oil pipeline owned by Shell, failed and began spilling oil in... more
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"Set against a backdrop of what has been called the scramble for African oil, Curse of the Black Gold is the first body of work to document the consequences of a half-century of oil exploration and production in one of the world’s foremost centers of biodiversity, the Niger Delta. Kashi's photographs expose the reality of oil’s impact and the absence of sustainable development in its wake, providing a compelling pictorial history of one of the world’s great deltaic areas.
The photographs capture local leaders, armed militants, oil workers, and nameless villagers, all of whose fate is inextricably linked, illustrating the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty."
http://www.foto8.com/new/online/photo-stories/1124-curse-of-the-black-gold
Great work in raising awareness!
Join the Organic Movement:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/"Set against a backdrop of what has been called the scramble for African oil,... more
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1. Colombian attack on the indigenous
2. Blocking the flows of carbon
3. Mending the Niger Delta
4. RCMP can’t find Bin Laden
5. The Olympigs are here!
6. The resistance responds
7. KRS1
8. Occupy Everything1. Colombian attack on the indigenous
2. Blocking the flows of carbon
3. Mending the... more
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Vanguard's Mariana van Zeller travels to one of the most unstable regions in the world - Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta. In this scene from "Rebels in the Pipeline," she investigates first-hand what's behind the increasing amount of damage done to the water and land in the country. As the fallout for BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues, Vanguard looks to Africa's largest oil producer and the US's fifth largest energy supplier for insight into the destruction surrounding communities must face.
Catch "Rebels in the Pipeline" in its entirety on Current TV.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.Vanguard's Mariana van Zeller travels to one of the most unstable regions in the... more
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Nigeria's decades of oil spills have caused poverty for the people living there and an ecological catastrophe. Forty percent of all crude oil exported into the United States comes from the Niger Delta, which locals call the world's capital of oil pollution.Nigeria's decades of oil spills have caused poverty for the people living there... more
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Current.com user hpseaton pointed out this disturbing story: Children denounced as witches are tortured, killed on Current News. Here's a short excerpt:
Nigeria is at the center of an increasing number of cases in which children accused of witchcraft are then tortured or killed.
Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" that The Associated Press reviewed, and 13 churches were named in the case files.
Last November, Channel 4 in the UK produced a documentary entitled "Saving Africa's Witch Children" which looked at this problem in Nigeria. (The video is not embeddable - but you can watch part of it over here.)
An editorial in Nigeria's Guardian newspaper later in the month confirmed the terrible accuracy of the documentary:
This documentary exposes a disturbing social reality in Nigeria: the reign of ignorance and obsession with superstition. Poverty has done terrible damage to our society and the souls of men. Surrounded by so much uncertainty and unable to fulfil basic ambitions, Nigerians are increasingly seeking solace in the new churches which promise "miracles and wonders." In these churches, extremism is the norm; any form of disappointment or career setback is identified as the handiwork of witches and wizards. And the priest, claiming to have supernatural powers, immediately points to a child, a relation or a colleague at work as the Devil. So many relationships have been destroyed as a result.
The churches organise what they call special Deliverance sessions, sometimes overnight, or early in the morning and every activity is targeted at "that witch in your life that is blocking your progress". Go to any of those churches and witness how feet-stumping, hysterical men and women scream: "Holy Ghost Fire, Burn Them"; "Father Kill My Enemy" "My enemy die, die. I say die, die, die, die by fire now" Thus, many churches have been taken over by closet assassins and murderers looking for witches, wizards and enemies to kill. Too many atrocities have been committed in Nigeria in God's name.
Even with the efforts of NGOs like Stepping Stones Nigeria to combat this problem in the Niger Delta region, it's a difficult task for the government. Especially since the government has a hard time in general policing the restive Delta region, as Mariana van Zeller found out when she visited Nigeria's MEND rebels.
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- Insider trading: The Tamil Tiger connectionCurrent.com user hpseaton pointed out this disturbing story: Children denounced as... more
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Imagine, for a minute, an oil company coming into your town to pump out all the black gold from an oil well that was recently discovered. They come with their cranes and drills and build a big refinery. You know it can’t possibly be good, no matter how much you’re assured by local officials and the oil company’s execs, who promise that the profits made from the oil will benefit the town in more ways than one; but you’re too busy trying to survive to do much about it. So you hope they’re being honest.Imagine, for a minute, an oil company coming into your town to pump out all the black... more
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Joint Task Force attacks Niger Delta Villages. Killing civilians and burning down houses in Gbaramatu kingdom.Joint Task Force attacks Niger Delta Villages. Killing civilians and burning down... more
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Two workers of a Russian aluminium company have been kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria, the company says.
A statement from UC Rusal said the pair, workers at the Alscon aluminium smelter, were snatched in the town of Ikot Abasi in the Niger Delta.
Reports said gunmen in speedboats attacked the residential compound in the middle of the night.
The Russians' whereabouts were unknown, Itar-Tass news agency reported. Attacks on foreigners are common in Nigeria.
A statement from UC Ruscal said: "The two employees of the company were kidnapped. The company is taking all necessary measures to free the hostages as soon as possible."
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped by militants in the Niger Delta, the heart of the country's oil industry, since 2006.
A collapse in law and order has allowed armed groups to make a living extorting money from oil companies that have to keep their operations going, correspondents say.Two workers of a Russian aluminium company have been kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria,... more
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Security Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger-Delta said yesterday that its troops successfully foiled an attack launched by militants on the United States of America (USA) oil multi-national, Chevron, at Escravos, Warri South-west Local Government Area of Delta State.Security Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger-Delta said yesterday that its troops... more
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LAGOS (AFP) - Militants behind a recent "oil war" in Nigeria's Delta region on Sunday freed 19 local hostages but said they were detaining two Britons and a Ukrainian "for security reasons".
"The Nigerian hostages rescued from pirates by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta have been released in Rivers state," MEND said in an email statement to the media on Sunday.
MEND told AFP that the 19 Nigerians were part of a group of 27 hostages they said were liberated from "pirates" in mid-September and which they have been holding since.
The rebels said that the three foreign nationals still being held were "two Britons and one Ukrainian, officially.
"Due to the location where the expatriates were kept for their safety, they cannot be released at this time because of security concerns," the email added.
MEND has previously identified the group as comprising 22 Nigerians and two South Africans as well as the British and Ukrainian trio. The South African pair were freed on September 18.
The release of the 19 comes a day after a British national kidnapped this month in the southern Nigeria's oil hub of Port Harcourt was freed with no ransom paid.
However, six Filipinos were kidnapped early on Saturday in the Delta region by armed men who attacked their vessel near the key Bonny oil terminal, security sources told AFP.
The most prominent armed group in southern Nigeria, MEND declared a ceasefire on September 21 following a week of attacks on oil industry targets.
MEND has changed the security paradigm in Nigeria since its emergence in early 2006 -- multiplying attacks, kidnappings of foreign oil workers and sabotage at oil installations on land and offshore.
It has caused Nigeria to lose one quarter of its oil production, costing Lagos its place as the biggest crude oil producer in Africa, with Angola recently taking that title.
The group says it is fighting for a larger share of Nigeria's oil revenue to go to local populations.
LAGOS (AFP) - Militants behind a recent "oil war" in Nigeria's Delta... more
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Rillz
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A major Nigerian militant collective, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, has announced its latest strike against the oil industry, saying it has destroyed a key pipeline belonging to Royal Dutch Shell. The group says it is fighting for a better living environment and civil development in an area of social and economic neglect.
In an emailed statement, the group said, "MEND will continue to nibble every day at the oil infrastructure in Nigeria until the oil exports reach zero."
Output in Africa's most prolific oil area has plummeted by 150,000 barrels per day because of the now almost-daily attacks on its infrastructure. Shell has warned the upsurge in violence is likely to affect its quarterly earnings.
A major Nigerian militant collective, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger... more
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Militants in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region say they have destroyed an oil installation a day after declaring they were "at war" with the military.
A flow station belonging to Shell in Alakiri, in Rivers State, was attacked in the early hours of the morning, a military spokesman confirmed.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said they killed several soldiers and workers inside.
But the military said they had suffered no casualties.
In an e-mail to journalists, Mend said they would not be taking hostages in their new campaign.
"The foolhardy workers and soldiers who did not head our warning perished inside the station," Mend spokesman Jomo Gbomo said.
Military spokesman Lt Col Sagir Musa said that was "disinformation".
"There was no casualty on the military side, the situation is being closely monitored and is under control," he said.Militants in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region say they have destroyed an oil... more
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LAGOS, Nigeria -- An American documentary filmmaker and his interpreter working in the volatile Delta region of Nigeria have been arrested and accused of spying, according to Nigerian government officials and media watchdog groups.
Andrew Berends, a New York-based freelance filmmaker and journalist who was working on a film about the oil-producing Delta region, was arrested on Sunday and held overnight.
Reporters Without Borders issued a statement that said: "Berends was arrested just for doing his job and no other reason. It is absurd for the authorities to think that by arresting him and his interpreter, they can conceal the economic and ecological disaster unfolding in the Niger Delta."
To see more on the deteriorating situation in the oil-rich Niger Delta, see the embedded video.LAGOS, Nigeria -- An American documentary filmmaker and his interpreter working in the... more
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"Gordon Brown will offer British help to the Nigerian government – to fight rebels in the oil-producing Niger delta – at a meeting in London next week with President Umaru Yar'Adua, Downing Street said.
The prospect of British intervention in the delta conflict has prompted the end of a ceasefire in the region and drawn accusations of neo-colonialism from rebel groups. They also accuse the Nigerian government of illegal actions.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the focus will be on providing training for the Nigerian military. He said: "Oil supply from Nigeria has been undermined by insecurity in the Niger delta. This is bad for the local population, bad for workers, bad for the Nigerian government and the stability of the whole region. The President of Nigeria is visiting London next week and the Prime Minister will have an opportunity to discuss these issues with him then."
Mr Brown's statement on Wednesday that Britain stood "ready to give help to the Nigerians to deal with the lawlessness that exists in this area and to achieve levels of production that Nigeria is capable of", led to a rebel group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) to say it will call off its ceasefire today."
By Kim Sengupta"Gordon Brown will offer British help to the Nigerian government – to fight... more
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