User:Isabellekd/sandbox

Article: Shell Nigeria

Section: Oil Spills

'''Individuals from villages surrounding oil production facilities occasionally drill holes into Shell Oil pipelines for the purposes of capturing oil and transporting it illegally out of Nigeria for monetary gain. This process, known as "oil bunkering", is estimated to cost Nigeria as much as 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Typically, when the oil theft operation is finished, the pipeline is left open, which results in an oil spill (ALREADY ON PAGE).'''

In addition to the spills caused by 'oil bunkering', oils spills can also occur as a result of the quality of equipment being used to extract and transport the oil. These spills are referred to as 'operational spills' and can be caused by corrosion, a lack of regular maintenance of the equipment, and overall underinvestment in the equipment being used. 18.7% of the spills reported by Shell since 2011 are labeled to be 'operational spills'. Oil spills can also occur as a result of natural hazards causing damage to pipelines.

 

In 1970, there was an oil spill from a Shell pipeline caused primarily by corrosion and operational failure resulting in over 250 barrels of oil spilled. The resulting effects included the pollution of the surrounding air, water, and soil, as well as, a loss in the surrounding ecological and aquatic species. Health problems in the surrounding areas were also cited as an impact of the oil spill. In 1978, another spill from a Shell pipeline due to corrosion and operational failure was reported to have leaked 580,000 barrels of oil. The resulting impacts were air, water, and soil pollution in the area of the spill.

In 2006, a team of experts in environmental assessments from Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States were independently organized to conduct a Natural Resource Damage Assessment in the Niger Delta. They concluded that over the past fifty years, around nine million to thirteen million barrels of oil had been estimated to have spilled in the Niger Delta. Shell is responsible for around fifty percent of the oil production in Niger Delta. Between 1998 and 2009, Shell oil was responsible for 491, 627 barrels of oil spilled, averaging about 41,000 barrels per year.

In 2011, Shell started to publish the reports it has been required to take every time an oil spill occurs. These reports, titled 'Joint Investigation Visit' or JIV, record when the spill began, where the spill took place, the cause of the spill, and the estimated amount of oil lost in the spill. JIV reports are important to not only keep track of the oil spills, but also to determine whether or not the surrounding communities will be able to receive forms of compensation for any damage to their homes, fisheries, or fields resulting from the oil contamination. Communities receive compensation only if the spill is not caused by sabotage or third party interference. This practice is based on Nigeria's 1990 Oil Pipelines Act that requires the company to compensate any person that is suffering from the damages of an oil spill, unless caused by a third party. The data from these reports have been published online since 2015 by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA). Since 2011, 1,010 oil spills with an overall sum of 110,535 barrels, or 17.5 million liters, of oil have been reported as lost by Shell.

Oil Spill Reporting and Responses:

Nigerian government regulations legally require companies to report a spill within twenty-four hours of the spill, then conduct a JIV report within the next twenty-four hours following. In addition, the repair and clean-up of the spill is also required to begin within the first twenty-four hours of when the spill was discovered. Shell's response time has been reported to rarely be within these regulations. In only 25.7% of the spills that have occurred since 2011, Shell has conducted JIV reports within the first twenty-hours of a spill being reported. Oftentimes, it has been reported that Shell and other oil companies do not begin to clean up the spills until after the reports are conducted, delaying the response time even further. Shell does state that the pipelines are shut off in the event of a spill being reported, however, the oil that has already spilled is still affecting the environment. For example, 252 days passed before Shell visited the site of an oil spill that was reported in February of 2016. Another case in May of 2015 took Shell 190 days to visit after a report had been made. Both spills were reportedly in areas that were easily accessible providing limited excuse for the companies delayed responses. On average, Shell took around 9.68 days to respond and conduct JIV reports for spills that occurred in water and around 5.35 days to respond and conduct JIV reports for spills that occurred on land. Underreporting on the amount of oil spilled during each incident can be attributed to the high volatility of oil resulting in the evaporation of about 50% of the exposed oil within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of the initial spill.

'''Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International contested Shell's claims that up to 98% of all oil spills in Nigeria were due to sabotage. The two groups filed a complaint against the company in the OECD. Under Nigerian law, Shell has no liability when spills are classified as result of sabotage. Soon after, Shell representatives were heard by the Dutch Parliament and Shell revised its estimates from 98% to 70%. It was the second time the company did such a large revision to its oil spill statistics. A Dutch court ruled in 2013 that Shell is liable for the pollution in the Niger Delta. (ALREADY ON PAGE)'''

Shell faced their oil spill response practices in November of 2014 during legal action that was taken in the United Kingdom. The spill that was contested was from the Trans-Niger Pipeline in 2008 where 1640 barrels of oil were reported by Shell and a second spill in 2009 where Shell reported 4000 barrels of oil were spilled. In court, the assessment was proven to be extremely under-estimated and Shell ended up committing to a compensation of 55 million pounds.