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The price of oil: Shell in the Niger Delta
This blog first appeared on the Greenpeace UK blog on 7 October 2011. This time last year I was standing in a vast pool of oily water. It used to be a fish pond for local villagers, but now everywhere was coated with oil and the stench of petroleum was overpowering. A light rain was falling.…
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BREAKING: Shell to face grilling from Nigerian House of Reps over human rights abuses
The House of Representatives, part of Nigeria's legislative body has ordered an official investigation into the allegations that Shell fuelled violence in the Niger Delta by paying armed militant gangs. As John Ameh reports from Punch, in Abuja: The House of Representatives on Wednesday ordered an investigation into the allegation that Shell Petroleum Development Company funded…
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London-based oil-mercenary company marches into Libya
Oil and private military/mercenary company Heritage has muscled its way into Libya. The London-based oil company is the first new foreign oil company to buy its way into Libya, after acquiring a controlling 51% stake in Sahara Oil Services – which apparently brings the right to bid for and operate oil and gas licenses in…
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Counting the Cost: corporations and human rights abuses in the Niger Delta
Counting the Cost implicates Shell in cases of serious violence in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region from 2000 to 2010. The report uncovers how Shell’s routine payments to armed militants exacerbated conflicts, in one case leading to the destruction of Rumuekpe town where it is estimated that at least 60 people were killed. The report describes…
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Uganda demands end to oil clause that freezes weak regulation
The Ugandan government is insisting that British oil company Tullow Oil, France’s Total and Chinese group CNOOC drop the stabilisation clause from their oil contract of Lake Albert before approving the $10 billion oil project. The original contracts were leaked by PLATFORM in 2010. Meanwhile Ugandan opposition MPs are unhappy that Museveni’s government allowed disputes…
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Crackdown intensifies in oil region – Shell pledges to keep paying Syrian regime
The crackdown on the Syrian uprising has intensified in the eastern oil region around Deir Az-Zour. According to the FT, The towns of Mayadin and Burhama were attacked on Wednesday, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist group, with tanks and machine guns used during mass arrest campaigns. Another local resident said she had…
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Oil spill exposes Shell’s ticking timebomb
The Gannet Alpha spill in the North Sea is a stark reminder of the dangers of ageing rigs and oil company PR
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Shell has admitted liability but has a long way to go to make amends
This article first appeared in The Guardian, Comment is Free on 4 August 2011. by Patrick Naagbanton, as told to Ben Amunwa Oil spills destroyed my village in Nigeria and decades of environmental and social injustice are still to be addressed Shell’s admission of liability for two massive oil spills in 2008-09 in my village of…
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No Condition is Permanent, 19 Poets on Climate Justice and Change
No Condition is Permanent features writing and poetry specially selected and written for PLATFORM’s season C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture, which took place at Arnolfini, Bristol, October and November 2009. It takes its title from the packed night of performance and music which took place on November 7th in Arnolfini’s main gallery. C Words was a…
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Oil firms must compensate the people of Nigeria
Platform coordinated this letter in the Observer newspaper, originally published on 4 July 2010. Oil firms must compensate the people of Nigeria Grilled in Congress, shares down to £3 and forced to pledge billions of dollars in compensation, BP is paying the price for the damage it has caused in the Gulf of Mexico –…