On 20 August, Al-Jazeera interviewed Platform researcher Ben Amunwa about the leaked data that revealed Shell’s deep financial links to human rights abusers in Nigeria. Unfortunately a technical hitch cut the first interview short. However, it’s worth watching, if only for the ‘shifty eyes’ at the end of the video as the line cuts out…
Shell spent at least $383 million on security in Nigeria between 2007 and 2009, according to company data leaked to oil watchdog Platform.[1] Shell’s leaked data is analysed in a new Platform briefing, Dirty Work: Shell’s security spending in Nigeria and beyond, which shows that a substantial amount of Shell’s security spending went into the…
This guest blog was written by Jeremy Weate. He runs Naijablog and is on twitter. Over the past few years, Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has acquired a mythic, if not theological framing. It’s as if the document, once gazetted, will provide a final judgement on the direction of reform of the sector. No matter the…
This post was written by Platform intern, Pip Brown. Back in October 2011, I gladly accepted the task of working together with Platform researchers and sifting through the US Embassy cables to find information on oil and conflict in the Niger Delta. How many could there be? I typed the words “Shell” and “Nigeria”…
Oil watchdog Platform has launched an online timeline which maps out the leaked US embassy cables on oil conflict in the Niger Delta. You can view the timeline here. Some 4,521 leaked US cables came from Nigeria between 2001 to 2010. The idea behind the timeline is to provide easy access to the wealth of information contained in these…
This investor briefing on Shell Nigeria was written by Ben Amunwa for Platform in April 2012. It provides an overview of the social, environmental and financial issues on Shell's operations in the Niger Delta region. It is recommended to investors who are concerned about economic risks, social responsibility issues and reputational damage. Download the briefing.…
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…
This Platform report provides in-depth analysis of these trends and alerts policy makers to the environmental and safety concerns around present and planned offshore drilling in the UK North Sea and the Falkland Islands. It exposes significant capacity shortfalls in government inspection agencies and highlights key areas where better regulatory oversight is urgently required to…
Platform’s Ben Amunwa was interviewed on the BBC World Service following revelations on Wikileaks about Shell’s infiltration of the Nigerian government. In a leaked US diplomatic cable, Shell executive Ann Pickard boasts about how Shell “had access to everything” that was discussed in “all the relevant ministries”. The leak exposes Shell’s colonial control over Nigeria’s…
The UK government’s Energy Review was published in July, only two years since the last. Few outside the nuclear industry were pleased with its findings – This analysis report was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web Newsletter Issue 5. Despite the focus on new nuclear plants as the solution, the presentation to Parliament by Alistair Darling,…