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Africa: Shell and Its Neighbors
AFRICA ACTION
Africa Policy E-Journal
May 7, 2003 (030507)
Africa: Shell and Its Neighbors
(Reposted from sources cited below)
This posting contains brief excerpts from two documents about the
environmental impact of Royal Dutch Shell's oil operations. One is
a press release issued by groundWork South Africa. The other is a
report prepared by a coalition of organizations, including Friends
of the Earth International and Environmental Rights Action,
Nigeria, as well as groundWork, in advance of Shell's annual
general meeting last month, with sections on Shell operations in Durban,
South Africa and the Niger Delta, Nigeria. The full report also
contains sections from local groups on Shell operations in Port
Arthur, Texas; Norco, Louisiana; North West China, the
Philippines, and Argentina.
[News note: Earlier this week more than 200 hostage workers from
several oil companies, including Shell, were released by striking
oil workers after a two-week standoff on oil rigs off the Niger
Delta. The incident ended without violence or arrests, but with
only a promise for later consideration of the workers' grievances.
For related updates see http://allafrica.com and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/default.stm ]
+++++++++++++++++end summary/introduction+++++++++++++++++++++++
Africa: Shell and Its Neighbors
groundWork
Press Release
Communities attend Royal Dutch Shell's AGMs in London/The Hague and
raise their concerns
April 24, 2003
[excerpts only. The full press release is available at:
http://www.groundwork.org.za/Press%20Releases/pr_shell_agm.htm]
Royal Dutch Shell's concurrent annual general meetings in The Hague
and London yesterday were attended by surprise new shareholders in
the form of activists from communities neighbouring Shell
facilities around the world. Local community based organisations
from around the world recently decided to buy single shares in this
multi-national corporation in order to gain direct access to Shell
shareholders with the hope of raising awareness of the
environmental destruction and human suffering Shell is causing
worldwide.
In The Hague, Netherlands, environmental activists constructed a
giant "leaking fuel pipeline" in front of the entrance to the Shell
AGM. This mock leaking pipeline represented the leaking pipelines
at the Shell/BP oil refinery in south Durban. Shareholders
attending the AGM had to walk under the "leaking pipeline" in order
to gain access to the AGM. A giant banner was also erected
declaring "Shell stop polluting South Africa"
Inside, Ardiel Soeker of groundWork, a new Shell shareholder, asked
questions about the leaking fuel pipelines from the Shell/BP
refinery in south Durban. He also raised concerns around
communities' lack of access to information and the frustration of
dead-end dialogue taking place with Shell at the local level.
Friends of the Earth (Netherlands, EWNI and SA) used the
opportunity of this AGM to launch a new report entitled "Leaking
pipelines - Shell in South Africa" (see http://www.foenl.org).
In London, Heeten Kalan (representing groundWork) and Desmond D'Sa
(representing the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance)
joined other community representatives from the USA, Philippines,
and Niger Delta [1] at the London Shell AGM.
At the AGM, Chair of Shell's Board, Sir Phillip Watts opened the
meeting saying that Shell wants to earn people's trust; wants to be
transparent; and wants to respect people. Responding to his
remarks, Tony Juniper, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth
UK , asked Watts if he would give time to the community
representatives to voice their concerns to the AGM. Watts agreed to
hear these concerns and the community representatives challenged
the Shell Board and Watts to pay close attention to the problems on
the ground at these Shell facilities. ...
Heeten Kalan, representing groundWork, reminded Watts that dialogue
was not enough and that eventually, Shell will be judged by its
actions and not only their words. Along with Friends of Earth, UK,
the representatives held a press briefing prior to the AGM to tell
their stories to the media and to release "Facing the Challenge:
The Other Shell Report 2002". This report documents the stories of
fenceline communities in six countries and tells the stories not
told in Shell's glossy reports and brochures. ...
In private meetings and discussions with Shell in London on Monday,
the community coalition expressed the strong need for the
international office to become involved in these local issues. The
coalition now has an independent and direct communication link to
the London office which they will use to highlight the failures of
local processes. The delegation also met with major institutional
shareholders to express their concerns and highlight the
discrepancies between the Shell reports and brochures and the
reality on the ground.
Notes
[1] Civil society organisations and their representatives: Desmond
D'Sa, Chair of SDCEA, Durban, South Africa; Hope Esquillo-Tura,
United Front to Oust Oil Depots, the Philippines; Oronto Douglas,
Friends of the Earth Nigeria; Hilton Kelley, Director of the
Community In-power and Development Association, Port Arthur, Texas;
Margie Richard, Concerned Citizens of Norco, Louisiana, USA; Judith
Robinson, Environmental Health Fund, USA; Denny Larson, Refinery
Reform Campaign and Global Community Monitor, USA; Craig Bennett,
Friends of the Earth (EWNI); Myrthe Verweij, Milieudefensie; Heeten
Kalan, the South African Exchange Programme on Environmental
Justice.
Failing the challenge: The Other Shell Report 2002 was written and
researched by Lisa Rimmer for Friends of the Earth with the help of
the Refinery Reform Campaign (USA), groundWork South Africa, South
Durban Community Environmental Alliance, South African Exchange
Program on Environmental Justice, Fundacion Ala Plastica
(Argentina), Global Community Monitor (USA) and FreeTibet Campaign.
[Brief excerpts only: for full report see Friends of the Earth
International
http://www.foei.org/media/2003/0423.html]
"Hazardous sites are always near black and coloured communities.
It's South Africa's historical blueprint" Bobby Peek, Director of
groundWork (Friends of the Earth South Africa)
Durban is South Africa's third largest city, Africa's busiest port
and a popular holiday destination. It is also home to the massive
South African Petroleum Refinery (SAPREF) which is the largest
crude oil refinery in South Africa. Jointly owned by Shell and BP,
the SAPREF refinery began operating in the 1960s and is now capable
of processing more than 185,000 barrels of oil a day. Seven
pipelines radiate out from the refinery in various directions. Some
of these connect to a tank terminal just north of the refinery
called Island View which doubles up as a shiprefuelling depot. This
terminal consists of a number of aboveground storage tanks linked
to each other by more pipelines.
The complex is in an area of south Durban that is made up of poor
black, Indian and mixed-race communities. People here believe they
have suffered because the Shell refinery and facilities operated
with little government oversight for decades. Apartheid-era laws
gave many companies a free hand and there was barely any
environmental accountability. By the 1980s the apartheid regime in
South Africa was condemned across the world. But Shell continued to
do business in Durban and elsewhere in South Africa despite an
international protest that led many other major companies to leave
the country.
Since the plant opened in the 1960s there must have been numerous
spills and accidents at the Durban refinery, but few were publicly
documented. It was only with the ending of the apartheid regime
that the extent of accidents and pollution incidents have been
fully realised.
To this day respiratory illnesses of school children in south
Durban are four times higher than similar children elsewhere and
leukaemia rates are reportedly 24 times higher than the national
average. Local residents have their daily lives disrupted, and they
are forced to move away because of pipeline leaks.9
A recent report produced in partnership by the South Durban
Community Environmental Alliance and Denmark's
Naturfredningsforening reveals just how much Shell's standards
vary. The differences between air pollution levels and polluting
incidents at the SAPREF refinery in Durban and Shell's Frederica
refinery in Denmark are stark. The report recommends new laws to
make companies like Shell accountable in South Africa.
...
The people of Durban tell Shell...
The South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) is a
coalition of community organisations from varied ethnic, racial and
religious backgrounds. The group is highlighting the industrial
pollution Shell's operations cause in the South Durban area.
The environmental justice organisation, groundWork (Friends of the
Earth South Africa) is part of this alliance and has played a key
role in helping vulnerable and disadvantaged people challenge Shell
to take action.
Bobby Peek tells Shell about Durban...
Bobby Peek is the Director of groundWork, South Africa, and
cofounded SDCEA. He was awarded the coveted Goldman prize, a green
Nobel for grassroots environmental work in 1998. He has thrown his
limitless personal energy behind the international push for binding
rules to make businesses accountable for their impact on people and
the environment.
"I live near the Shell plant in South Durban and my mother died of
cancer, my niece died of cancer, three of my friends died of
cancer. I had asthma as a kid and only in 1995 when I was doing
research for the university and I could access company records did
I realise Wow, OK, the air's the problem and that's how I got
involved.
"Shell has not always been truthful about their chemical emissions
to the public. In the past, the community has exposed that Shell
was miscalculating the extent of their pollution. In February 2000
Shell finally admitted to under-calculating their sulphur dioxide
emissions by as much as 4,380,000 kilograms per year. In Shell's
first South African Refinery Environmental Performance Report in
2001 once again Shell failed to state relevant facts, this time by
failing to mention that they had a fuel leak on their pipelines in
1995 that resulted in people being hospitalised.
"South Africa is a state with weak environmental laws and
regulations. So Shell can pollute and we can't hold them
accountable. The key thing is to get government and the industry to
realise that we must have a good law to hold the industries
accountable."
Desmond D'Sa tells Shell what people want...
Desmond D Sa is a Durban resident and Chairperson of the South
Durban Community Environmental Alliance.
"Shell wants us to sign a confidentiality agreement to get
environmental information that is vital for us to assess their
impact on our environment and health. It should be public. Under
the apartheid system Shell could deny us information, and Shell
benefited and we could not speak out. In a democratic South Africa
they are still denying us unconditional access to information.
"The Shell refinery in Denmark is many times cleaner than the Shell
refinery in Durban. They must not wait for the South African
Government to develop new programmes when Shell already knows how
to clean up."
"Shell's top management from London needs to come to Durban, South
Africa, and correct the problem immediately ie replace the
pipelines, reduce the pollution to Shell best practice in Europe
and to give us access to all information."
"We want to work with industry. We want them to put the necessary
controls on their stacks, put the necessary controls on their
valves, so they will quit emitting so much unnecessary pollution
into the community."
Nigeria
The Niger River Delta, on the southern coast of Nigeria is a vital
natural resource with fertile soils and mangrove swamps that
support more freshwater fish than anywhere else in West Africa. But
it is the Delta's oil and gas that are most valued by businesses
like Shell. This area is the ninth-largest source of natural gas in
the world and has estimated oil reserves of 22.5 billion barrels.
The oil has created much promise but with it much peril.
Oil has been central to Nigeria's fortunes but neglecting
agriculture in favour of oil has had dire consequences. Since
independence in 1960 Nigeria has suffered from civil war,
corruption, military governments and economic exploitation. In the
midst of this chaos oil prices have been as unstable as Nigerian
society itself. Prices reached an all-time high of US$37.20 a
barrel in 1980, but subsequent price shocks brought prices as low
as US$10 a barrel in 1996. The consequences were particularly harsh
because of corruption. Nigerian states and local communities were
regularly short-changed and the volatility of prices and political
leadership took its toll on the Nigerian people.
Out of 17 oil companies operating in Nigeria today Shell has the
largest share of production and influence. Its Nigerian joint
venture accounts for 35 per cent of Nigeria's oil production and
about 53 per cent of its hydrocarbon reserve base. Although Shell
works in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), it is Shell that makes most of the day-today
decisions. The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, or
Shell Nigeria, produces about 900,000 barrels of oil per day, with
Shell holding 30 per cent of the venture, NNPC 55 per cent, and Elf
and Agip the remaining share.
Since 1958 Shell has extracted US$30 billion worth of oil and
natural gas in Nigeria. Between 1976 and 1991 it was responsible
for 2,976 oil spills, an average of four spills a week.28 Sir
Philip Watts began his tenure as Director in Nigeria in 1991 and at
the 1992 Earth Summit Shell finally addressed the consequences of
its impacts and gave guarantees that "quality and safety standards
would not be compromised, and good environmental management would
be enhanced" during its Nigerian activities. This was 11 years ago.
Watts and his successors have achieved little change on the ground
where oil spills and gas leaks have continued to be a common
occurrence.
On the east of the river Delta the minority Ogoni people continued
to suffer. The Ogoni were concerned that Shell was close to the
Nigerian dictatorship and relying on the military to protect its
interests. The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(MOSOP) was founded by Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa to fight for
local people and the environment. But just three and a half years
after the Rio Earth Summit, the Nigerian government hanged Ken
Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni. In his book about Shell, Riding
the Dragon, Jack Doyle explains that a case against Shell has now
been filed in the US by the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa alleging,
amongst other things, that his execution was carried out with the
knowledge, support and consent of Shell. Shell rejects the
allegation and is defending that action.
To this day oil is at the root of conflict and suffering in
Nigeria. In March 2003 violence escalated in the Delta. Up to 15
people were killed and youths have threatened to blow up oil
facilities in the Delta in a bid for a greater share of the oil
wealth. As a result of this latest crisis Shell has been forced to
shut down 10 oil flow stations and has been losing 126,000 barrels
of crude oil a day.29,
Although pressure from local people has recently moved Shell to
respond to a gas and water escape from a well head in Ogoni, it s
more often a case of one step forward two steps back. There are
still hundreds of oil spills dating back to the 1960s and rusty
pipes criss-cross the Delta. Shell is currently involved in three
law suits regarding human rights issues; and the company still
refuses to accept responsibility to clean up properly or pay
compensation.32 It is time Shell took responsibility for being the
major oil company for more than 40 years in one of the most heavily
polluted parts of Africa, if not the planet.
...
The people of Nigeria tell Shell...
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) demands
economic justice, human rights including the right to choose the
use of their land and its resources and to a future free from
violence. MOSOP's stated aim is to be the democratic voice of the
Ogoni people. ...
It was MOSOP and its leader Ken Saro-Wiwa's commitment to
non-violent protest against the environmental destruction created
by Shell Oil and the Nigerian government that brought this cause to
world attention. The group moved tens of thousands of people in the
Niger Delta to stand up against the environmental destruction
wrought by Shell's oil drilling.
Since 1993 the environmental campaign group, Environmental Rights
Action of Nigeria (Friends of the Earth Nigeria), has been fighting
for environmental justice in Nigeria. The group has coordinated
action to persuade Shell to address the human and environmental
costs of its oil profits in Nigeria.
Focus on: Elder Bernard Agbagwa
Elder Bernard Agbagwa is 90 years old and father of five children
and 60 grandchildren. He is a farmer and fisherman who co-owned the
rural area where the Shell Development Company Nigeria Ltd (SPDC)
has operations and pipelines. Bernard's community is poor and 90
per cent of local people depend on farming and fishing to survive.
There is no electricity or plumbed water, no hospitals, good
housing or decent roads in the area.
Elder-Bernard Agbagwa tells Shell about a recent oil spill...
"I visited the Ovio swamp on the afternoon of Friday 28 August 2000
to check my fishing traps and ponds. When I got there I perceived
a very bad odour and as I moved further I saw that my traps and
ponds had turned completely red. I was distressed and hurried home
and alerted my eldest son. He immediately called an emergency
meeting of co-landlords of the swamp, and we later confirmed that
it is a crude oil spill. Not long after that, a man, who gave his
name as Jude (a community liaison officer of Shell at Egbema Oil
field), came with three other persons and discussed with us
briefly, promising to return to stop and clean up the spill, send
relief materials, and pay compensation to us. I tell you that since
that day till now Shell never came to do any of the things they
promised. We have visited their office in Port Harcourt and nothing
has been done."
The spill could easily be a result of equipment failure due to
excessive corrosion and rust. Shell's pipes are about 30 years old
and are well past their sell-by date. This failure of Shell s
facilities was reported to Shell's officials who visited the
community on 28 August 2002. ...
Want to know more?
More about Shell and extracts from Jack Doyle's
book, Riding the Dragon: http://www.shellfacts.com
More about groundWork South Africa (Friends of the Earth South
Africa) and its environmental justice campaign:
http://www.groundwork.org.za
More on the Campaign to clean up Port Arthur, Texas, and
information on the national campaign to clean up America's
refineries at the Refinery Reform Campaign:
http://www.refineryreform.org
For more on the Environmental Rights Action Group (Friends of the
Earth Nigeria): http://www.eranigeria.org
More about Friends of the Earth's campaigns challenging corporate
globalisation :
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/corporates/index.html
Corporate Watch's website has reports on Shell and other companies:
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk
groundWork PO Box 2375 Pietermaritzburg 3200 Tel: + 27 33 342 5662
Fax: + 27 33 342 5665 Email: team@groundwork.org.za Website:
http://www.groundwork.org.za
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance PO Box 211150 Bluff
Durban 4036 Tel: + 27 31 461 1991 Fax: + 27 31 468 1257 Email:
sdcea@sn.apc.org
South African Exchange Program on Environmental Justice (SAEPEJ)
555 Amory Street Boston MA 02130 Tel: + 617 522 0604 Website:
http://saepj.igc.org
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Date distributed(ymd): 030507
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+
The Africa Action E-Journal is a free information service provided
by Africa Action, including both original commentary and reposted
documents. Africa Action provides this information and analysis in
order to promote U.S. and international policies toward Africa
that advance economic, political and social justice and the full
spectrum of human rights.
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