Version imprimableShirking responsibility
The main oil companies are fleeing and selling their facilities to Nigerian companies. Their aim is to get rid of the wells, which have become less profitable and dangerous due to their obsolescence. It’s also a way for them to get away from their duty to clean up and compensate the Ogale and Bille communities. This is why TotalEnergies sold its assets to Chappal Energies for $860 million. Italy’s ENI sold its shares to Oando, and Exxon Mobile did the same for Seplat Energy. All these sales were made with the blessing of Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, a former accountant with Mobil Nigeria, whose nephew is a director of the company Oando.
The Shell trial
Shell was about to do the same, with the backing of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. The deal with Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, a consortium of four companies, was worth $2.4 billion, but parliament and the regulatory agency, under pressure from NGOs, opposed it. At the same time, members of the Ogale and Bille communities took legal action in London against the Anglo-Dutch company, which remains the largest in the Niger Delta. The case is now being heard by the UK High Court.
Shell’s defence is that most of the oil leaks that pollute the environment are due to hijackings by traffickers. To counter these arguments, Amnesty International, one of the parties involved in this battle, had to analyze tens of thousands of pieces of data showing the dilapidated state of the installations, in particular the corrosion of the pipelines. It was able to do this thanks to the mobilization of 3,545 volunteers from 142 countries to meticulously examine every document, every image. The demand is that Shell carry out clean-up work and pay compensation to the people who have suffered these serious consequences.
L’anticapitaliste 16 April 2025
