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Breaking: Shell Gannet Alpha oil Spill hits North Sea

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From BBC News last night:

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to stop a leak at one of its North Sea oil platforms.

The leak was found near the Gannet Alpha platform, 180 km (113 miles) from Aberdeen, Scotland.

The company would not say how much oil may have been spilt so far, though it said it had “stemmed the leak significantly”.

One of the wells at the Gannet oilfield has been closed, but the company would not say if production was reduced.

The company says it has sent a clean-up vessel to the location and has a plane monitoring the surface.

The leak was found in a flow line connecting an oil well to the platform.

‘Finite amount’

Shell confirmed the leak was continuing but said it was being reduced and was “not a significant spill”.

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change said it was in contact with Shell and investigating the incident in the usual way.

The department’s spokesman added that it understood from Shell that there was a “finite amount of oil that can be dispersed” but stressed that regulators were taking the leak seriously.

While industry and government downplay the size of the oil spill, this is only the latest in a string of pollution incidents, some major, from this oil rig. The Wall Street Journal confirmed:

The platform had 10 leak incidents in 2009 and 2010, according to an HSE document showing voluntarily declared spills.

PLATFORM’s Ben Amunwa said:

Shell has been rated as one of the worst company’s for safety in the North Sea. This latest oil spill, days after the UN issued a damning report on Shell’s sub-standard practices in Nigeria, is further evidence of serious flaws in its safety culture. Gannet Alpha, at over 18 years old, is now notoriously leaky, much like over half of the oil platforms in the UK North Sea that are now beyond their ‘design-life’. Regulators should be highly concerned about the inherent risks of offshore oil activities, ageing infrastructure and expanding operations in the UK Continental Shelf. These trends increase the risks of daily oil spills to unacceptable levels.

The BBC report also heard from Friends of the Earth Scotland:

“Any spill, however small, should serve as a warning sign and encourage us to look to a clean, renewable energy future, rather than continuing to invest in dirty oil,” said Juliet Swann, head of campaigns at the environmental group.

The field is co-owned by Esso, a subsidiary of US oil firm Exxon but operated by Shell.

PLATFORM’s report on the dire state of oil drilling in the North Sea can be accessed here.

The struggle for justice in Ogoni

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Here is a heartfelt comment piece in The Guardian on the local reaction in Ogoni to Shell’s oil spill payout.

Shell has admitted liability but has a long way to go to make amends

Oil spills destroyed my village in Nigeria and decades of environmental and social injustice are still to be addressed.

By Patrick Naagbanton

Shell’s admission of liability for two massive oil spills in 2008-09 in my village of Bodo in the Niger Delta is a step forward in the long struggle for corporate accountability. An impoverished village that yesterday lay in ruins has today felt a welcome glimmer of hope and justice.

We are happy with the news that Shell could be forced to clean up the environmental devastation it has caused and to pay more than $400m in compensation. But our jubilation is overshadowed by more than five decades of environmental and social injustice yet to be addressed.

Bodo village is a fishing community in the minority Ogoni region of the Niger Delta. Shell was forced out of Ogoni in 1993, following mass protests led by writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed on 10 November 1995 alongside eight other campaigners. Shell’s vast network of oil wells, pipelines, flow-stations and gas flares remained in Ogoni and are an everyday reminder of what we have suffered.

Many of Shell’s rusty, leaky pipelines date back to the 1970s and have been poorly maintained ever since (see pages 31-36 and 43 of Friends of the Earth Netherlands report). It was equipment failure that caused Shell’s high-pressure Trans-Niger pipeline to rupture on 28 August 2008, gushing an estimated 2,000 barrels of oil per day into Bodo for weeks. The land and water was covered in thick layers of crude. Shell was also responsible for a second spill from the same pipeline on 2 February 2009.

Oil spills have effectively destroyed my community. Local farmers and fishers were forced to abandon their traditional ways of life. Bodo Creek is, ecologically speaking, dead. The fish that were not killed by the heavy pollution now reek of petroleum and cannot sustain a village population of 69,000 people. Shell has violated our basic human rights to food, water and livelihood. The compensation Shell offered us – £3,500 plus bags of rice and sugar – was insulting and wholly inadequate. Continue reading →

Breaking: Delta Activists Respond to UNEP Report

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Below is a press release from ERA/FoE Nigeria, in response to UNEP’s publication – in the last half hour – of its report on the ecological impact of oil spills in Ogoni. Local activists argue that UNEP’s recommendation for a $1 billion fund for restoration in Ogoni is a token.

4 August 2011

UNEP Report: ERA seeks $100 bn for Niger Delta

With yesterday’s release of the report of a two-year study by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has called for the creation of a $100 billion Environmental Restoration Fund for the Niger Delta.

ERA/FoEN in a statement issued in Lagos welcomed the report and said that the Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland, despite its short comings, has not only vindicated it worst fears about the state of the environment in Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta, but also showed Shell’s atrocious breach of minimum requirements of the Environmental Guidelines and Standards for Petroleum Industries in Nigeria (EGASPIN) and its own standards.

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The Biggest Oil Spill in the World

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PLATFORM featured on Channel 4 News this evening, providing analysis on two current news stories – the revelations of the full extent of environmental devastation in Ogoni land contained in the UN’s new report, and Shell’s admission of liability for two recent oil spills in Bodo, Ogoniland. Campaigner Ben Amunwa helped provide background research as the story rapidly unfolded.

Also, Shell’s spills in Nigeria were the top story on BBC World News, which featured a lengthier analysis from PLATFORM.

Earlier in the day, PLATFORM’s analysis was also quoted in msnbc.com’s report on the same story, available here. The article covered Shell’s double standards in Nigeria, and the potentially ground-breaking implications of the company’s admission of liability for the 2 recent oil spills in Bodo.

In the court case filed in Britain, Shell conceded liability and agreed to proceed under the jurisdiction of the English courts last month, [Lawyer, Dan] Leader told msnbc.com.

The two spills in 2008 and 2009 at Bodo, Ogoniland, devastated the 69,000-person community, Leader said.

“The mood music is changing — oil companies are going to have to start no longer employing a double standard for the developing world and apply the same standards for America and Europe,” he told msnbc.com.

Protest groups have increasingly tried to seek compensation against western oil companies in the firms’ home jurisdictions.

Ben Amunwa of the British group PLATFORM, which monitors international energy companies, said that depending on the compensation that is decided in this case, the agreement could usher in a flood of claims from communities in the region.

“The potential in this decision is that Shell could face a mountain of claims,” Amunwa explained.

The lawyers and rights groups have said the amount of oil in these two spillages alone was approximately 20 percent of the amount that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico following the BP  disaster.

“BP did more in 6-months for the U.S. communities than Shell has done in 50 years for the Ogoniland,” said Amnesty International’s [Audrey] Gaughran.

Shell to blame: Nigeria oil spills case creates media storm

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Shell’s environmental devastation in the Niger Delta came under heavy scrutiny today, as global media attention focused on the company’s admission of liability for two devastating oil spills in Nigeria in 2008-9.

Here is a round-up of press coverage so far. Current estimates suggest that Shell could pay our over $410 million (£250m) in compensation.

FT: Shell’s Nigeria pay-out could top £250m

BBC: Ogoniland oil spills: Shell admits Nigeria liability

Reuters: Shell faces first Nigerian oil spill claims in UK

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Breaking: Shell admits liability for 2 oil spills in Nigeria

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In a potentially ground-breaking development, The Guardian reported today that Shell has accepted liability for two massive oil spills which devastated farmland in Bodo, Ogoniland in 2008.

Shell faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars after accepting full liability for two massive oil spills that devastated a Nigerian community of 69,000 people and may take at least 20 years to clean up. Experts who studied video footage of the spills at Bodo in Ogoniland say they could together be as large as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, when 10m gallons of oil destroyed the remote coastline. Until now, Shell has claimed that less than 40,000 gallons were spilt inNigeria. Papers seen by the Guardian show that following a class action suit in London over the past four months, the company has accepted responsibility for the 2008 double rupture of the Bodo-Bonny trans-Niger pipeline that pumps 120,000 barrels of oil a day though the community.

Shell’s admission of liability could open the floodgates for further lawsuits in the UK over the company’s daily oil spills in the Niger Delta region. Local human rights groups welcomed the outcome.

“The news that Shell has accepted liability in Britain will be greeted with joy in the delta. The British courts may now be inundated with legitimate complaints,” said Patrick Naagbanton, coordinator for the Centre of Environment and Human Rights in Port Harcourt.

Expect further bad news for Shell this week, as the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) is due to release its report on the full extent of the damage caused by oil spills in Ogoni.

Later this week the company will be heavily implicated by the UN for the environmental disaster in the Niger delta which has seen more than 7,000 oil spills in the low lying swamps and farmland since 1989. Shell first discovered oil in the Niger delta in 1956. According to Amnesty International, more than 13m barrels of oil have been spilt in the delta, twice as much as by BP in last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, funded by Shell, will be presented to president Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday and is expected to be released on Friday in London. UNEP’s report, the first peer-reviewed scientific study of more than 60 spills, is expected to say that oil pollution in Ogoniland is much worse than previously believed, having sunk deep into the water table. Many spills have not been cleared up since 1970 and the effects on the local economy, health and development have been severe. The report will not apportion blame for individual spills.

Coming soon – the ‘Tate a Tate’ audio tour

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Earlier this year, working alongside Liberate Tate and Art Not Oil, we made a call out to commission a sound artist to create an ‘alternate Tate audio tour’ – a work of site-specific sound art that would be themed around the issue of BP sponsorship of Tate. We were overwhelmed with almost 40 responses, and in the final shortlist, the quality of the ideas was so high, that we ended up choosing three of them instead of just one. The idea now is that the tour won’t be restricted to just one gallery space – the three pieces will correspond to Tate Modern, Tate Britain and the riverboat journey in between the two of them.

The artists that are working on the different pieces are:

• Ansuman Biswas (Tate Britain)
• Phil England and Jim Welton (Tate Modern)
• Isa Suarez, Mark McGowan and Mae Martin (Tate riverboat)

The tour is going to be launched in Autumn. We don’t want to give away too much about the content, but all three pieces are shaping up to be very distinctive, and we’re hoping that this unsanctioned sound installation inside Tate galleries will provide visitors with a new experience of the presence of BP within those spaces. Now is a good time to once again thank the many people who contributed to our crowd-funding drive that has made this project possible – it’s as much about the vote of confidence in the aims of the project as it is about the money.

This work comes at a time when BP is ramping up the promotion of its sponsorship activities in the run-up to the Olympics. Its first major TV ad campaign (see below) focused almost exclusively on its cultural and sports sponsorship and said pretty much nothing at all about its primary product. In the adverts sportspeople are seen in museums and in one case a runner is filmed on a pristine beach. BP’s sponsorship of arts institutions like Tate is clearly not an act of philanthropy, it’s a very cheap piece of PR to detract attention away from the devastating impacts its causing around the world.

For those who may have missed it, don’t forget to check out the amazing video of Reverend Billy and the Church of Earthalujah performing an exorcism of BP from Tate Modern Turbine Hall. We knew it would be entertaining, but I think everyone was surprised by how it was also very moving and powerful.

Tottenham’s Bernie Grant Arts Centre to Welcome Ken Saro-Wiwa Memorial ‘Battle Bus’

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LAUNCH EVENT: Saturday 25 June, 12-2pm, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Rd, London N15 4RX.

MAP: View Larger Map

A spectacular life-size steel bus, created as a memorial to Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, will be officially welcomed to its new home in Tottenham as part of Civic Day celebrations on Saturday 25 June.

The event, to be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre from 12noon, will feature poetry and speeches from local campaigners as well as live music, dance and drumming, film screenings, a barbecue and stalls from local artists. It is being organised by the Centre in collaboration with Platform, a group of environmentalists, artists, human rights campaigners, educationalists and community activists, who commissioned the Bus as part of their campaigning on human rights and oil in Nigeria. The striking steel vehicle will be at the centre of the celebrations, with drummers performing from its roof and its inside used to screen short films. Musicians from all parts of the community will contribute to the day.
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Ogonis File Class Action Lawsuit in UK Over Shell Oil Spills

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The Ogoni community of Bodo has filed a class-action lawsuit at the High Court in London against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. The case concerns damages caused by two major oil spills from Shell’s Trans-Niger pipeline in 2008-9, both the result of equipment failure. It took Shell several months before they finally clamped the pipeline. During that time crude oil was pumped through the burst pipe, ravaging the rural village and resulting in widespread environmental devastation.

Shell refused to clean up the spill site, leaving the massive oil slick to spread kilometers upstream in Bodo Creek, damaging fragile mangroves forests which may take decades to recover. Ecologically speaking, Bodo Creek is sick and dying. Tens of thousands of villagers depend on the Creek for their drinking water and fishing. Locals complain of a sharp decline in fishing,  ruined crop and petroleum poisoning. Continue reading →

Death knell or crying wolf?

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In April the Chancellor, George Osborne, launched his ‘Fair Fuel Stabiliser’. This linked the rate of tax paid by oil companies to global oil prices. When the price of oil was above $75 a barrel, the rate of tax on North Sea oil profits would rise, with the additional revenue used to lower the price of petrol and diesel. The measure is expected to raise £2 billion pounds over the course of the Parliament, although this is cancelled out by a £2 billion reduction in income from fuel duty.

The Chancellor claimed that the stabiliser would raise enough money to avoid a planned increase in fuel duty, and also pay for a 1p per litre cut. This, he argued, would save the average driver £3 when filling up their car. The announcement followed a period of exceptional profits for the oil and gas industry, buoyed by oil prices reaching record highs.

The oil industry reacted furiously. Malcolm Webb, chief executive of industry lobby group, Oil and Gas UK claimed that, “this change in the tax regime will decrease investment, increase imports and drive UK jobs to other areas of the world.” Treasury Minister Justine Greening was reportedly “grilled alive” in a meeting with oil industry executives. A number of major oil companies announced plans to put investments on hold whilst they considered the impact of the new tax changes.

Using the threat of job losses and investment is one of the oldest tricks in the industry lobbying book. This two-part briefing by PLATFORM and Greenpeace examines the changes to North Sea tax and how the oil industry might not have it as bad as they are making it out to be, before considering ways in which the Chancellor may respond to the industry’s campaign against the changes.

You can download the briefing here.