SHELL Petroleum Development Company has said its signing of multimillion dollar pipeline surveillance contract with some Ogoni communities in Rivers State, is not a plot to resume oil production there.
The company which was forced to shut its operational activities in Ogoni in 1993 following an uprising by local communities protesting against environmental degradation, said the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme on Ogoni is being handled by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Shell’s General Manager (Onshore) Mr. Grezgeorz Kulawski and the General Manager, Sustainable Development and Community relations, Nebo Osayande, told journalists in Port Harcourt that the pipeline surveillance contract, is part of an initiative to combat crude oil theft in Ogoniland. They revealed that in 2013 alone, Shell recorded 49 incidents of crude oil theft in Ogoniland, resulting in crude oil not delivered and a lost of huge revenue to the federation. Continue reading…