The oil company says up to 40,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled 75 miles off the coast of the Niger delta
An oil spill on the shores of the Niger Delta swamps. Shell has said the recent oil spill is likely to be worst in a decade.
“Spill response procedures have been initiated and emergency control and spill risk procedures are up and running," said Tony Okonedo, a Shell Nigeria spokesman.
Satellite pictures obtained by independent monitors Skytruth suggested that the spill was 70km-long and was spread over 923 square kilometers (356 sq miles).
But a leading Nigerian human rights group said Shell's figures about the quantity of oil spilled or the clean-up could not be relied on. "Shell says 40,000 barrels were spilled and production was shut but we do not trust them because past incidents show that the company consistently under-reports the amounts and impacts of its carelessness," said Nnimmo Bassey, head of Environmental Rights Action, based in Lagos.
"We are alerting fisher folks and coastal communities to be on the look out. It just adds to the list of Shell's environmental atrocities in the Niger delta.
The spill, one of the worst off the coast of Nigeria in 10 years, is particularly embarrassing for Shell, coming only four months after a major UN study said it could take Shell and other oil companies 30 years and $1bn to clean spills in Ogoniland, one small part of the oil-rich delta. The company also admitted responsibility in August for two major spills in the Bodo region of the delta that took place in 2008, but has yet to pay compensation.
Shell, which works in partnership with the Nigerian government in the delta, claims that 98% of all its oil spills are caused by vandalism, theft or sabotage by militants and only a minimal amount by deteriorating infrastructure. But this is disputed by communities.
Yesterday Shell said it had also closed a Gulf of Mexico deep drilling operation after spilling 319 barrels of contaminated fluids.
Do you think we should worry more about oil spills and whose responsibility are them?
How are this news going to affect Nigeria's population?
This company has been responsible for many oil spills, how do you think it should prevent these environmental disasters? Or should the government get involved?
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Sincerely, we should all be worried about oil spills and we should we should stop who caused this environmental disaster from getting away with the responsibilities for polluting the ocean.
ReplyDeleteIf we don’t do so, they’ll keep doing it until someone stops them, but there’s more behind that, there are animals, people not being able to fish because all fishes will be contaminated by the oil and of course, all types of ecosystem living under the sea will affected by that oil.
However, if the cause is vandalism why don’t the put some security to control the situation? Because, if they actually do that, that would benefit them, because the company won’t loose money and nor their own oil. It’s so stupid how if it keeps happening, Shell doesn’t do something about it.
Yes Paula, the government should get involved and act for those countries that get affected for all that oil spilled. I wish that company was concerned about what they are doing contaminating the planet in this way.
Alejandra Séculi
I fully agree with Alejandra on the fact that this is something to worry about because as she says contaminating the water which is the key for survival for plants and animals is something that affects the whole ecosystem.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion companies get away with actions like this one really easily and without even realizing the devastating effects which their action causes or simply not caring about it which is even more worrying. They can blame this disaster in vandalism but it sounds to me more like an excuse than an actually proven fact because it is hard to believe that the same people that suffer the severe consequences of this disaster are the same ones who caused it. Even if it was true, companies like Shell make a lot of profit out of Nigeria's resources so they should care more about the people living there.
“It just adds to the list of Shell's environmental atrocities in the Niger delta.” This sentences proves that it is not the first time that Shell is involved in a spilling of oil, in fact there has been many in the company's history.
But who will ever put and end? Nigeria is a really poor country where the government probably doesn't care as it should about this issues or it turns a blind eye due to it's corruption. I think that developed countries that buy the oil afterwards should be the ones to react and act even if it means to look beyond their interests.
I am completely astonished with this event, I can’t believe things like this continue happening in a world which depends on oil as it is the most important energy source we are capable to use, and we all know that in several years it will run out. By the time no one would know what to do if it runs out today or tomorrow, and although there is a lot of research it hasn’t been founded anything which can supplement oil in a satisfactory way. With this in our mind, how can we allow such a waste of such a valuable product?
ReplyDeleteMoreover, looking towards the future, the oil pollutes the water and kills lots of habitats, and in doing so it also kills lots of living creatures. This could affect to a food chain of certain animals and cause its extinction. It may happen to be that a fish which extinguishes due to the oil spill was a very important aliment for humans or for other animals, and if this happens it will end up affecting our nutrition and our health.
Furthermore, Nigeria is an African country which has lots of deserts and is right in the middle of the equator. This means that it is one of the hottest places in the world and as a very big amount of its land is desert, there are very few rivers so people living there may have problems with running out of water. Before this event, if a river dried they could go to the sea but now, some parts of the sea are contaminated so people will have to go even further away to get a basic need like water and this will surely affect their lives in a very bad way.
DAVID VILALTA
Finally, as in every situation like this, we have the same old three groups: The company profit, the government interest and the citizens’ rights.
ReplyDeleteShell Company is in the stock exchange market so publicity like this one is for sure not good for the value of the stock.
By one side thanks to the speed of information they will take conciseness of act like that but also if this appears they will manage very well the fluid of information. The government will not take the risk of losing such a good investment so they are just puppets of the big enterprises, and at the end the only ones that suffer the bad effects not taking the benefits are as always the people. Low culture, lack of information, far from the decision power and without any international help makes that this kind of new appears in the middle pages of the newspapers.
How we could stop this chain? Some years ago it was published list of cloths companies that they were working with children that make people take their money form the stock market, and then was something similar with clinical studies done in Africa even causing deaths. For many years we have been hearing about environment disasters, but seems that causes less impact in people mind.
First world wants to earn more money every year, the companies have to reflect higher benefits to increase stock value, otherwise the stocks holders will move their money to other more promising investment.
How to do it? Reducing security cost, changing qualify worker to cheaper ones, increase productivity over legal rules, third world exploitation.
Are we the last reason of all this mess?
Is our ambition the real cause?
Are we really blind or are we just making it look like we want to look like it?
Are we just saying that companies are guilty just to get away of our conscience?
Alejandra Séculi