FG set to shut Shell out?

The hostility of the federal government to the main oil company in Nigeria, Sunday Tribune learnt is not unconnected with its alleged insensitivity to the plight of the areas where it had been operating, most especially the environmental liabilities it had incurred from its operations over the years in the Niger Delta.

Since the early 90s, there had been backlog of litigations against SPDC at the instance of different groups and individuals in Ogoniland where its operations had been more prevalent, all of them bothering on the alleged insensitivity of the oil company to the harrowing effects of environmental degradation of the area arising from its intense oil exploration.

Shell Petroleum had abandoned the Ogoni oil field since 1994 owing to the bloody clash it had with members of the Movement for Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) led by the late playweight, Ken Saro Wiwa

President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua is said to be resolute on the need for the government to halt the operations of SPDC in Nigeria as part of measures aimed at restoring sanity to the area by moderating agitations by restive youths in the area against the international oil companies.

Part of the excesses listed against Shell, Sunday Tribune learnt, had to do with the incessant unrests in the Niger Delta arising principally from the roles it played in the alleged murder of Ken Saro Wiwa by the military government of General Sani Abacha.

Shell was alleged all to have fuelled crises in the area in order to protect its interest, and hence reportedly collaborated with the then military government to halt the growing sensitisation of the Ogoni people by the renowned late environmentalist against its activities and those of other international oil companies in the area.

By implication, the oil company is expected to lose its major oil acreages in the area, most especially OML 11 and13 which had been in its possession since the past 10 years against the backdrop that it had failed to develop the acreages.

The government, Sunday Tribune learnt, will be taking over OML 11 in line with the Petroleum Act which empowers it to withdraw the mining license of any oil company that failed to develop any oil acreage allocated to it, 10 years after such allocation.

The SPDC, it was learnt, had been holding on to the oil bloc having successfully cajoled the past government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and hence prevented it from signing it off.

The OML 11 had lapsed after lying fallow with the oil company for more than 10 years, a reason the current government has now resolved to take possession.

At the moment, the federal government is said to be investigating an alleged secret deal by Shell with another oil company; Addax to regain the possession of the oil field by proxy.

Shell and Addax were said to have struck a deal on the retention of the oil field through Addax since Shell was reportedly aware of the ill motive of the government towards it. If the deal between the two oil companies works out, Shell would invariably have access to the oil bloc even after being eased out of the Niger Delta.

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee probing the operations of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria since the past 10 years has also been investigating the undercover agreement between Shell and Addax with a view to frustrating such. Other companies being similarly investigated include Oando and Agip and others.

The SPDC, regarded as a colonialist oil company, has been a pioneer and leader of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. It has the largest acreage in the country from which it produces close to 43 per cent of the Nigeria�s oil. SPDC has more than 6,000 kilometers of pipelines and flow lines, 87 flow stations, 8 gas plants and more than 1,000 oil producing wells.

The oil company is the operator of a Joint Venture Agreement involving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which holds between 55 and 60 per cent, while it holds 30 per cent against EPNL 10 per cent and Agip 5 per cent.

According to record, Shell Petroleum Company ,as a colonialist venture, discovered the first commercial oil field in the country at Oloibiri Bayelsa State, in 1956 and had since discovered more oil fields since then.