In 2021, Shell Petroleum Development Company announced plans to divest from its onshore oil projects in the Niger Delta. These assets held an estimated total reserve of 4.96 billion barrels of oil, 177 billion barrels of condensate, 28.16 trillion cubic feet of associated gas, and 28.11 trillion cubic feet of non-associated gas. While this announcement signalled a desire to fully exit onshore operations, Shell lacked a clear strategy for addressing its environmental and end-of-life liabilities in the host communities and has been divesting certain onshore assets for some years to companies who do not appear to have the capabilities to address the legacy Pollution caused by its decade of operation across the Niger Delta.
The Niger Delta has faced severe environmental degradation and disruption of rural livelihoods due to the operations by Shell. Despite these challenges, Shell’s recent exit strategy has been criticized for its unilateral and authoritarian approach. Shell failed to adequately engage local communities in the process and did not adhere to the approved divestment guidelines.
The study aims to inform affected Shell host communities in the Niger Delta about Shell’s exit, ensure national regulators respond to community concerns, and compel Shell to disclose information regarding the terms of divestment. The report examines Shell’s community relations, legacy issues, inclusion practices, and adherence to regulatory frameworks in the Niger Delta, one of the world’s most polluted regions due to the activities of international oil companies (IOCs), particularly Shell.
For this study we visited four communities across Rivers and Bayelsa States which include, Umuchem in Etche local government area, Bille in Degema local government area and Agbi-Ogale in Eleme local government area all of Rivers State Whereas in Bayelsa State, Elebele community along Kolo Creek in Ogbia local government area was our key focus. Firstly, on Community Engagement, the result indicates that Shell has ignored the importance of collective stakeholder representation as a means of communicating stakeholders’ interests and expectations, which is crucial for promoting peace.
Many key stakeholders across the communities under study have been overlooked and marginalized throughout the divestment process. Secondly on Legacy Issues, Shell has had a significant negative impact on the Niger Delta, leaving behind a toxic legacy of polluted land and rivers in numerous communities, to address this issue the vast number of un-remediated sites caused by shell needs to be remediated before divestment
Thirdly all communities visited emphasized on the importance of being carried along so as to participate and engage in the divestment process. However key findings reveal a sharp exclusion on the community leadership structure in the divestment process by shell 11 Lastly on Regulatory framework, critical evaluation of the current framework has demonstrably fallen short in this regard, particularly in the context of Shell’s recent divestment.
The Reports concluded by drawing on insights from community representatives, stakeholders, and our own analysis and recommended an immediate action to prevent IOCs from divesting without addressing legacy issues and providing funding for decommissioning in the National Principles of Responsible Industry Divestment adopted by Nigeria Civil society.
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