What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)
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Spherical,
It's almost certainly Caverton. They have theirs on order for the Shell contract. Aero has a single 139 and CHC's one just left the country.
Caverton are in a JV with Heli Union for the Total contract with 3 C++'s and an N3. The rest of the equipment is theirs or Shell's (not sure who bought the 139's).
It's almost certainly Caverton. They have theirs on order for the Shell contract. Aero has a single 139 and CHC's one just left the country.
Caverton are in a JV with Heli Union for the Total contract with 3 C++'s and an N3. The rest of the equipment is theirs or Shell's (not sure who bought the 139's).
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Caverton has nothing rotary. The S76s and N3 are Heli Union's, the EC 155s are Shell and DanCopter's and the Bell 412s belong to Lagos State government. 3 of the 6 139s will be DanCopter's.
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Ref: Nigerian Helicopter Companies
Thanks for the replies 
.
I have a tough decision to make, whether to take a chance and go to Nigeria or stay where I am in a job that is secure but obviously not as well paid.
.I have a tough decision to make, whether to take a chance and go to Nigeria or stay where I am in a job that is secure but obviously not as well paid.
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Dave Allen continues to bring in may of his old contacts from Schreiner and ACN days into management posts in Caverton. To add to the list of Graham Walker (ex-Bristow and then the SMS consultant to Schreiner), Charles De Mannoury (formerly Chief Pilot Rotary with ACN) and Nick Cooke (ex-Aero and Bristow) it looks as if he's now replaced Dave Lippeatt with Nigel Mortimer (formerly Ops Manager with ACN and then worked in Brazil for CHC) who was one of the original consultants to DanCopter when they partnered Caverton. I wonder where Dave L will go now?
It's interesting that there's been nothing on this site yet about the recent DanCopter EC155 engine failure in Nigeria
The first AW139 in Caverton/DanCopter colours will be arriving in Nigeria shortly and it's rumoured that it will start operating for Shell in February.
'Gudu' Bains who was the Agip Base Manager for ACN and then became the Agip aviation advisor is now back at Agip as Base Manager for Bristow.
ACN are starting to make a gradual come back with 3 S76C+ helicopters due to arrive shortly. One of them will be a VIP aircraft which will be operated for the Rivers State Government in place of the RSG AW139 which Aero continue to operate for Total.
It looks as if there's plenty of work in Nigeria to go around.
It's interesting that there's been nothing on this site yet about the recent DanCopter EC155 engine failure in Nigeria
The first AW139 in Caverton/DanCopter colours will be arriving in Nigeria shortly and it's rumoured that it will start operating for Shell in February.
'Gudu' Bains who was the Agip Base Manager for ACN and then became the Agip aviation advisor is now back at Agip as Base Manager for Bristow.
ACN are starting to make a gradual come back with 3 S76C+ helicopters due to arrive shortly. One of them will be a VIP aircraft which will be operated for the Rivers State Government in place of the RSG AW139 which Aero continue to operate for Total.
It looks as if there's plenty of work in Nigeria to go around.
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Dayvallen never much liked Africans (is this symptomatic of some Oyibos born in East African countries which are now not very pro-European - just a question, not a contentious statement 
) and is now seemingly topping up Caverton with his old (European) buddies. What does this say about the employment policies of a company which proclaims itself at every opportunity as an 'indigenous' company'? 
. Why was Josiah Choms not promoted into the post of Operations Manager? Why was a man who was replaced in Nigeria by CHC and then in Brazil by the same company brought in without consultation to replace Dave Lippeatt? Why is Josiah Choms the only national pilot in a managerial operations post with the 'Shell' project? Does Sunny have no influence on this at all? This is a supposedly indigenous company which has just brought in mostly expatriate managers on its most important IOC contract which seems to run as a company-within-a-company 
.
All is not well with their partnership with Heli Onion and 2012 will see some interesting developments their as HU struggle to find staff willing to work with Caverton. They may seek to play on the French content whilst flying for intensely xenophobic Total who have a hate/hate relationship with Bristow, but if Heli Onion cannot get enough garlic-eaters to fly their machines inn Nigeria will Caverton allow enough Nigerians to progress?
There has been some gushing about what a significant place CHC is going to have in all of this next year but they still have no AOC, the DG of the NCAA is due for replacement soon so the reality is that actions speak louder then words. They may profit from Total's dislike of what Bristow are offering them now, unless they can conjure some S92s or EC225s to replace their unreliable AS332s
As somebody has said - interesting times to come in Nigeria.
) and is now seemingly topping up Caverton with his old (European) buddies. What does this say about the employment policies of a company which proclaims itself at every opportunity as an 'indigenous' company'? . Why was Josiah Choms not promoted into the post of Operations Manager? Why was a man who was replaced in Nigeria by CHC and then in Brazil by the same company brought in without consultation to replace Dave Lippeatt? Why is Josiah Choms the only national pilot in a managerial operations post with the 'Shell' project? Does Sunny have no influence on this at all? This is a supposedly indigenous company which has just brought in mostly expatriate managers on its most important IOC contract which seems to run as a company-within-a-company . All is not well with their partnership with Heli Onion and 2012 will see some interesting developments their as HU struggle to find staff willing to work with Caverton. They may seek to play on the French content whilst flying for intensely xenophobic Total who have a hate/hate relationship with Bristow, but if Heli Onion cannot get enough garlic-eaters to fly their machines inn Nigeria will Caverton allow enough Nigerians to progress?
There has been some gushing about what a significant place CHC is going to have in all of this next year but they still have no AOC, the DG of the NCAA is due for replacement soon so the reality is that actions speak louder then words. They may profit from Total's dislike of what Bristow are offering them now, unless they can conjure some S92s or EC225s to replace their unreliable AS332s
As somebody has said - interesting times to come in Nigeria.
I am very glad to hear Josiah has moved up the management chain....he was a two thumbs up guy when I knew him! He was a very sharp fellow many years ago and I saw him going places in the Nigerian aviation industry. I very much enjoyed the time he and I were paired together on a single aircraft ah hoc contract. I hope he did not pick up too many of my bad habits!
Last edited by SASless; 18th Dec 2011 at 20:30.
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I'm surprised at the abscence of Dave Foleronso and Tony Jusef Adams from the Caverton list. Both of them are good guys I would work with anytime and are Nationals as well.
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Merry Christmas to the Niger Delta from Shell
Well Shell's safety and maintenance culture is finally paying off as they send a special Christmas gift to all their friends in the communities of the Niger Delta, which doubtless they'll blame on the local villagers 
Never mind, it's only costing them $21.47 million a day, while the coastal communities will be suffering the effects on their environment for years to come. If this had happened on land, the community on which the facility was would have been blamed for it. Shell would have screamed sabotage 
Shell Shuts Down Bonga Production
Many of the people I know who worked there left because they were unhappy with what they perceived as a lack of real maintenance culture, despite what Shell may declare in it's public corporate persona.
Never mind, I'm sure Shell will put more of a gloss on this than their 40,000 barrels of oil will put on the shoreline
Merry Christmas inhabitants of the Niger Delta - coming soon to a beach near you
The oil spill near the coast of Nigeria which forced oil giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC to shut down its 200,000 bpd oilfields in Bonga is likely the worst to hit those waters in a decade, a government official said Thursday.
Peter Idabor, head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency told the Associated Press that the slick from Shell's Bonga field has affected 115 miles of ocean near Nigeria's coast, and is approaching the southern shoreline.
Idabor said officials expect the slick to reach beaches in Rivers state by Thursday afternoon. The spill likely occurred as workers for major oil-producing company tried to offload oil onto a waiting tanker, the AP reported.
Idabor said that while the source of the leak has been plugged, the spill still proves a threat to the shoreline and wildlife of the region. The company claims that 50 per cent of the spill, which they said on Wednesday was likely less than 40,000 barrels or 1.68 million gallons, has evaporated.
Idabor said the spill is the “most major one” since the Mobil spill of 1998 and said experts from Britain were coming to help with the clean-up, according to the AP.
Slicks from the Bonga spill likely will reach beaches near Forcados on Thursday, affecting wildlife there, Idabor told the AP.
Peter Idabor, head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency told the Associated Press that the slick from Shell's Bonga field has affected 115 miles of ocean near Nigeria's coast, and is approaching the southern shoreline.
Idabor said officials expect the slick to reach beaches in Rivers state by Thursday afternoon. The spill likely occurred as workers for major oil-producing company tried to offload oil onto a waiting tanker, the AP reported.
Idabor said that while the source of the leak has been plugged, the spill still proves a threat to the shoreline and wildlife of the region. The company claims that 50 per cent of the spill, which they said on Wednesday was likely less than 40,000 barrels or 1.68 million gallons, has evaporated.
Idabor said the spill is the “most major one” since the Mobil spill of 1998 and said experts from Britain were coming to help with the clean-up, according to the AP.
Slicks from the Bonga spill likely will reach beaches near Forcados on Thursday, affecting wildlife there, Idabor told the AP.
Shell Shuts Down Bonga Production
Many of the people I know who worked there left because they were unhappy with what they perceived as a lack of real maintenance culture, despite what Shell may declare in it's public corporate persona.
Never mind, I'm sure Shell will put more of a gloss on this than their 40,000 barrels of oil will put on the shoreline
Shell announced on Wednesday that “likely less than” 40,000 barrels of oil had spilled into the waters.
The company explained in a statement that the spill had occurred with some of the workers had been transferring oil into a waiting tanker. They also reported that it had plugged the source of the spill and shut down oilfield to avoid further damage.
However the damage already done is daunting. Peter Idabor, head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency told the Associated Press that the slick from Shell’s Bonga field has affected 115 miles of ocean near Nigeria’s coast.
Idabor said officials expect the slick to reach beaches in Rivers state by Thursday afternoon. However, a statement released by the company gave a different account of the extent of the damages.
“We now assess that up to 50% of the leaked oil has already dissipated due to natural dispersion and evaporation. As satellite pictures have shown, the overall area covered by the sheen is large. However, the sheen itself is very thin (less than a hundredth of a millimetre) in most areas.”
Shell published some photos as well, showing affected areas of the water. Speaking to the AP, Idabor said while the leak has been plugged the spill still proves a threat to the shoreline and wildlife in the area.
Idabor said the spill is the “most major one” since the Mobil spill of 1998 and said experts from Britain were coming to help with the clean-up, according to the AP.
Slicks from the Bonga spill likely will reach beaches near Forcados on Thursday, affecting wildlife there, Idabor told the AP.
The company explained in a statement that the spill had occurred with some of the workers had been transferring oil into a waiting tanker. They also reported that it had plugged the source of the spill and shut down oilfield to avoid further damage.
However the damage already done is daunting. Peter Idabor, head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency told the Associated Press that the slick from Shell’s Bonga field has affected 115 miles of ocean near Nigeria’s coast.
Idabor said officials expect the slick to reach beaches in Rivers state by Thursday afternoon. However, a statement released by the company gave a different account of the extent of the damages.
“We now assess that up to 50% of the leaked oil has already dissipated due to natural dispersion and evaporation. As satellite pictures have shown, the overall area covered by the sheen is large. However, the sheen itself is very thin (less than a hundredth of a millimetre) in most areas.”
Shell published some photos as well, showing affected areas of the water. Speaking to the AP, Idabor said while the leak has been plugged the spill still proves a threat to the shoreline and wildlife in the area.
Idabor said the spill is the “most major one” since the Mobil spill of 1998 and said experts from Britain were coming to help with the clean-up, according to the AP.
Slicks from the Bonga spill likely will reach beaches near Forcados on Thursday, affecting wildlife there, Idabor told the AP.
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As usual a biased and unfair post. The truth about the prompt emergency response is as follows:
SNEPCo confirms the oil leaked from the Bonga facility continues to thin as a result of the effective use of dispersants by seaborne vessels and aircraft.
Surveillance and aerial photos show the spill is breaking up into patches surrounded by clear water. The spill remains offshore. We continue to monitor its movement using satellite imagery and vessels in the zone.
Shell’s country chair in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, said “two aircraft and multiple seaborne vessels have been mobilized to survey and spray dispersants in the affected areas. These activities are having visible effect.”
SNEPCo has brought in experts from across the globe to Nigeria to support the response team, which is working around the clock in shifts. The company continues to engage with the local communities. Joint efforts, in close cooperation with local and national governments and industry partners, continue to combat the spill.
Surveillance and aerial photos show the spill is breaking up into patches surrounded by clear water. The spill remains offshore. We continue to monitor its movement using satellite imagery and vessels in the zone.
Shell’s country chair in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, said “two aircraft and multiple seaborne vessels have been mobilized to survey and spray dispersants in the affected areas. These activities are having visible effect.”
SNEPCo has brought in experts from across the globe to Nigeria to support the response team, which is working around the clock in shifts. The company continues to engage with the local communities. Joint efforts, in close cooperation with local and national governments and industry partners, continue to combat the spill.
If you believe anything that comes out of SNEPCO in a PR release...then I have some really fine beachfront property in Arizona you just have to buy!
It doubly fits ....one has to consider the source when considering the comment.
In this case....if either or both sources said the Sun had come up today...I would have to step outside and look myself before accepting that to be true.
It doubly fits ....one has to consider the source when considering the comment.
In this case....if either or both sources said the Sun had come up today...I would have to step outside and look myself before accepting that to be true.
The latest spill comes four months after a U.N. report criticized Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in a region of the Niger Delta which it says needs the world's largest ever oil clean-up, costing an initial $1 billion and taking up to 30 years.
Any comment SM?
A mop and bucket should put that right in no time .........
I await my company pr put down in anticpation
Any comment SM?
A mop and bucket should put that right in no time .........
I await my company pr put down in anticpation
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"As usual a biased and unfair post. The truth...." 
BBC:
African Liberty
Shell Blog:
Everybody loves Shell
BBC:
The head of Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, has warned that a recent oil spill off the country's coast could have a severe environmental impact.
"We are concerned this will have a major impact on the ocean, on the coastline, as well as on fisheries," Nnimmo Bassey told the BBC.
An estimated 40,000 barrels of crude oil have spilled into the Atlantic Ocean from the Shell oil field.
Shell maintains that the leak remains offshore, is thinning and breaking up.
Shell's chairman in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, told the BBC the leak was "regrettable" but the oil firm was attempting to "mitigate the consequences".
Mr Sunmonu said he was confident that the five ships using dispersing agents and the evaporation of the oil meant the spill would not reach the shore.
"It gives me a lot of confidence that it will not impact on the coastline," he told the BBC.
The leak occurred at the Bonga field, which is approximately 120km (75 miles) offshore and produces 10% of Nigeria's oil exports.
It happened during a transfer of oil to a tanker.
Inspection
Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, says it fears the spill could have a serious impact on the breeding grounds of bonga fish.
"The area in which this spill occurred is a very special area for the bonga fish, that provides protein for most of West Africa," said Mr Bassey.
"It will certainly have a major impact on the aquatic life of the area... 40,000 barrels of oil didn't just disappear. Where did it disappear to?" he said.
Mr Sunmonu apologised for the leak, saying: "As soon as we became aware of it, we stopped the flow of oil and mobilised our own resources, as well as industry expertise, to ensure its effects are minimised."
He said that Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency would be visiting Bonga on Saturday to inspect the clean-up operation.
Analysts say most previous oil spills in Nigeria have been onshore and caused by sabotage or militant attacks.
In August 2011, a UN report into spills in Ogoniland found that the region could take 30 years to recover.
A claim for damages has been launched in London against Shell for these spills on behalf of 68,000 Nigerians living in Ogoniland.
"We are concerned this will have a major impact on the ocean, on the coastline, as well as on fisheries," Nnimmo Bassey told the BBC.
An estimated 40,000 barrels of crude oil have spilled into the Atlantic Ocean from the Shell oil field.
Shell maintains that the leak remains offshore, is thinning and breaking up.
Shell's chairman in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, told the BBC the leak was "regrettable" but the oil firm was attempting to "mitigate the consequences".
Mr Sunmonu said he was confident that the five ships using dispersing agents and the evaporation of the oil meant the spill would not reach the shore.
"It gives me a lot of confidence that it will not impact on the coastline," he told the BBC.
The leak occurred at the Bonga field, which is approximately 120km (75 miles) offshore and produces 10% of Nigeria's oil exports.
It happened during a transfer of oil to a tanker.
Inspection
Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, says it fears the spill could have a serious impact on the breeding grounds of bonga fish.
"The area in which this spill occurred is a very special area for the bonga fish, that provides protein for most of West Africa," said Mr Bassey.
"It will certainly have a major impact on the aquatic life of the area... 40,000 barrels of oil didn't just disappear. Where did it disappear to?" he said.
Mr Sunmonu apologised for the leak, saying: "As soon as we became aware of it, we stopped the flow of oil and mobilised our own resources, as well as industry expertise, to ensure its effects are minimised."
He said that Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency would be visiting Bonga on Saturday to inspect the clean-up operation.
Analysts say most previous oil spills in Nigeria have been onshore and caused by sabotage or militant attacks.
In August 2011, a UN report into spills in Ogoniland found that the region could take 30 years to recover.
A claim for damages has been launched in London against Shell for these spills on behalf of 68,000 Nigerians living in Ogoniland.
LAGOS, Nigeria — An oil spill near the coast of Nigeria is likely the worst to hit those waters in a decade, a government official said Thursday, as slicks from the Royal Dutch Shell PLC spill approached the country’s southern shoreline.
The slick from Shell’s Bonga field has affected 115 miles (185 kilometers) of ocean near Nigeria’s coast, Peter Idabor, who leads the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, told The Associated Press. Idabor said the slick continued to move toward the shore Thursday night, putting at risk birds, fish and other wildlife in the area.
Shell, the major oil producer in Nigeria, said late Thursday the spill came from a “flexible export line” connecting the offshore field to a waiting tanker. The company published photographs of the spill, showing a telltale rainbow sheen in the ocean, but said it believes that about 50 percent of the leaked oil has already evaporated.
The source of the leak has been plugged and experts from Britain were coming to help with the cleanup, Idabor said. Nigerian Navy ships also had been sent into the area to help control the spill, he said.
Shell estimates the Bonga spill likely was less than 40,000 barrels, or 1.68 million gallons. That’s about the same amount of oil spilled offshore in 1998 at a Mobil field. The 1998 spill saw oil slicks extended for more than 100 miles (some 160 kilometers) to Lagos, the country’s commercial capital.
“Since the Mobil spill, this is just about the most major one,” Idabor said.
Nigerian authorities hope to use oil booms and chemicals to disperse or collect the spilled oil, Idabor said. In a statement, Shell said its Nigerian subsidiary already had sent ships out to the slick to use dispersant on the oil sheen. The company also said it would use infrared equipment to trace places where the sheen is the thickest.
However, the size of the spill may be even larger. SkyTruth, a nonprofit group based in West Virginia that uses satellite imagery to detect environmental problems, estimated the oil spill might stretch across roughly 350 square miles (920 square kilometers) of ocean — three times what Nigerian authorities believe.
“The spill could be near the upper limit of what Shell has stated,” John Amos, SkyTruth’s founder and president, told the AP on Thursday. However, he said he needed more information to determine the spill’s true scope.
Bonga sits about 75 miles (120 kilometers) off Nigeria’s coast. It can produce about 200,000 barrels of oil and 150 million cubic feet of gas a day, according to Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary. Production at the field, which Shell operates in partnership with Italy’s Eni SpA, Exxon Mobil Corp., France’s Total SA and the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., has been halted since the discovery of the spill.
The slick from Shell’s Bonga field has affected 115 miles (185 kilometers) of ocean near Nigeria’s coast, Peter Idabor, who leads the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, told The Associated Press. Idabor said the slick continued to move toward the shore Thursday night, putting at risk birds, fish and other wildlife in the area.
Shell, the major oil producer in Nigeria, said late Thursday the spill came from a “flexible export line” connecting the offshore field to a waiting tanker. The company published photographs of the spill, showing a telltale rainbow sheen in the ocean, but said it believes that about 50 percent of the leaked oil has already evaporated.
The source of the leak has been plugged and experts from Britain were coming to help with the cleanup, Idabor said. Nigerian Navy ships also had been sent into the area to help control the spill, he said.
Shell estimates the Bonga spill likely was less than 40,000 barrels, or 1.68 million gallons. That’s about the same amount of oil spilled offshore in 1998 at a Mobil field. The 1998 spill saw oil slicks extended for more than 100 miles (some 160 kilometers) to Lagos, the country’s commercial capital.
“Since the Mobil spill, this is just about the most major one,” Idabor said.
Nigerian authorities hope to use oil booms and chemicals to disperse or collect the spilled oil, Idabor said. In a statement, Shell said its Nigerian subsidiary already had sent ships out to the slick to use dispersant on the oil sheen. The company also said it would use infrared equipment to trace places where the sheen is the thickest.
However, the size of the spill may be even larger. SkyTruth, a nonprofit group based in West Virginia that uses satellite imagery to detect environmental problems, estimated the oil spill might stretch across roughly 350 square miles (920 square kilometers) of ocean — three times what Nigerian authorities believe.
“The spill could be near the upper limit of what Shell has stated,” John Amos, SkyTruth’s founder and president, told the AP on Thursday. However, he said he needed more information to determine the spill’s true scope.
Bonga sits about 75 miles (120 kilometers) off Nigeria’s coast. It can produce about 200,000 barrels of oil and 150 million cubic feet of gas a day, according to Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary. Production at the field, which Shell operates in partnership with Italy’s Eni SpA, Exxon Mobil Corp., France’s Total SA and the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., has been halted since the discovery of the spill.
Latest on Thu, 19:54
old nigeria hand: The Bonga spill obviously is unforgiveable. A relatively young facility should not leak oil. But the disaster as mentioned by many journalists will be minute. It is light oil and most will evaporate and disappear before hitting the beach. In 1979 there was a spill of another magnitude: the bottom of tank 6 had dropped out in Forcados. There was 1 meter oil in the terminal and Bert Ockeloen, the General Operations Manager flew over it the next day and stated: I may lose my terminal so break the wall and flush it into the sea. We talk of 100,000 tonnes of Forcados crude. Fortunately it was in the middle of the rainy season, there were no spark arrestors on the export pumps and the oil was lapping at the base of these.... God took a kind eye on Forcados that day. After flushing the lot into the sea, it all disappeared within weeks. Not a trace to be seen. Some small money and fish was given to local villages. Only the channel used to move the oil to the sea remained polluted and was cleaned up many years later. It all was possible because there was a military government suppressing the press and life was good for Shell! So, bad marks for spilling oil on Bonga but it is not the end of the world. Nigerian bacteria are very strong and will eat it all up!
old nigeria hand: The Bonga spill obviously is unforgiveable. A relatively young facility should not leak oil. But the disaster as mentioned by many journalists will be minute. It is light oil and most will evaporate and disappear before hitting the beach. In 1979 there was a spill of another magnitude: the bottom of tank 6 had dropped out in Forcados. There was 1 meter oil in the terminal and Bert Ockeloen, the General Operations Manager flew over it the next day and stated: I may lose my terminal so break the wall and flush it into the sea. We talk of 100,000 tonnes of Forcados crude. Fortunately it was in the middle of the rainy season, there were no spark arrestors on the export pumps and the oil was lapping at the base of these.... God took a kind eye on Forcados that day. After flushing the lot into the sea, it all disappeared within weeks. Not a trace to be seen. Some small money and fish was given to local villages. Only the channel used to move the oil to the sea remained polluted and was cleaned up many years later. It all was possible because there was a military government suppressing the press and life was good for Shell! So, bad marks for spilling oil on Bonga but it is not the end of the world. Nigerian bacteria are very strong and will eat it all up!
Nigeria: Shell’s dirty secret
The hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his Ogoni colleagues – whose only crime was to speak out for environmental and social justice – caused shock and outrage around the world. But whatever we might like to think, the human rights abuses perpetrated by Shell continue to this day. Shell’s routine payments to armed militants exacerbate armed conflict, and oil spills and gas flaring continue to devastate the fragile environment of the Niger Delta and the lives of the people who live there. But resistance continues as well; the UN has issued a damning report on the ecological impact of oil spills in Ogoni, and Shell was recently forced to admit liability and pay out millions of pounds in compensation for two massive oil spills after a lawsuit filed in London.
The hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his Ogoni colleagues – whose only crime was to speak out for environmental and social justice – caused shock and outrage around the world. But whatever we might like to think, the human rights abuses perpetrated by Shell continue to this day. Shell’s routine payments to armed militants exacerbate armed conflict, and oil spills and gas flaring continue to devastate the fragile environment of the Niger Delta and the lives of the people who live there. But resistance continues as well; the UN has issued a damning report on the ecological impact of oil spills in Ogoni, and Shell was recently forced to admit liability and pay out millions of pounds in compensation for two massive oil spills after a lawsuit filed in London.
Peter Idabor, the head of Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, said the leakage could be three times as large as Shell contends and may be the country’s worst case of oil pollution in 10 years.
“This is potentially a major incident that is likely to affect the environment and the people for a long time,” Mr. Idabor said.
The spill also comes just days after Shell received final permission from the Obama administration to start drilling exploratory wells in the highly ecologically sensitive region of the Arctic, a fact not lost on American critics of the drilling.
“It is a reminder, also, that we have no business drilling for oil in the Arctic waters,” said Bob Deans of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy group. “Look at what this oil is doing in Nigeria, then imagine trying to clean it up in waters choked with ice eight months a year, with gale winds and 20-foot seas, in a place a five-day cruise by cutter from the nearest U.S. Coast Guard station, in Kodiak.”
Shell has been blamed for many previous oil spills in the Nigerian Niger Delta, where a majority of the population lives in poverty atop some of the world’s richest reserves of oil and gas.
A United Nations environmental assessment report released in August said Shell’s operations were responsible for the contamination of farmlands and rivers in the Ogoni area of the Delta. Environmentalists say many oil spills go unreported, and they have accused the oil companies of deliberately underreporting those that do become public.
John Amos, the president of SkyTruth, a nonprofit organization based in West Virginia that provides independent information on environmental catastrophes, said that his group’s analysis of photos and satellite images indicated that Shell’s estimate of the size of the spill off the coast of Nigeria on Tuesday was not far off.
“We believe the spill is consistent with the high end of their estimate,” Mr. Amos said.
SkyTruth estimated the size of the slick at 350 square miles.
Nigerian lawmakers said Thursday that if the Bonga spill did indeed occur during a routine loading, that would indicate a weakness in operational standards. “The spill calls for a need to review the standards in the industry,” said Magnus Abbe, the chairman of the Senate committee on petroleum.
Shell said late Thursday that remotely operated underwater vehicles had confirmed that the spill was caused by a leak in a “flexible export line” that linked a tanker to a large floating storage container. David R. Williams, a Shell spokesman, said the company was investigating what caused the leak in the line feeding the tanker, as well as why the leak was not stopped before so much oil had spilled.
Shell has closed down the entire Bonga oil field, a site 75 miles off the coast of Nigeria that normally produces roughly 200,000 barrels of oil and gas a day.
“This is potentially a major incident that is likely to affect the environment and the people for a long time,” Mr. Idabor said.
The spill also comes just days after Shell received final permission from the Obama administration to start drilling exploratory wells in the highly ecologically sensitive region of the Arctic, a fact not lost on American critics of the drilling.
“It is a reminder, also, that we have no business drilling for oil in the Arctic waters,” said Bob Deans of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy group. “Look at what this oil is doing in Nigeria, then imagine trying to clean it up in waters choked with ice eight months a year, with gale winds and 20-foot seas, in a place a five-day cruise by cutter from the nearest U.S. Coast Guard station, in Kodiak.”
Shell has been blamed for many previous oil spills in the Nigerian Niger Delta, where a majority of the population lives in poverty atop some of the world’s richest reserves of oil and gas.
A United Nations environmental assessment report released in August said Shell’s operations were responsible for the contamination of farmlands and rivers in the Ogoni area of the Delta. Environmentalists say many oil spills go unreported, and they have accused the oil companies of deliberately underreporting those that do become public.
John Amos, the president of SkyTruth, a nonprofit organization based in West Virginia that provides independent information on environmental catastrophes, said that his group’s analysis of photos and satellite images indicated that Shell’s estimate of the size of the spill off the coast of Nigeria on Tuesday was not far off.
“We believe the spill is consistent with the high end of their estimate,” Mr. Amos said.
SkyTruth estimated the size of the slick at 350 square miles.
Nigerian lawmakers said Thursday that if the Bonga spill did indeed occur during a routine loading, that would indicate a weakness in operational standards. “The spill calls for a need to review the standards in the industry,” said Magnus Abbe, the chairman of the Senate committee on petroleum.
Shell said late Thursday that remotely operated underwater vehicles had confirmed that the spill was caused by a leak in a “flexible export line” that linked a tanker to a large floating storage container. David R. Williams, a Shell spokesman, said the company was investigating what caused the leak in the line feeding the tanker, as well as why the leak was not stopped before so much oil had spilled.
Shell has closed down the entire Bonga oil field, a site 75 miles off the coast of Nigeria that normally produces roughly 200,000 barrels of oil and gas a day.
As usual SM....I find you to be full of bovine fecal matter!
The common factor between Nigeria and the USA in re oil spill response is the qualityof the government executive...both are corrupt as hell, talk a good game but fail miserbly when called to perform, and ignore the will of the People.
Keep swinging at them SM....odds are in a few years you might get on base with a hit for a single.
To be fair with Shell....they have had a lot of help by the locals in creating the spills. Tappers and Bunkerers have contributed to the problem as well and seems to be consistently ignored by Environmentalists from abroad who are so critical of the situation in Nigeria.
The complicity of Shell employees in the Diesel bunkering is well known. When one knows of the extent of the diversion of money by everyone in the chain....it then comes as no surprise the situation is as bad as it is. Add in an armed insurrection in the area and all that adds to the problem also gets left undiscussed as no one really wants to admit that it exists. The insurrection is described more as simple criminal activity when it is far more involved than that.
To say there is poverty in the Niger River Delta is like saying a few folks died in the Tsunami that hit Indonesia a few years back. Until that situation is reversed by sincere efforts by the Federal, State, Local governments...the Oil Companies....the situation just isn't going to change.
Literally Billions of Dollars of Oil has flowed out of the Opukushi Pump Station over the past forty years or so....and the village right across the canal from the Pump Station had no running water and only what electricity the Pump Station provided out of jury rigged electrical line. Somehow that just doesn't strike me as either Shell Oil or the Nigerian government being very interested in doing right by the people living on top of all that oil.
Having flown the fat assed Tribal Chief into that place.....and seeing how that act played really was depressing to see!
The common factor between Nigeria and the USA in re oil spill response is the qualityof the government executive...both are corrupt as hell, talk a good game but fail miserbly when called to perform, and ignore the will of the People.
Keep swinging at them SM....odds are in a few years you might get on base with a hit for a single.
To be fair with Shell....they have had a lot of help by the locals in creating the spills. Tappers and Bunkerers have contributed to the problem as well and seems to be consistently ignored by Environmentalists from abroad who are so critical of the situation in Nigeria.
The complicity of Shell employees in the Diesel bunkering is well known. When one knows of the extent of the diversion of money by everyone in the chain....it then comes as no surprise the situation is as bad as it is. Add in an armed insurrection in the area and all that adds to the problem also gets left undiscussed as no one really wants to admit that it exists. The insurrection is described more as simple criminal activity when it is far more involved than that.
To say there is poverty in the Niger River Delta is like saying a few folks died in the Tsunami that hit Indonesia a few years back. Until that situation is reversed by sincere efforts by the Federal, State, Local governments...the Oil Companies....the situation just isn't going to change.
Literally Billions of Dollars of Oil has flowed out of the Opukushi Pump Station over the past forty years or so....and the village right across the canal from the Pump Station had no running water and only what electricity the Pump Station provided out of jury rigged electrical line. Somehow that just doesn't strike me as either Shell Oil or the Nigerian government being very interested in doing right by the people living on top of all that oil.
Having flown the fat assed Tribal Chief into that place.....and seeing how that act played really was depressing to see!
Last edited by SASless; 24th Dec 2011 at 15:21.
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SNEPCo confirms the oil leaked from the Bonga facility continues to thin as a result of the effective use of dispersants by seaborne vessels and aircraft.
Surveillance and aerial photos show the spill is breaking up into patches surrounded by clear water. The spill remains offshore. We continue to monitor its movement using satellite imagery and vessels in the zone.
Shell’s country chair in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, said “two aircraft and multiple seaborne vessels have been mobilized to survey and spray dispersants in the affected areas. These activities are having visible effect.”
Surveillance and aerial photos show the spill is breaking up into patches surrounded by clear water. The spill remains offshore. We continue to monitor its movement using satellite imagery and vessels in the zone.
Shell’s country chair in Nigeria, Mutiu Sunmonu, said “two aircraft and multiple seaborne vessels have been mobilized to survey and spray dispersants in the affected areas. These activities are having visible effect.”
Chemical dispersants are themselves toxic - they're not just lots of bulk Fairy Liquid. They work just like dishwashing liquid because they break down the surface oil into millions of tiny droplets which become suspended in the top 30 - 50 foot layer under the surface. Shell then, of course says that the leak has dispersed, but it didn't just vanish to nowhere. Over the course of months the small droplets in this underwater layer are broken down by bacteria, sunlight and wave action into their basic chemicals which are then diluted to the point of being almost undetectable. However, as Ted Van Vleet, a professor of chemical oceanography in the college of Marine Science at the University of South Florida pointed out during the GoM oil spill, points out once the oil has been dispersed to the point where the ignoramus of companies like Shell can trumpet that everything is now fine and dandy because they've swept it under the carpet and it's no longer visible, all that's really happened is that the pollution has been moved further down the water column. This lower layer is the spawning ground for many other marine species such as the Bonga fish after which this area is named. Some of the chemical components distributed throughout the water will remain toxic for decades and experts say that monitoring the impact of oil and dispersant chemicals on open-sea fish and other creatures is difficult shorebirds and coastal shellfish, they are hard to count.
But, hey, Mr safety 'expert' let's not burst your self-satisfied, complacent little bubble eh.
Merry Christmas