The continued occupation of Royal Dutch Shell facility by hundreds of protesters from the Kula and Belema communities in Rivers state since August 11 has been described by Shell as the height of self inflicted risk.
The company also revealed that since the occupation, it has not been able to gain access to the plant.
The community had been protesting what they described as lack of jobs, social amenities and serious corporate social responsibilities by the oil giant even as Shell had denied the allegations, saying it has deepened its agreed Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) sealed with the towns.
Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in a statement said “The illegal occupation of Belema Flow Station and Gas Plant in Rivers State has safety implications both for the people at the facilities and nearby communities”.
Continuing, it noted that “deeply concerned that unauthorised persons, including women and children, have been observed in close proximity to equipment that processes crude oil and gas without the protection of safety clothing.”
SPDC observed further that “the occupation exposes people at the plant to higher safety risks as anything could trigger a spill or fire with potentially serious consequences.”
Apart from provision of good living, the communities are seeking among other things, shifting the operation of the plant to a local company.
Godson Egbelekro, a community leader said in an interview that “We want Shell to hand over the operations of the flow station to Belema Oil Company because it appreciates our challenges and needs.”
Business Hilights gathered that the troubled plant evacuates crude oil to the Bonny Light export terminal, which has a production capacity of 225,000 barrels per day.
It would be recalled in far away 1993, Shell was forced to quit operation in Ogoniland because of community unrest, but the company still runs a network of pipelines in the area.
Besides, Ogoni community had continued to stress that Shell is yet to make appreciable contributions to the ongoing remediation of polluted sites, claiming that it has not paid its counterpart funding to the cleanup process for this year as agreed.
Efforts to get further details from the Joint venture partners, the NNPC on the continued stay of the communities failed at press time.
