Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy (VATLAD) has called on President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, all state governors of the Niger Delta region, and Nigerians to reject and halt the planned sale of onshore and swamp assets by Shell, a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London.
This may not be unconnected to the announcement by the management of Shell Plc to sell its 30 per cent share of the NNPC, ELF, and Agip Joint Venture onshore assets in the region to some companies for $2.4 billion.
Engr Igbini Emmanuel, National President of VATLAD, while reacting, said that when, in recent years, anti-corruption, human, and environmental right campaigners began to expose some frauds and atrocities, Shell and other multinational oil companies began to feel very uncomfortable and sought to escape from their onshore and swamp fields to avoid the prying eyes of these campaigners.
According to him, they are all rushing offshore and deep offshore where they are free to continue their insincerity and frauds against Nigeria, as it is practically impossible for these campaigners to gain access to these offshore fields and operations to monitor their activities.
He told Nigerians to ask the reason for their sudden love and attraction to offshore operations that are globally known to be more expensive to operate and with a lesser profit margin compared to onshore and offshore operations.
“It is a known fact that the increase in crude oil theft amounting to millions of barrels monthly takes place from the offshore fields of Shell and the other multinational oil companies,” he said.
He said the excuse by Shell that this is due to declining crude oil production caused by crude theft, pipeline vandalism, unrest in their host communities, and underinvestment in the industry are all false excuses and asked who the real crude oil thieves are.
He said Shell and other multinational oil companies operating and/or have operated onshore and swamp locations of Niger Delta region are not entitled to a dime as their shares of these assets; instead, they are indebted to Nigeria to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars and should be made to fully pay without further delay.
Emmanuel said their insincerity and fraud include but are not limited to false and under-declaration of the actual daily quantity of crude oil they produce and export out of Nigeria, in the process denying Nigeria hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.
“Deliberate inflation of the cost of capital projects and operations to evade their required percentage contributions to every capital project and operating costs.
“Degradation and destruction of the environment and host communities where they explore and exploit for petroleum and poor social corporate policies and actions and deliberate promotion of inter-communal crisis to divide and rule the people.
“This leaves Nigeria through NNPC to bear 100 per cent of such costs while Shell and others only share from the profit made, which they again under-declare to Nigeria.
“This move by the Management of Shell Plc was long expected by us because Shell and many of the other Multinational Oil Companies operating Onshore and Swamp in this Niger Delta Region have for many decades been insincere and fraudulent in their cause of operating the Joint Venture Agreements between them and Nigeria through the NNPC.
“As long-time key observers and experts in the operations and politics of SHELL and other multinational oil companies exploring and exploiting petroleum from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria since 1956 till date, we are not at all surprised that they are leaving,” Emmanuel concluded.
