🧍Case Study - Shell in Nigeria

Question 1

How many miles of oil pipeline run through Nigeria?

Answer 1

2500

Question 2

How much money does oil contribute to the Nigerian government?

Answer 2

£1.1billion in taxes and royalties

Question 3

How many barrels of oil are extracted every day?

Answer 3

572,000

Question 4

How many people does Shell employ in Nigeria?

Answer 4

6000

Question 5

What percentage of Shell in Nigeria cocnract are awarded to Nigerian companies?

Answer 5

94%

Question 6

Where are Shell’s headquarters?

Answer 6

The Hague, Holland

Question 7

Why was the choice of location for their headquarters criticised?

Answer 7

The Netherlands has traditionally behaved pragmatically towards the kinds of tax relief claimed by the company

Question 8

Why is being based in the Netherlands beneficial for Shell?

Answer 8

It allows easy access to EU markets

Question 9

How much of Nigeria’s Petroleum production does Shell account for?

Answer 9

21%

Question 10

How many Nigerian oil fields does Shell operate in?

Answer 10

More than 80

Question 11

How much did Shell contribute to the Niger Delta Development Comission?

Answer 11

$1.9 billion since 2002`

Question 12

How much did Shell contribute to social investment funds for community driven projects?

Answer 12

$228 million

Question 13

Why is Shell being based in Nigeria beneficial?

Answer 13

Jobs created
Economy of country improves through exports
Development through money donated/given
Develops trade relationships

Question 14

What social event happened in the 1990s?

Answer 14

Tensions rose between Shell and the Ogoni people of the Niger delta

Question 15

Why were there tensions between Shell and the Ogoni people?

Answer 15

Because locals felt that they were getting very little money from the oil on their land and environmental damage was ruining it.

Question 16

What happened between Shell and the Ogoni people in 1993?

Answer 16

Protests were organised against Shell and the Government, occupying company production facilities.

Question 17

What actions did Shell take following the 1993 protests?

Answer 17

They suspended operations in the area

Question 18

How did the Nigerian government respond to Shell suspending operations?

Answer 18

They raided the villages and arrested the protest leaders, with some later being executed

Question 19

What percentage of its oil spills did Shell claim were due to sabotage?

Answer 19

98%

Question 20

What constitutes sabotage?

Answer 20

Individuals from local villages drilling holes in the pipelines to capture the oil and selling it illegally

Question 21

When was Shell’s estimation on sabotage lowered?

Answer 21

When Dutch courts ruled that Shell was liable for the pollution in the Niger Delta in 2013

Question 22

What did Shell lower their sabotage estimation to?

Answer 22

70%

Question 23

How many people live in the Ogale community?

Answer 23

40,000

Question 24

How have the Ogale community been affect by Shell’s operations?

Answer 24

They have not had clean drinking water, farmland or rivers since oil spills as far back as 1986

Question 25

What did a 2011 report by Amnesty International show?

Answer 25

That the water supplies contained benzene and other carcinogens

Question 26

What did soils samples in Bodo show?

Answer 26

That out of 32 samples taken from the top two inches of soil, only one was within Nigeria’s legally acceptable limit for oil contamination

Question 27

What have levels of environmental damage in the Delta been described as?

Answer 27

Catastrophic

Question 28

What impact have oil spills had on people’s livelihoods in Nigeria?

Answer 28

They have no chance to farm or fish due to contamination, so have to find other means of work

Question 29

Why are Nigeria still willing to allow Shell access to oil reserves?

Answer 29

They provide huge economic benefit to the country by extracting oil