Shell-Nigeria: Shell MD calls oil spills in Niger Delta 'tragedy'

PANA

5 August 2011

Shell-Nigeria: Shell MD calls oil spills in Niger Delta 'tragedy'

News - Africa news .Oil spills in Niger Delta - The Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. (SPDC), Mutiu Sunmonu, has described oil spills in the country's Niger Delta region as a tragedy, which the company takes very seriously.

In an open letter on the oil spill, made available to PANA here on Thursday, Sunmonu said that was why SPDC had always accepted responsibility for paying compensation when they occur as a result of operational failure.

'SPDC has always acknowledged that the two spills in the Bodo area in 2008, which are the focus of extensive media reports today, were caused by such operational failure. Even when, as is true in the great majority of cases, spills are caused by illegal activity such as sabotage or theft, we are also committed to cleaning up spilt oil and restoring the surrounding land,' he noted.

Lamenting as 'unfortunate that inaccurate reporting has created the impression that SPDC in particular and oil companies in general are responsible for all oil spills in Nigeria,' the SPDC MD disclosed that the two spills at issue here resulted in around 4,000 barrels of oil being spilt.