Fossil Fuel Fiascos: Niger Delta Oil Spills
by
CAN ERİMTAN*

Reading these figures, I wonder how much has been spilled into the Niger Delta over the past 30 to 40 years -- that other oil spill disaster, which has been happening in Africa unnoticed by the world’s media. In 1956, Royal Dutch Shell discovered crude oil at Oloibiri, a village in the Niger Delta. Two years later, commercial production of crude oil took off in the region. In addition to Shell’s activities in the delta, ExxonMobil and TotalFinaElf also maintain a presence in Nigeria. Today, 606 oil fields are being exploited in the delta region: 360 on shore and 246 off shore, with additional oil infrastructure present locally in the form of over 3,000 kilometers of pipeline to transport the crude across the delta. These figures have made Nigeria the largest oil producer in Africa and the 11th largest worldwide, with a proven oil reserve of 35.2 billion barrels and a daily production of 2.5 million (bbl/d). In a previous piece I had erroneously indicated that Nigeria supplied nearly half of American oil imports, based on the words of The Guardian’s environment editor John Vidal. Recently, Vidal has admitted his mistake, saying that the “Niger delta supplies 8.2 percent, not 40 percent, of the crude oil imported by the US.”

Niger Delta: the real problem

The fallout of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill thus amounts to less than the crude production of two days in the Niger Delta. Numerous accidents and spills have occurred in the Niger Delta, but absolute numbers are sketchy at best. Looking back, 4,647 oil spill incidents were recorded in the period 1976 to 1996, spills which led to roughly 2 million barrels of crude oil being unleashed upon the local environment. For 1997 to 2001, another 2,097 incidents took place, but no numbers are available on the amount of crude involved. In addition to the oil available, even more gas reserves are present in the Niger Delta, but rather than being used for commercial exploitation the gas is simply being flared and thus wasted. A Friends of the Earth “Media Briefing,” dated 2004, states that the World Bank estimates that “by 2002 flaring in the country had contributed more greenhouse gases to the Earth’s atmosphere than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined,” adding ominously, “yet this gas is not being used as a fuel.” On a local level, the flares also pose an immediate threat for the inhabitants of the delta: the fires release toxins such as benzene into the air, and it is probably not surprising that respiratory problems like asthma and bronchitis are all but commonplace amongst the locals. It is also alleged that the flares contribute to acid rain corroding buildings and other structures in the area, and last but not least, a fine layer of soot resulting from the flares covers the whole affected area as well.

These two oil spill disasters have placed a burden on the earth’s natural equilibrium. In America, will BP and the US authorities now devote themselves to the requisite clean up operations, or will they forget about their responsibilities as public awareness fades? And what can be done about the deteriorating situation in the Niger Delta, where oil spills and gas flares constitute a double threat to the local population and the global climate? In other words, what the Niger Delta urgently needs is an independent study to assess the damage done and suggest solutions for the short and the long term.

In fact, a three-year investigation by the United Nations has just published a preview of its findings, with the full report due to be published by December 2010. Far from being independent, however, the investigation conducted by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) costing $10 million (6.5 million pounds) was paid for by Shell. Or rather that is John Vidal’s claim. On Aug. 22 he wrote that the report “will almost entirely exonerate Royal Dutch Shell for 40 years of oil pollution in the Niger delta, causing outrage among communities who have long campaigned to force the multinational to clean up its spills and pay compensation.” In response, UNEP released this statement the following day: “Media reports over the past days and weeks have indicated that it is UNEP’s determination that 90 per cent of oil spills are linked with so-called ‘bunkering’ and criminal activity. In referring to this data, UNEP clearly indicated that these figures represented official estimates of the government of Nigeria, based in part on data supplied by the oil industry.”

In all fairness, however, it should be acknowledged that another UN agency, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), released a report in 2006 on the Niger Delta that contains equally confusing, or rather misleading, statements: “Spills occur accidentally and through the deliberate actions of the local people, who sabotage pipelines in protest against the operations of the federal government and oil companies.” At another stage of the report, the language seems even more biased: “Oil spills appear to be caused more by willful damage to facilities than by accidents.” As a result, we will have to wait till December to see whether UNEP’s report on the Niger Delta will echo the earlier words of the UNDP, effectively whitewashing Shell and other companies.

But the frantic search for more fossil fuels leads to more and more “discoveries” that will undoubtedly jeopardize the local flora, fauna and general environment. A Scottish firm, Cairn Energy, has recently stated that it has found oil deposits deep in the Atlantic Ocean west of Greenland, to the delight of some Greenlanders and the dismay of others; meanwhile Russia has just concluded a conference, including participants from the US, Canada, Denmark and Norway, to effect a “peaceful division of the Arctic and its resources with neighboring states.” Still, Russia itself claims a huge “1.2 million square-kilometer tract of Arctic seabed, including the North Pole,” for future exploitation. The reasons behind the Arctic conference at this moment in time can be found in “fresh data that suggests Arctic icecaps are melting much faster than anyone previously thought.” In other words, more deposits of fossil fuels are expected to be discovered soon, leading to more greenhouse gases and an even greater acceleration of climate change eventually. Where will it end and how many more spills and extreme climate events will it take to sound a wakeup call?