Shell Nigeria Records 75 Oil Facility Breaches in One Year

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has said it recorded 75 oil spill incidents as a result of crude oil theft and facilities’ vandalism by third parties in 2022 in the Niger Delta.

In its recently-released: “Nigeria Briefing Notes For 2022 Business Activities,” the company also noted that during the year under review, 10 incidents caused by operational failures were experienced.

However, the report noted that over the last 12 years, the total number of oil spill occurrences attributable to operational failures had reduced considerably.

The report added that the 75 breaches were lesser compared with 106 incidents in 2021, which led to considerable spill into the environment.

In 2022, SPDC said it successfully remediated an additional 230 impacted sites, compared to 187 sites remediated in 2021, adding that 776 affected sites had been remediated since 2016.

 “In the Niger Delta, over the last 12 years, the total number of operational hydrocarbon spills and the volume of oil spilled from them into the environment have been reduced significantly.

“In 2022, about 88 per cent of the oil spills, more than 100 kilogrammes from the SPDC operated facilities were caused by the illegal activities of third parties- 75 incidents with volume of 0.6 thousand tonnes, compared with 106 incidents in 2021, with volume of 3.3 thousand tonnes.

“The decreased incidents in 2022 correlate with a shutdown of production for about six months because of an unprecedented increase in crude oil theft from the Trans-Niger Pipeline, which is operated by SPDC on behalf of the SPDC JV partners.

“In 2022, SPDC successfully remediated an additional 230 sites, compared to 187 sites remediated in 2021. Since 2016, 776 sites have been remediated.

“Most oil spills in the Niger Delta region continue to be caused by crude oil theft, the sabotage of oil and gas production facilities, and illegal oil refining, including the distribution of illegally refined products.