BRITAIN: Record annual profits expected to be announced by Shell tomorrow should be used to pay off more than $20 billion (€15.5 billion) in estimated compensation for damage caused to communities and the environment by its activities, according to an alliance of human rights and green groups.
A report by the Shell Accountability Campaign, which is led by Friends of the Earth (FOE), claims Shell has left a legacy of oil spills, air pollution and financially under-rewarded local residents.
Shell's environmental record in Nigeria is given prominence in the report, which demands the company pay $10 billion to clean up oil spills and compensate communities in the Niger Delta. A further $1.5 billion should be spent ending gas flaring in the country, while a similar amount should be paid immediately to the Ijaw community in line with a ruling in the Nigerian high court, it urges.
Environmental Rights Action, FOE and others estimate that as much as 13 million barrels of oil have been spilled into the Niger Delta ecosystem over the last 50 years by Shell and its partners - about 37 times the amount spilled when the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground off Alaska in 1989.
The bill from all Shell's activities worldwide is difficult to quantify, but is likely to be much higher than the $20 billion estimate, the green group says. It also notes that Shell's claimed commitment to renewable energy projects is undermined by the fact that less than 1 per cent of its earnings during the year came from wind or solar.
The Anglo-Dutch oil company is expected to show earnings of $25 billion, up 17 per cent.
Shell said last night the report's claims "neither reflect the realities of the situation and the very real progress made, nor represent the views of the wider communities around these locations".