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Shell defies order to halt production at facility

By on April 22, 2016

Royal Dutch Shell has failed to halt production at the Gbaran Ubie oil and gas facility in Bayelsa State, contravening a court order for the site to be sealed and raising the prospect of legal action, government officials said on Wednesday.

The facility, in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta, supplies the Bonny liquefied natural gas export terminal and supplies gas to generate electricity.

The Bayelsa State Government had on Monday sealed off the premises of Gbaran Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas facility, a property of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.

It said the closure of the company located in Gbarantoru in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, followed an eviction order issued by the State High Court in Yenagoa.

But on Wednesday, Bayelsa State spokesman, Francis Agbo, was quoted by Reuters to have said that Shell had “flouted the court order” and production had not ceased.

“There is ongoing work in the facility in clear violation of the court order,” he said.

The Executive Secretary of the state’s Physical Planning and Development Board, Boro Ige-Edaba, said Bayelsa State Government would “take appropriate action to prosecute them”.

When contacted for comment by our correspondent, a Shell spokesman declined to comment.

Shell launched the facility in 2010 with an initial planned output of one billion standard cubic feet of gas per day and up to 70,000 barrels per day of oil from 2011.

It aimed to boost output to 1.3 trillion standard cubic feet by adding more wells, Shell’s website said.

Residents in the Delta have long complained about oil spills and widespread poverty despite the region being home to much of Nigeria’s oil production, which contributes about 70 per cent of national income.

 

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