Nigeria Urged to Reject Shell's Sale of Onshore Business — Update

By Christian Moess Laursen

Amnesty International and others called on Nigeria's government to reject Shell's proposed sale of its Nigerian onshore oil subsidiary to guarantee rights of local communities.

"Shell shouldn't be permitted to use legal gymnastics to escape its responsibilities for cleaning up its widespread legacy of pollution," an open letter released Monday, signed by Amnesty and forty other Nigerian and international non-governmental organizations, said.

The organizations said there's a risk that the acquiring companies will disappear, leaving affected local communities with no entity to deal with over pollution, decommissioning and other issues.

Shell's previous divestments in the country were completed without adequate safeguards to protect Nigerians from harm and the government from financial liability, the letter said.

Shell agreed in January to sell the onshore assets to a consortium of Nigerian companies for up to $2.4 billion, in line with its intent to focus future investment in Nigeria on deepwater and integrated gas.

The subsidiary being divested--a joint venture with Nigeria's national oil company, among others--will continue to remediate where spills may have occurred in the past from its operations, Shell said.

The transaction ensures that the subsidiary can continue to perform its role as operator and to meet its share of commitments within the joint venture, including those relating to health, safety, security and environment, the British energy heavyweight said.

However the letter said a sale shouldn't be permitted before consultations with local communities, a full assessment of the environmental pollution caused to date by Shell's assets, and a guarantee that clean-up costs will be covered.

Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 16, 2024 09:43 ET (13:43 GMT)

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