Shell says its oil spills in Nigeria decreased to 600 tonnes in 2022

Energy giant, Shell, said its crude oil spills in Nigeria decreased in 2022 to 600 tonnes, down from 3,300 tonnes in 2021.

According to Reuters, Shell said the sharp decline in oil spills was because it shut down operations for six months amid incessant attacks on its facilities in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta.

The report also noted that Shell said its carbon emissions (CO2) fell by about 10% in 2022 to 1.232 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.  

More on the pipeline shutdown: Consequently, the shutdown helped to drastically reduce the volume of crude oil spill by sabotage in the Delta fell to 600 tonnes from 3,300 tonnes the previous year. The number of such spills fell to 75 from 106.  

The Trans-Niger Pipeline, a major pipeline capable of transporting about 180,000 barrels of crude per day (about 15% of the country’s output) to the Bonny Export Terminal, stopped transporting crude oil in June 2022 due to oil theft. However, in October 2022 the pipeline was opened.  

What you should know: For years, oil majors operating in Nigeria, including Shell, have been spilling crude oil and degrading the environment of many host communities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. As a result, the company has been the subject of many lawsuits both locally and internationally.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Shell had won a bid to limit a British lawsuit over an oil spill off the coast of Nigeria after a judge ruled that a group of thousands of Nigerians couldn’t prove that the disaster continued to wreak devastation on communities years later.  

According to Judge Finola O’Farrell who presided over the matter, far lower volumes of oil reached the coast than the group had initially argued. So, it wasn’t plausible to suggest that the stranded oil had then contaminated the delta states over three years later.