25th September, 2024
Engr. Gbenga Komolafe
Commission Chief Executive
Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)
Jabi,
Abuja
Dear Sir;
This is providing you and your Commission an important and quick additional update on the proposed divestment proposal likely submitted by Shell for the sale of SPDC to Renaissance.
UPDATE:
A. Shell refused permission to sell SPDC
– The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)’s reported refusal of Shell’s request to go ahead with its planned sale of SPDC to Renaissance and President Tinubu’s approval of the refusal. Your refusal, to our knowledge, was based on the assessment and recommendation of S&P Global, an international consultancy contracted by your Commission to assess the proposals of International Oil Companies seeking to divest from onshore operations in Nigeria. S&P Global is understood to have raised concerns over Shell providing Renaissance with 70% of the finance to complete the purchase of SPDC, raising questions over Renaissance’s financial capacity to purchase and operate the asset. S&P we understand have strongly contested Shell’s low estimate of the extent of pollution and remediation cost from its pipelines and other facilities.
– We are aware of the considerable pressure on officials to overturn the refusal, informing our last letter dated 7th September, 2024 to you and the President, urging the government to refuse those pressures and remain firm. As you will see from the letter, we are aware of inappropriate offers been made to officials to downplay or ignore the S&P findings and recomendation on the divestment proposal of shell. However, we consider the inappropriate influence to be sufficiently serious that we have reported them to relevant investigatory agencies in Nigeria and abroad.
– Although there were press reports that the government approved the deal, your issued refutal to this effect laid credence to privilege inforrmation we earlier received.
B. FoIA Releases from FCDO
Our concerns that the widespread damage caused by Shell will go unremedied have been reinforced by FCDO’s recent response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by Corner House Research. Cornerhouse has received the attached response from the FCDO to a FoIA request submitted. The responses confirm:
1. The last UK government was actively lobbying on Shell’s behalf.
2. Renaissance, not Shell, will be responsible for clean up. The British High Commissioner reports being told by Shell that the prospective operators of Renaissance “are primarily Shell people” and that “We just have to trust that they can handle the clean-up”
3. Renaissance will “need to invest considerably to preserve the onshore assets post-acquisition, due to their age”. According to Shell, “the cost of recommission and revitalizing the assets is represented in the cost of sale”.
4. “The spillage on the Western Delta has been cleaned up but they still have some challenges with Eastern Delta.”
The releases would appear to confirm that Shell is indeed planning to leave without itself cleaning up the devastation it has caused – and that the task of doing (plus remediating a pipeline system that is in dire need of replacement) will be left to a company that does not even have the funds to purchase SPDC without Shell’s assistance.
REQUEST
We would like to hold that shell proposed divestment of SPDC should remain rejected and the environmental and social concerns surrounding Shell’s proposed divestment be cleared before any proposal for divestment is subsequently considered.
We shall be available for further clarification and a meeting at your convenience.
Warm regards,
Olanrewaju Suraju
Chair
