The Royal Dutch Shell lost 17 workers in Nigeria in 2006, because of occupational hazards and the escalations of militancy and violence in the Niger Delta.
According to it's annual report, more fatalities occurred outside the central locations of their operations, due to occupational hazards such as drowning and road accidents, which rose in 2006 and other fatalities from violent attacks on staff and contractors.
"These causes accounted for more than 75% of the staff and contractor lives lost in 2006."Â The report said.
Shell has been under siege in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, but Dale Rollins, the deputy-managing director said, "Shell is here to stay."Â Speaking in Port Harcourt, the capital of the oil-rich region, Mr. Dale maintained that the Niger Delta was strategically "very important" to Shell and the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is more determined and committed to the sustainable human development projects the company has already embarked on in the volatile region. And Shell will not abandon the host communities in spite of the present hostile operating environment.
While the SPDC is upgrading of 27 health facilities in six Niger Delta states, youths in the Nembe Creek area of the Niger Delta have seized the cranes and barges and stopped Shell workers from cleaning up an oil spill at the trunk line of the Cawthorne Channel Field. The trunk line is one of the SPDC's major crude evacuation facilities in the Niger Delta and serves the Bonny export terminal. The oil spill is costing Shell 187,000 barrels per day as it made the company to shut down 10 flow stations for the repairs at the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.
Shell is the largest oil producer in Nigeria with a daily output of over 2.6 million barrels, but the company is losing almost 477,000 barrels per day due to the current violent conflicts in the Niger Delta.
Posted March 14th, 2007 by MichaelChima
