Business
RSG, UNEP Launch Ogoni EIA
A major assessment of the impacts of oil production in Ogoni land of the Niger Delta region was jointly launched last week by the Governor of Rivers State and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Bori, Rivers State and will last approximately for one year.
The total budget is provided by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). The SPDC is in a Joint venture operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell, ELF/Total and Agrip, in which Nigeria has a stake of 55 percent.
A project office has been opened by UNEP in Port Harcourt to support the operation. UNEP’s final assessment report is expected to be published by the end of 2010.
Oil exploration and production in the oil-rich Niger Delta region started during the 1950s, but operation were suspended in the early 1990s due to local public unrest. The oil fields and installations in Ogoniland have since remained dormant.
Environmental contamination from these operations has not been remediated to date. In addition, further spills have resulted from lack of maintenance, oil tapping and damage to oil infrastructure and facilities over the last 15 years.
The findings of the environmental assessment will be used to make recommendations on the appropriate levels of remediation needed to rehabilitate the land to a conditions that is environmentally acceptable, on the basis of international standard.