The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), has said that it paid $17.8billion (about N6.412trillion) in taxes, royalties and levies to the Federal Government between 2014 and 2018, in addition to $2billion (about N375.16billion) contributed by SPDC JV and SNEPCo and its co-venturers to Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) since 2002.
Making these revelations while presenting 2019 Shell in Nigeria Briefing Notes to journalists in Port Harcourt, last Friday, Shell’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli said, “The success of the GMoU initiative has proved what could be achieved when government, international oil companies, communities and NGOs work together for the common good”.
Weli listed some other flagship social investments in Rivers to include the Community Health Insurance Scheme launched in 2010, robust health interventions in 10 other hospitals in the state, the first centre of excellence in Marine Engineering and Offshore Technology at Rivers State University, scholarship schemes at various levels of education, and the LiveWIRE programme which has trained and empowered 460 young men and women across the state between 2013 and 2018.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has also spent N17billion projects in communities under the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) in Rivers State in the last 13 years.
The projects cover health, education, water and power supply improvement, sanitation and infrastructure development in 19 clusters, out of 39 active GMoU clusters where $239million (about N44.36billion) have been expended on projects in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and Abia states since 2006.
“In 2018, 100 Ogoni youths from communities near the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) participated in training with 80 top performing trainees receiving business start-up funding totaling more than $90,000 (N27.27million)”, Weli said, adding that, “To date, the LiveWIRE programme has trained 7,072 Niger Delta youths in enterprise development and provided business start-up grants to 3,817.
“We are proud of our extensive social investment footprints in Rivers State, which in some cases even stretch beyond the SPDC joint venture”, Weli noted.
The general manager further gave insight into the downside of the company’s operations in certain flashpoints in the state, including the Kalabari and Ogoni areas, where huge revenues, regrettably have been lost over the last couple of years.
Responding to questions on the more than 22 months’ standoff with host communities of Belema/Offoin-Ama in Kula Kingdom over the takeover of Belema Flow Station in Akuku-Toru LGA in Rivers State, Weli regretted that well over $7million (approximately N252billion) has been lost to the stalemate in protests against SPDC’s about 37 years operations in the area where 25,000 barrels per day of crude oil have been shut in at the Belema facility.
But The Tide investigations reveal that with 25,000bpd oil shut in since August 11, 2017 by restive protesters, claiming lack of potable water, good roads, health facilities, scholarships and employment, among others, about $1.170billion revenue on the more than 18million barrels of oil (at estimated $65 per barrel), have been lost to the lockdown.
Disclosing that the Federal Government has since December, last year, renewed SPDC’s operating licence for OPM 25, including Belema and Offoin-Ama communities, for the next 25 years, he said that the company was open to further dialogue with the communities under the Kula Project Implementation and Monitoring Committee (PIMC) with a view to resolving issues in dispute in the area.
“SPDC will only resume operations at the facility when it is safe to do so. Our primary goal is the safe and peaceful resolution of this dispute, and we encourage all parties to return to dialogue to protect the safety and security of all concerned, including those occupying the facility, community members, SPDC staff and contractors”, he said.
On allegations of undercover attempts to resume oil production in Ogoni, Weli made it categorically clear that SPDC has no plan to return to the area under any guise now or in future, stressing that already, the Federal Government had since 2012, granted operatorship licence for OPM 11 covering Ogoni oilfields to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) subsidiary, National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
While clarifying that SPDC’s presence in Ogoni was tied to the TNP which conveys crude oil from other parts of Rivers and Abia states through Eleme, Tai, Gokana and Khana to Bonny Export Terminal, Weli explained that it was for this reason that the company was implementing social investment programmes for the benefit of Ogoni people.
He further explained that SPDC staff and contractors’ presence in the area was mainly in line with efforts to guarantee the integrity of the TNP through routine maintenance and occasional replacement to avoid equipment failure, insisting that SPDC flow stations were vandalized and flowlines excavated by Ogonis during the crisis while surviving wellheads had been decommissioned, just as he restated that the company has not drilled/produced one litre of crude oil from Ogoni since 1993 when it shut down operations in the area.
The Tide investigations show that before cessation of oil production, there were 12 oilfields in Ogoni, where SPDC had drilled 116 wells, out of which 89 were completed, and channeled to five flow stations, which processed 185,000 barrels per day overall production capacity.
Meanwhile, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) says it remitted about N4.26trillion to the national coffers between 2014 and 2018.
General Manager, External Relations of SPDC, Igo Weli, gave the figures while delivering a paper on “Improving Stakeholders’ Engagement in Rights of Way Acquisition”, organised by International Rights of Way Association (IRWA) Chapter 84 at the weekend in Port Harcourt.
Weli further disclosed that oil revenue accounts for 70 per cent of Nigeria’s budget funding, while 90 per cent of total revenue also comes from oil.
It is against this backdrop that he sued for more constructive engagements to fast-track development in the sector, as he lamented the recent upsurge in hostilities to oil operations.
“In Niger Delta, Nigeria needs more constructive engagements than violence and killings”, Weli remarked.
He stressed that more stakeholders’ engagement would reduce hostilities and strengthen investors’ confidence in the economy, as he warned that the growing belligerence may further worsen the economy in the coming years.
On how to curb hiccups in rights of way acquisition, the Shell general manager drew attention to the need for adequate compensation and land owners’ engagement.
He said, “It takes all parties to create value… There is need for a sustained stakeholders’ engagement which is critical for rights of way acquisition”.

Nelson Chukwudi & Kevin Nengia