Over N1 trillion so far contributed
Admin l Tuesday, April 07, 2020
LAGOS, Nigeria – Shell Development Petroleum Company(SPDC) says it has contributed a total sum of USD540 million as its counterpart funding for the Ogoni Clean Up project.
Making the disclosure in its 2019 sustainability report, shell said, the money was contributed through Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project(HYPREP), an agency set up by the Nigerian government to clean up the decades of oil pollution in Ogoniland.
Shell said the USD540 million was contributed in four phases, USD 10 million and later USD170 million in 2017, USD 180 million in 2018 and another USD 180 million in 2019.
Shell is making the contribution following the United Nations Environmental Programme(UNEP) Report on Ogoniland, which recommended creation of an Ogoni Trust Fund with USD 1 billion as capital to be cofunded by the Nigerian government, the SPDC Joint Venture and other operators in the area.
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The SPDC made a commitment to contribute USD 900 million of the total sum in five years to the Ogoni clean up project.
“The SPDC JV remains fully committed to contributing $900 million of the $1 billion over five years as its share of the fund and made $10 million available in 2017 to help set up the Hydrocarbon Pollution and Remediation Project (HYPREP), an agency established by the federal government to lead the clean-up effort.
“In 2018, the SPDC JV deposited a further $170 million into the escrow account to fund HYPREP’s activities, to complete its first-year contribution of $180 million. In 2019, the SPDC JV released a further $180 million contribution to fund HYPREP”, Shell said in the 2019 sustainability report.
In addition, SPDC said it has reduced gas flaring in Nigeria by 90 percent and that effort is being made to process the gas into clean gas for home use
“Since 2002, flaring has been reduced by 90%”, SPDC said, adding that gas that was once flared is now captured and processed for domestic and international gas markets.
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“Gas is sent for the export market as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or channelled into the domestic Nigerian gas market. Here, it displaces diesel generators to provide cleaner, reliable and affordable power for industrial and commercial customers.
“In 2019, SPDC made significant progress with new gas production from two large projects: Southern Swamp and Forcados Yokri. Gas from the Southern Swamp is intended for export as LNG, providing revenue to the government and opportunities for expansion.
“Gas from Forcados is expected to be sent to the domestic Nigerian market to provide clean reliable power for more than 100 industrial and commercial customers through Shell Nigeria Gas Ltd”, SPDC said.
