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Posts in African oil

70,000 Ask Shell to Clean Up in Nigeria
Andy Rowell
May22
Seventeen years ago I was one of many protestors at Shell’s AGM in London at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Centre that lies in the shadow of Big Ben, near London’s Parliament. There were two issues facing the oil giant that day: in Nigeria the Ogoni playwright, Ken Saro-Wiwa, lay in a disgusting and degrading humid…
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Africa’s New Scramble for Gas
Andy Rowell
Mar13
Some twenty five years ago when Amoco were exploring for oil offshore Somalia, the company was convinced that the waters of East Africa contained vast reserves of oil and gas. But its exploration was unsuccessful, Somalia was ripped apart by civil war and the waters of East Africa, once the tranquil domain of dhows and…
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Shell Should be Guilty Again
Andy Rowell
Feb28
Although the BP / Deepwater Horizon trial maybe hogging the headlines, another courtroom battle is equally intriguing and important. It is almost 3 years since the trial of Wiwa versus Shell settled for $15.5 million on the eve of the trial. Along with the Wiwa action, there was a parallel legal case, Kiobel Versus Shell,…
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Shell Guilty Again?
Andy Rowell
Oct19
Just over two years after the Wiwa versus Shell case was settled in a New York Court room, the US Supreme Court has given approval for another ground-breaking legal case against Shell to be heard. The lawsuit will consider whether corporations can be sued in U.S. courts for allegedly aiding human-rights abuses overseas. Amazingly, the…
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Nigeria: Shell’s New Human Rights Abuses
Andy Rowell
Oct03
Often the story of Shell’s atrocities in Nigeria has focused on its complicity in the death of the Ogoni Ken Saro-Wiwa, or the human rights abuses that were committed in the mid-nineties. But now a great new report from the oil industry watch-dog Platform, and published in coalition with a number of NGOs, has looked…
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Lockerbie: It was Freedom for Oil
Andy Rowell
Sep07
One of the greatest shocks for many over the last few days has been just how cosy the relationship was between the secret security services, CIA and M16 and the Gaddafi regime. Just days before the Americans and British backed the rebels in bombing Gaddafi, his senior officials were saying their intervention would not happen…
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To the Victors go the Spoils
Andy Rowell
Sep05
Was the western intervention in Libya primarily driven by oil? The answer depends on who you ask, but as usual, in the volatile mix of international politics, oil is never far from the surface. It certainly helps the case of those countries that are vying for a piece of the Libyan oil pie that they…
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From the Delta to the Sea
Andy Rowell
Aug08
Often in the 24 hour news world, stories are reported at such a rate that no one ever takes a step back to see if they are joined up. No one ever seems to ask searching questions to see if two different stories are connected and therefore what are the consequences of that connection. You…
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“The news that Shell accepts liability will be greeted with joy”
Andy Rowell
Aug03
The history of Shell in Nigeria is one of contempt for the locals, of systematic and chronic pollution and of a vortex of violence in which thousands have been killed, or tortured. The country remains a grubby stain on Shell’s iconic logo. The company has never apologised for its role in the death of Ken…
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“Shell has cheated us for too long”
Andy Rowell
Jul11
For hundreds of communities across the Niger Delta the daily unseen struggle against Shell continues. At the end of last week four Ijaw communities gave the oil giant a 14 day ultimatum, demanding that Shell finally implement an agreement that they reached in 1999, twelve years ago. Fearing the company will not honour the agreement,…
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