Shell ordered to stop 'gas flaring' in Nigeria

Multinational oil companies have been ordered by Nigeria's highest court to stop engaging in a decades-old process that indigenous and environmental rights groups say has been poisoning the oil-rich area where Africa's Niger River meets the Atlantic Ocean. "This victory marks a new dawn in the struggle of the communities of the Niger Delta," said Reverend Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of the Nigerian group Environmental Rights Action, soon after the Federal High Court announced its judgment on Nov. 14 against the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. The decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for the local activities of ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and other multinational oil giants as well. "We expect this judgment to be respected and that for once the oil corporations will accept the truth and bring their sinful flaring activities to a halt," Bassey added. The case was brought by the indigenous Iwerekan community in Delta State, with support from the Environmental Rights Action group affiliated with Friends of the Earth (FoE) International. Justice C.V. Nwokorie ruled that the damaging and wasteful practice of flaring by all the major companies operating in the region, which also include TotalFinaElf and Agip, cannot lawfully continue. Nigeria has been the world's largest gas flarer for years. It has caused more greenhouse gas emissions than all other sources in Sub-Saharan Africa combined, according to environmental groups. Gas is burned off–or "flared"–when it is found in association with oil, explains FoE. This "associated gas" is often seen as a waste product because the company drilled for oil, not gas. Gas flaring wastes millions of cubic feet of gas every day, costing Nigerians at least $2.5 billion per year, according to the group, which says the World Bank estimates flaring in Africa could produce about 50 percent of the current power consumption of the entire African continent. According to the US government, Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and the 11th largest in the world. Its oil export revenue stood at more than $20 billion per year in 2003 and was expected to rise to $27 billion in 2004. The waste contains a mix of toxins that pose serious health risks to the human population. A vast majority of the Delta's residents are increasingly facing child respiratory diseases, asthma, cancer, and premature death as a result of massive flaring, researchers say. The noise and constant light generated by the process has also been called "intolerable" by environmental groups advocating on behalf of local communities. Noting that it is the first time a Nigerian court has told oil companies in the region that they have engaged in illegal activities, Bassey added, "for the first time... children here can hope to have a dark, quiet night, enjoy the chirps of birds and rest their ear drums from the awful noise of these gas flares."