Bunkering In Nigeria Essay

Situated along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea is a region about the size of South Carolina that offers a land full of sweet, light crude oil, known as the Niger Delta (Delta). The Delta sits within the country of Nigeria in West Africa and is in a constant state of crisis, underpinned by a multitude of key issues. Those issues include severe poverty, soil and water contamination, high infant mortality rates, low life expectancy, depletion of natural resources, corruption, and armed militia groups. These issues have one thing in common: oil.

According to Shell Global (n.d.) one of the largest branches of Shell Company is Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria which has joint venture with Nigerian Government’s Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The ratios are divided in a method of 55% to Nigerian Government, 30% to Shell Company, 10% to ELF Petroleum Nigeria Ltd and 5% to AGIP. The operation of SPDC in Nigeria has added $38 billion to the Nigerian Government in the past five years (2007-2011) together with the taxes and royalty payments. The Nigerian Government receives 95% of its profit from SPDC onshore oil and gas production in Niger Delta. In relation to Shell Company’s relation following are some key aspects.

Niger Delta region, placing the Nigerian oil output down to a third of its capacity” (Klare 3).

When I was born, my mom told me I looked different from herself and my dad. My blonde hair and green eyes didn’t resemble them.

Shell Oil company began oil exploitation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in 1956. It became evident that for the Ogoni, the environmental and social costs of oil exploitation would be painfully high. Beginning December 1992, the people of Ogoni issued a thirty-day demand notice to Shell, which raised the alarm bell of an after struggle between the company and the Ogoni people. This demand notice was followed almost immediately by series of non-violent activities including the Ogoni protest of January 4th, 1993, in what was regarded as Ogoni Day. In the light of the foregoing developments, by the first quarter of 1993, Shell withdrew from Ogoniland, citing the hostile attitude of the Ogoni community to the company’s activities. Around April of the same year, Shell, through its contractor, went back under the protection of the Nigerian military to construct an oil pipeline. This was met with peaceful protests by Ogoni women whose farmlands were to be traveled over by the pipelines, leading to the destruction of their crops without any compensation. Rather than deal with the issues that had been raised by the women, the military

Bad criticisms have been the lot of the exercises of the commission lately. In spite of the measure of funds (running into billions of naira) that the Federal Government had invested into the running of the commission, yet the hunch back that has visited the region has ascended to an extraordinary level as of late, rather, in this manner driving the Federal government to intercede by sending in the Nigerian army into the creeks and villages of the oil belt to contain militant activities and calls for

Facts: Plaintiffs are residents of Nigeria, who claim that Dutch, British, and Nigerian corporations engaged in aggressive oil exploration and production, aided and abetted the Nigerian government in committing violations of the law of nations related to crimes against humanity and human rights abuses. Royal Dutch and Shell are parent companies incorporated in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom respectively; Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is incorporated in Nigeria. Since 1958, SPCD has conducted oil exploration and production in the Ogoni region of Nigeria. Protesting SPDC’s activities in the region, Ogoni

     Gas flaring is also a significant problem in Nigeria. As much as 76% of the natural

Promulgated in 2000, the NDDC Act highlights the importance of addressing the “problems” which arise from the exploration of oil minerals in the Niger-Delta area […]” .Section 2(1)(b) of the NDDC Act sets out rules for the composition of the Niger Delta Development Commission reflecting the need for a stronger representation of the oil producing states. In addition, Section 2(1)(c) provides for the representation of non-oil producing states while Section 2(1)(d) calls for a deeper integration and cooperation between these states and oil operators . The major mandate of the NDDC among others is the conception, planning and implementation in accordance with set rules and regulations, of projects and programs for sustainable development of the Niger delta area in the field of transportation including roads, jetties, water-ways, health, employment, industrialization, agriculture and fisheries, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications. That mandate includes the formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta Area. Unfortunately, as Ojukwu laments, much work has to be done in order to ensure the fulfilment of this goal notwithstanding the efforts made by the government in this direction, .

October 1997, the M/V Saiga, an oil tanker, was engaged in selling “gas oil” to fishing and other vessels within Guinea’s exclusive economic zone. The next day, the Guinean Navy boarded the Saiga just beyond Guinea’s exclusive economic zone and the master, crew, and the ship were arrested. The government of Guinea charged the master with importing “without declaring it, merchandise that is taxable on entering national Guinean territory, in this case diesel oil” and brought criminal proceedings against him for “committing the crimes of contraband, fraud, and tax evasion.”

Another factor is the current infrastructure, and the cost of extending such infrastructure to the field. Upstream oil, especially in Nigeria, generally deals with large acreages leased by the multinationals for a considerable period of time. Associated infrastructure, like pipelines and terminals, are designed to make total production cost effective for the whole acreage. Some fields may be excluded if the cost of extending infrastructure is unrecoverable. Other potential factors are the viscosity of the crude, the current market conditions and the current fiscal regime, among others.

This study will examine the negative consequences of sharp drop of crude oil price on the Nigerian economy. The descriptive study will use secondary data from the Nigerian Central Bank (CBN) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to conduct the study and examine whether over dependency on crude oil sector production and export is detrimental and hurting production and exportation of other sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. The variables for this study therefore are the production and exportation data of crude oil, agriculture, service and manufacturing. The data will be sort and obtained from the CBN and backed-up with the IMF data. Having conceptualized the theory of the study in the previous paper (week one assignment), effort will be made in this paper to merge these conceptual elements (theory and empirical data) together. This paper will focus more on how to measure and ensure the validity of the study, including the data collection, data analysis and overall methodology, design and even research findings. However, we are going to focus more on the validity.

Furthermore, the Petroleum (Drilling and Production) Regulations 1969 section 1(1) states that - “every application for an oil exploration licence, oil prospecting licence or oil mining lease shall be made to the Minister in writing on the appropriate form as set out in the schedule to these regulations” this particular act has made it possible for ministers in Nigeria to act in ways that more of self-interest than in the interest of the general public. It is one act

Given the high stakes built into the state-oil linkage in Nigeria, where oil exports account for 95 per cent of exports earnings and over 85 per cent of national revenues, politics continues to be influenced by oil. For those in power, access to oil is the ultimate prize in

Currently majority of NNPC’s pipelines are poorly maintained and this is causing oil spillage as the pipelines tend to rupture or leak when oil is being transported to the refineries. A ruptured or leaking pipeline is very hazardous to the environment and leads to production loss for NNPC. From the most current data released, NNPC lose 600,000 barrels of crude oil, which is about 28% of the 2.1 million barrels produced daily with total worth of about $160 million annually (NNPC annual report). In a study conducted on productivity of industries in Nigeria which also applies to NNPC, it was identified that most of the causes of low productivity were due to lack of manager’s unwillingness to maintain the system effectively (Nwachukwu, 2006). Poorly maintained operation management activities result in low production quality and quantity, low market share and low growth rate. In the case of NNPC’s pipelines, apart from low productivity, oil is spilled which has disastrous effects on the community.