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Shell has become the subject of an official complaint to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over alleged breaches of the OECD Guidelines in its Nigerian operations.
The complaint, filed by Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth to both the UK and Netherlands national contact points (NCPs), alleges that Shell used misleading information to blame its oil pollution of the Niger Delta on local saboteurs.
Shell, which is currently at a hearing in the Dutch Parliament over its activities in Nigeria, has no compensation liability under Nigerian law when spills are declared sabotage.
However, the two NGOs argue that the company may have had ‘significant influence on determining the official cause of a spill’, and that most of Shell’s oil pollution was due to its own failures.
Some figures show that as much as 98 per cent of Shell’s oil spills in the region were put down to sabotage. ‘Shell’s figures are totally lacking in credibility,’ according to Amnesty International. ‘Widespread oil pollution is a key problem caused by the oil industry in the Niger Delta, but the oil spill investigation system is totally lacking in independence,’ it argued.
Amnesty says Shell has so far failed to make clear the basis for the figures it has published, or how the information was gathered. It contends that, at a minimum, the company should disclose the source of information it relies upon, list all the joint investigations it has participated in, and should publish details of the process by which each decision to declare an incident as ‘sabotage’ was made.
The complaint is the fifth made against Shell since the OECD Guidelines were launched. The two NCPs have yet to make an initial announcement on the latest allegations.
The OECD has published guidance on the responsible management of supply chains for companies involved in sourcing minerals from conflict zones and other ‘high-risk’ areas. The document is available in English and French.
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