The Nigerian government is in talks with local communities to restart oil production in a region that’s previously suffered environmental damage after oil giant Shell’s sale of its onshore business in the country.
Shell’s $2.4 billion sale of its onshore business to a group of local companies was confirmed last week by Nigeria’s special advisor to the president on energy, Olu Verheijen. It marks the end of the of the London-based energy giant’s nearly century-long operations in the onshore Niger Delta region, where it faces long-running complaints of environmental pollution.
Now a potential restart of oil production Ogoniland region in southern Nigeria, where Shell halted its operations in 1993 following violent protests over allegations of widespread environmental damage and human rights abuses, has been earmarked by government officials as a potential way of increasing its foreign exchange earnings.
A number of Western oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Eni, Equinor, and TotalEnergies — and now Shell — are retreating from Nigeria.
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They are mostly moving offshore and limiting their exposure in the West African nation’s Delta region where oil spills have fouled rivers and farms and exacerbated tensions in a region that has faced years of militant violence.
