The outgoing Manager of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Dr. Vincent Nwabueze, and his successor paid a courtesy visited the Director-General/Chief Executive (DG/CE) of National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Idris O. Musa, in his office in Abuja recently.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), an operator of the SPDC Joint Venture (SPDC-JV), said the company is committed to operating its facilities in a responsible manner with due regard for the environment.
The outgoing executive said Shell’s key priority for SPDC-JV is to achieve the goal of zero spills from our operations as no operational spill is acceptable and we work hard to prevent them. When spills originate from SPDC-JV facilities, we respond quickly and in line with regulations and globally accepted good practice to clean them up.
SPDC-JV has publicly reported oil spill statistics annually since 1995 in the Shell Sustainability Report, and this website further enhances transparency on spills from SPDC-JV facilities in Nigeria. It tracks the progress of our spill management from when we detect the spill to when clean-up and remediation are completed and certified by Government Regulators.
SPDC-JV was the first oil and gas company in Nigeria to publish data on its spills on a publicly accessible website. Our SPDC-JV oil spills website went live in 2011 and is updated regularly.
SPDC-JV has researched and adopted techniques for cleaning up and remediating oil spills that it believes to be the most effective for the soil and climate conditions of the Niger Delta. These practices are compliant with the Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN, 2018), which establish the framework for the management and remediation of oil spills.
SPDC-JV works with communities and civil society across the Niger Delta to build trust in its spill response and clean-up processes. Local communities are engaged and participate in the clean-up and remediation processes and if cause of spill is operational, communities play an active role in selection of suitable contractor for the cleanup/remediation.
The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA is the oil industry sector regulatory agency established to detect and supervise the clearance of oil spills in all areas of oil and gas operations in Nigeria.
NOSDRA was established as an Agency under the Federal Ministry of Environment to coordinate the implementation of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP) which also incorporates the National Oil Spill Contingency System (NOSCS) for Nigeria, in compliance with the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC 1990), to which the country is a signatory.
TheNational Oil Spill Contingency System (NOSCS) is a harmonisation of all relevant regulations, organisations, personnel, procedures, facilities, equipment, logistical support to respond to a spill, reduce the negative impact and manage all related issues.