Nigerian soldiers have arrested eight people working for companies contracted by Royal Dutch Shell, military authorities said, following a pipeline fire that the company blamed on damage caused by oil thieves.
YENAGOA, Nigeria, June 24 |
(Reuters) – Nigerian soldiers have arrested eight people working for companies contracted by Royal Dutch Shell, military authorities said, following a pipeline fire that the company blamed on damage caused by oil thieves.
Shell’s Nigerian unit, Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd. (SPDC), shut the 150,000 barrel per day (bpd) Trans Niger pipeline last week after an explosion and a fire in Bodo West, in Ogoniland, an area already heavily polluted by oil spills.
“Troops … have arrested eight persons in connection with the recent fire outbreak on an SPDC pipeline,” Military Joint Task Force (JTF) Spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu said on Monday.
“They will be handed over to an appropriate prosecuting agency if found culpable at the end of the investigations.”
Shell said in a statement that it was aware of the arrests and would “cooperate with the investigations”.
The company has been pushing the government to make greater efforts to combat stealing of oil – known locally as bunkering – which it blames for the theft of an estimated 150,000 bpd across the industry in Nigeria and for repeated oil spills and fires.
The JTF said the eight people were found on tug boats near the pipeline and that the suspects told them they worked for Steve Integrated Technical Service and Sege Marine, companies that were hired by SPDC to fix broken pipelines.
“They are not bunkerers,” a manager at Steve Integrated told Reuters, asking not to be named.
“There was no sign of stolen crude oil on the tug boat as they were only working on repairs. We will continue to work with the JTF,” he added.
Sege Marine could not be contacted for comment.
Nigeria’s accountant general said last week that oil theft and pipeline vandalism were responsible for a 5 percent fall in monthly government revenues in May.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
