Chevron evacuates staff as protesters ground operations

United States major oil company, Chevron, yesterday evacuated workers from its Escravos tank farm in Delta State as protesters grounded operations at the farm.

The protesters, from Ugborodo in Warri South- West Local Government Area, occupied the installation located in their community, which is also a major source of gas supply to some power generation firms.

The protest occurred on the same day that Royal Dutch Shell Plc shut a one billion standard cubic feet per day capacity major gas production pipeline on its Oil Mining Lease (OML) 23.

At the Escravos tank farm, the oil workers were airlifted from the barricaded premises by choppers, which ran several trips between Ugborodo and Warri.

The protest, which commenced on Tuesday evening, led protesters to set bonfires in and around the company with bold signs indicating highly inflammable substances.

Speaking on the development, the General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs of the company, Mr. Deji Haastrup, said on telephone that the company was in touch with the protesters.

He expressed optimism for a truce as the company was planning to engage them.

The protesters, made of mostly women, children, youths and elders, however, paralysed activities at the tank farm. They accused the company of discriminating against them even as the host community.

They also alleged that the management of Chevron hardly considered them in matters of employment and contract awards in addition to general neglect of Ugborodo community as regards development.

New Telegraph observed yesterday that with the main gate barricaded, access to the company was denied those outside the premises while those within were not allowed to move out.

This was not the first time the tank farm had been occupied by Itsekiri protesters. Security agencies in the tank farm calmed the protesters with an appeal to them to vacate the area, which they refused.

Speaking on the siege, the community’s Youth President, Mr. Ofe Nene, said the company had been breaching aspects of the Local Content Policy (LCP) put in place by government to regulate operations of oil companies with their host communities.

He said there was also an agreement for a New Town project in Ugborodo because of the enormous Chevron project in the area that has been impacting on the people, but the company has decided to abandon the project because it believes the people do not know their rights and cannot speak.

Nene said the action was also partly about doing turnaround maintenance (TAM) that usually engages some locals, but that “for about two months that we complained in a letter to them that they are not carrying us along, they have been deceiving us.

“We are in Ugborodo, but they will invite us to a meeting in Warri, when we get to Warri, they will either tell us that the date is not feasible or that so and so management official was not available,” he said.

“Chevron has not fulfilled many of its promises,” said Collins Edema, a youth and protest leader in the Ugborodo Itsekiri community. Edema insisted that the farm had been blocked.

He added the U.S. oil major had previously promised to create jobs for young people from the impoverished area and also provide new accommodation after housing next to the tank farm was destroyed due to Chevron’s activities.

“Our protest will continue until Chevron listens to our demands. We at Ugborodo are urging other Itsekiri communities to follow suit and shut down Chevron activities in our communities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, yesterday, shut a one billion standard cubic feet per day capacity major gas production pipeline on its Oil Mining Lease (OML) 23 as it declared force majeure, inability to meet contractual agreements, on supplies to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas plant in a major threat to gas export.

The company, which revealed this from its London head office, maintained through its spokeswoman, Natasha Obank, that the Eastern Gas Gathering System, or EGGS-1 pipeline, which supplies the bulk of Shell’s gas to the Nigeria LNG plant on Bonny Island, was shut down because of a leak.

Any reduction in LNG exports means a blow to the country’s already suffering economy due to low oil prices and militant attacks.

The NLNG project has a capacity to process 22 million metric tons a year of the liquefied fuel, or seven per cent of world supply, as well as five million tons of natural gas liquids, according to Shell website.

The militant attacks on energy infrastructure are already hurting exports.

“The pipeline has been shut down for a joint investigation visit into the cause of the leak and repairs,” Shell said.

To end attacks on pipeline infrastructure in the oil-rich Niger Delta, the Federal Government has resumed payments of stipends to former militants and also attempting to establish talks with others as part of solution to halt attacks on oil facilities that has damped crude production to almost a 30- year low. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu, had said earlier this month that output had fallen to 1.4 million barrels a day.

While Shell has declared force majeure on supplies, “alternative sources of gas supply have enabled Nigeria LNG to continue production and loading” at its plant on Bonny Island, Charles Okon, a spokesman, said yesterday in an e-mailed response to questions. NLNG, set up 16 years ago to export gas, is owned by NNPC, Shell, Total and Eni.

It has long-term supply contracts with Italy’s Enel, Shell, France’s Engie SA and Portugal’s Galp, among others. It also sells on the spot market. While NNPC holds a 49 per cent share of the project, Shell has 25.6 per cent, Total SA 15 per cent and Eni SpA 10.4 per cent.