SPDC dismisses alleged staff involvement in pipeline vandalism

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has dismissed a report alleging that its staff were involved in crude oil pipeline vandalism for a gain, describing the report as lacking substance and without proof.

“SPDC does not have any formal report of named SPDC staff members or contractors involved in pipeline vandalism or crude oil theft,” SPDC’s Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, said in a statement on Thursday. “SPDC, like other Shell companies globally, investigates all credible reports it receives of misconduct or unethical behaviour and takes robust action where evidence exists.”

According to Odugbesan, the company has multiple ways the public can report allegations of wrongdoing by anyone working for SPDC, including a telephone helpline available round the clock and a dedicated email address.

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He said the company monitored its joint venture facilities and “any incident or suspected criminal activities are promptly reported to the regulators and government security agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.”

Explaining one of the measures adopted by the company to discourage host communities from tampering with SPDC assets in their communities, Odugbesan said apart from not paying compensation for spills found to have resulted from sabotage activities, contractors from host communities are not awarded clean-up contracts for sabotage spills in their communities.

“All spills are assessed by a government-led joint investigation team. Where sabotage is established,  the clean-up contract is not awarded to contractors from the host community to ensure that possible accomplices do not benefit from such activities.  SPDC cleans up and remediates areas impacted by spills that come from its operations, irrespective of cause of spill,” he said.