Blogs

Jeroen van der Veer: Shell doesn't like flaring and is not in the oil business for the money.

The Green Rush: Full transcript of interview with Jeroen van der Veer - Times Online

In Shell's view, we do not like flaring at all, so our policy is already for years that wherever we flare that we try to reduce or completely stop it. If I look at the world, at the Shell operations, basically we have only the problem in Nigeria left.

(...)

I'm always amazed that people think that oil companies they are just for the money and greedy and like to do a lousy job.

(...)

We think to take environmental aspects into account is good long-term business as well because it prevents problems, and it helps that people think that Shell is doing a good job so that if they have a consumer choice they fuel up with our gasoline.

Really? We fuel up with Shell if we have a choice?

The Poison Fire documentary grew out of a participatory video training project by Environmental Rights Action. The idea was to establish video production capacity with a network of volunteers in the communities, and enable them to produce and publish "video testimonies" to the web, and eventually a system for crowdsourcing environmental monitoring info.  Although there is still great interest in the project from communities and some state government agencies, it has not yet taken off due to lack of funding and a central base or hub for the network.

The following article on the method was published in ICT update, November 2006

From The Ecologist: Poison Fire Interview
by Phil Moore 11/09/2008

Filmmaker Lars Johansson talks to the Ecologist about the making of the film 'Poison Fire' and the curse of oil in the Niger Delta.

Tell us how you came to make the film ‘Poison Fire’

Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) wanted to encourage national groups to produce video reports with local perspectives on how economic globalisation influences communities. They contacted me because they had heard about the work I had been doing in Tanzania with ‘participatory video’. A proposal was put together with Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria and FOEI managed to raise funds so that I could go there.

What is gas flaring and why does it occur?

Shell Seals $4 Billion Iraq Deal at Oil Change

Shell has been awarded a $4bn contract in the south of the country to supply gas for Iraqi domestic use but also for export. Shell’s project is intended to make use of the gas flared off by the oil industry in the south of Iraq.

I'll take that as an excuse to post this link to the funniest TV show on Iraqi oil you will ever see: Robert Newmans History of Oil

A thread with many interesting comments on Poison Fire tops the huge Nigerian website nairaland.com right now

A couple of excerpts:

This video and others like it never cease to shock me - the sheer destruction, the poverty, the utter helplessness of the people.(...) I must say these lawyers, rights activists and community leaders are the real heroes, not the gun totting MEND or whatever they call themselves. These guys are working hard to change things within the law. Sadly they are not always successful, but their spirit and determination must be applauded.


Wow, I had goose pimples watching this movie. I don't even know what to say. No matter how corrupt the country is, that is no excuse for the way Shell is behaving. Thanks for posting this.
Thank God for internet. We can all do something, even if it is as little as sending the link to all your friends on facebook, please do. People need to see this, especially the Hague conference.