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Shell/Statoil In Mayo: The Issue For Statoil: Think For A Minute
 mayo |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report
 Thursday June 30, 2005 14:12 by Roisin DeRossa
Shell has been the major partner 45% ownership in the consortium attempting to develop the Corrib Gas field. Statoil has 36.5% ownership, Marathon the remainder, of some 18%.
 Exploitative Deal - Robbery of Irish National resources.
The terms of the agreement reached with the Dublin Government, under which the consortium is to exploit these reserves, are quite unacceptable, and no way in line with the high standards which Statoil (a Norwegian company) has worked in Norway with the Norwegian state, to exploit their Norwegian oil reserves. (Cf. Padhraigh Campbell 0872453376)
The deal gives no royalties to the Irish government and an extraordinarily low rate of tax, all of which the consortium will be able to write off. The pipeline from the recovery station where Shell intends to process the gas, at Ballinaboy, to join the Irish Gas grid and the interconnector, is to be provided by Bord Gais, at no cost to the Consortium.
Crooked Deal
This deal, which was reached in 1992, originally with Enterprise Ireland, before the Shell consortium bought Enterprise out, was made by Ray Burke, the minister at the time, who has since been found to be corrupt. The deal is generally believed to have been a crooked deal, which has meant that the exploitation of the Irish owned oil and gas reserves will bring no benefit whatsoever to the Irish nation.
Statoil would not behave in this way in their Norway operations. Why should they behave in this way in Ireland.
Shell’s Notorious Operations – Ogoni
Statoil is associated in this Corrib operation with Shell, whose reputation in oil and gas exploration is a world wide scandal. It was shell which carried out the genocidal operation in Ogoni, Nigeria, subsequent hanging of 9 people including Ken Saro Wiwa, in 1995, for their part in the campaign to protect the Ogoni peoples’ rights to their land, their environment and their resources.
A New untried unsafe, dirty dangerous Technology
Experts inform us that Shell intends to employ a new, and previously, untried technology at Corrib. It is to cap the gas reserve at sea, and then bring in the raw, untreated gas to the Ballinaboy recovery station, 9 kms inland, via a raw gas pipeline under extraordinarily high pressures, of 400 times the pressures of gas in the national grid pipeline, which carries gas which has been treated and cleaned. This is the pipeline that Shell intends to run across the land, and beside the houses of the people who today have been jailed.
Experts have said that there doesn’t exist technology to do this safely. But Shell intend to try because is will reduce their capital costs by _369 Million and their operating costs by 40% per annum. Local people consider that the Shell consortium is experimenting with the lives of the Mayo inhabitants, and is indifferent to effects upon lives and environment of local people.
Experts inform us that this technology is experimental, never tried before, and contains dangers of explosion, which would incinerate those within a radius far in excess of the distance of the pipeline from these peoples’ houses.
No Health and Safety report – No government consent for operation to begin.
The original health and safety report was rejected because Shell was found to be involved with the company that drew up the initial report. Current Minister Dempsey has ordered a new and independent Health and safety report, and cannot legally give his consent to the pipeline until this report has been made and found satisfactory.
Huge benefit to Irish People foregone
Furthermore because under this technology there will be no gas rig at sea, but only a recovery station on land, the jobs and economic benefit to the people of the immediate area will be negligible. The economic benefits of servicing a rig at sea would have been substantial. Extrapolating from the example of gas and oil exploration in the Grampian field in the North sea, it is reckoned that each trillion cubic foot of gas represents some £1 billion input into the local economy to service the off shore rig. The Corrib Gas reserves are estimated to be between 3 and 7 trillion cubic feet of gas. This would have a major impact on the local economy of North West Mayo – one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged areas in the periphery of the EU.
Shell pursuing at all costs
Meanwhile Shell, acting for the consortium, has taken on contractors to install the pipelines, which are to carry the gas to the recovery station, and a pipeline to take dangerous chemical and electrical cabling alongside back out to sea.
Irreparable Damage to lands
Local people have opposed the entry of these contractors onto their lands to start this work. They say that the work of installing these underground pipelines will irreparably damage the bog land, and its drainage system, robbing their land of any further use, and likely to cause slippage of the bog itself. They claim that initial work on installation of the pipeline cannot be started before consent is given by the minister for Shell’s planned exploration. There is no such consent yet given.
Shell has pursued their plan regardless: without consent of the Dublin Government, or legally required Health and Safety report.
Shell resorts to court to force compliance to proceed.
In April Shell sought and won an injunction to prevent local people from obstructing their progress to build the pipeline. They were granted an injunction by the High Court in April 2005. Today (June 29th) they took committal proceedings in the high court, which, legally, a judge was obliged to grant, given that the 5 named individuals refused to give an undertaking they would comply with the conditions of the injunction not to obstruct Shell’s contractors on the lands where the pipeline is to go.
Shell claimed in the committal proceedings that further delay in gaining access to the pipeline site would incur costs of _25,000 per day, if they were obliged to delay their operations further, possibly into summer of 2006.
Furthermore, Shell applied to the court, and was granted legal costs of the committal proceedings, which would be punitive, and undoubtedly would leave the defendants in penury – with the loss of their small properties, houses and chattels, which have been in their families over generations.
Does Statoil really intend to be associated with this punitive action and intimidation to enforce, at present an illegal proceedings by Shell, against local people defending their rights and their environment.
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Comments (16 of 16)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16(I call it cutting off your nose to spite your face.)
Ryan calls on Shell to wave court order and free Rossport residents
30 June 2005
Green Party Energy spokesperson Eamon Ryan TD today called on Shell Ireland to wave the court order which has led to the imprisonment of five residents from Rossport, Co. Mayo.
Deputy Ryan said today that, “It is remarkable that Shell have pursued this course even when the Minister of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey has not yet given full and final consent for the contentious pipeline project.”
“The company said this morning that they wish to engage in consultation with the residents but their attempt in that regard was inadequate and was reduced down to a final bald statement that Shell was going to pursue its works and legal action.”
“Once again it is beyond belief that the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has not allowed full and free access to all the safety report relevant to this project. In these circumstances it is clear that the right - but not the legal and financial might - is on the side of the residents. The High Court is due to hear proceedings on the main issue of contention later this year and in the interim we request that Shell withdraw any injunction or committal orders,” concluded Deputy Ryan.
SIPTU has rejected claims by Shell Ireland that the high-pressure gas pipeline it is building in Co Mayo poses no threat to the health and safety of local residents.
The company insisted earlier today that the pressure in the pipeline would be just 120 bar and said it was not aware of any explosions involving structures operating at this pressure.
However, SIPTU spokesman Padraig Campbell, who is organising a protest against the pipeline in Galway this afternoon, said there were many examples of such explosions worldwide.
He said a pipeline operating at a lower pressure than the Corrib structure blew up in Brussels in 2004, killing 21 people.
Mr Campbell also said a 45 bar pipeline in the US state of New Mexico killed several people when it exploded in recent years, leaving a gigantic crater in the ground.
"Pipelines blow up," he said. "The higher the pressure, the more they blow."
30/06/2005 - 10:25:15 AM
Taoiseach admits Shell protestors jailing 'regrettable'
The jailing of five Co Mayo men for blocking work on a Shell gas pipeline is regrettable, but the court’s decision must be respected, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.
Mr Ahern added an independent report on the safety of the project, commissioned by Natural Resources Minister Noel Dempsey, would be published as soon as it was ready.
Efforts were continuing today between Shell executives and Mayo TDs to find a compromise which may lead to the release of the protesters.
Shell Ireland chairman Andy Pyle said the families had refused to meet the firm in the months before the High Court conviction for contempt.
But he hinted that some compromise may be still possible if contact was established.
“It’s a very difficult situation and I can’t see an easy solution unless we can get into an open dialogue about the concerns of the individuals and what we can do to allay and address those concerns.”
Supporters of the five men are today holding rally at the Shell depot in Rossport, Co Mayo, and a demonstration will also be staged at the Shell Oil Terminal in Galway this afternoon.
Mr Ahern, who said he had previously met some of the families, said: They believe that this will affect their quality of life. It is a beautiful, scenic place.
“It’s a huge development. The Shell company has put huge investment into it. They have complied with the law and the regulations.
“It’s been through the rigours of the planning process. The company, as I understand it, are fully within their rights as well. It is regrettable that it has come to this stage.
“It’s a decision for the courts. The Government doesn’t lock up anybody. The reality is you comply with the obligations and decisions."
Shell to Sea protest group spokesperson Maire Harrington said today: “Shell put those men into jail. Shell [can] get them out.”
Mr Pyle held a three-hour meeting with Mayo TDs and the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christy Jones at Leinster House last night.
Supporters of Shell protestors mount Dáil demonstration
Relatives and supporters of the five Co Mayo men jailed for obstructing work on the high-pressure Corrib gas pipeline have mounted a demonstration outside the Dáil.
The five were jailed yesterday for breaching an injunction preventing local residents from blocking trucks belonging to Shell Ireland, the company building the pipeline.
The residents believe the structure, which is being laid close to houses, poses an unacceptable risk to health and safety.
Speaking outside the Dáil today, James Philibin, whose uncle is one of those in jail, said an offshore terminal should be built, thereby removing the need for the high-pressure pipeline.
Shell has claimed an offshore facility would be too costly, a stance the Government has agreed with.
Mr Philbin said this showed that the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition "cares more about Shell's bottom line than the people of Ireland they're elected to represent".
The rumour is that Statoil have found major oil reserves and that this is their angle - especially that they can use the refinery facilities later and lay the pipe close to the gas pipeline.
Statoil would NEVER allow this sort of experiment in Norway where their record is excellent - but here they cunningly slip behind Shell.....
By the way, and mores the pity, I don't know if SIPTU would allow Paidraig to be portrayed as an "official spokes person" - but everything he says makes sense as ever
Krosise
From indymedia's state subsidised competition!
Looks like a really good turn out in Rossport
(http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0630/mayo.html)
Protests are continuing in north Co Mayo this afternoon to demand the release of five men, who have been jailed for obstructing the laying of a controversial gas pipeline.
About 200 people took part in a protest at Rossport at the site of a Shell depot.
A second protest is also underway at Ballinaboy where the company is planning to build its on-shore gas terminal.
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The protestors are demanding the release of the five local men and want Shell to reconsider locating the terminal off-shore.
Meanwhile, a special debate on the jailing of the five Mayo farmers is likely to be held in the Dáil later today................
From the Times, 22nd March.
Walking all over our rights
Fintan O'Toole
Few notions generate as much hypocrisy and cant as that of private property. And seldom has the double standard that surrounds it been clearer than in the last week.
Two events related to opposite sides of the country have caused the miasma of hypocrisy to lift for a moment, revealing the way power and vested interests influence the interpretation of what seems to be a basic principle of Irish society. In both cases, farmers are trying to keep people off their land. In one, the farmers in question are being treated as obstructive troglodytes standing in the way of economic progress. Yet in the other, they are the salt of the earth, standing up for their rights.
The first case concerns a major transnational corporation, Shell. It went to the High Court last week seeking orders against five landowners in Rossport, Co Mayo. The farmers in question have been refusing to allow access to their land for the construction of a pipeline as part of the Corrib Gas Field project. The Department of the Marine had made compulsory purchase orders to enable the pipeline to be laid on their lands. The farmers, however, believe that the pipeline will be unsafe, and they also point out that the compulsory purchase orders were granted, not to Shell, but to Enterprise Oil, which was subsequently acquired by Shell.
Shell has a potential fortune on its hands. The Corrib field, which is about 80 km off the Mayo coast, has been around for 237 million years, and belongs, as a natural resource, to the Irish people. But because of an extraordinary deal done by Ray Burke as minister for energy in the 1980s, Shell can exploit this resource without paying a cent in royalties to the State. It will pay tax at a very generous rate (25 per cent) and the State, in turn, has cleared the way for the transfer of this public wealth into private hands. The costs will be borne by the people, and the environment, of north-west Mayo. Having initially had its plans turned down by An Bord Pleanála, Shell was last year given the go-ahead for two huge developments: a terminal at Bellanaboy and a site at Srahmore, where 450,000 cubic centimetres of peat from the terminal site will be dumped.
These developments are happening because they suit Shell. There are other ways to exploit the gas field, such as processing the gas offshore. There is also a good case for simply leaving the field intact as a resource for future generations. Instead, a particularly beautiful and sensitive landscape is to be carved up. The terminal at Bellanaboy is next to natural features that are recognised as being of special importance: the Carrowmore Lake complex and Glenamoy Bog, which have been listed as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) ; and Pollatomish Bog and Broadhaven Bay which are proposed National Heritage Areas. This is also a dangerously unstable landscape, as last winter's dramatic bog slide at Pollatomish has shown. But the maximisation of private profit trumps all these cards, including, ironically, that of the property rights of the Mayo farmers.
Contrast this, then, with the removal by Wicklow County Council last week of 33 public access routes from its draft development plan. They include a number of pathways around Glendalough and even parts of the Wicklow Way, the most popular walking route in Ireland. They have been deleted from the development plan, pending the deliberations of a committee that is looking at the general issue of access in the county, and some of them may eventually be restored. But in removing them, the council has essentially accepted that public access is not a right, but a privilege to be negotiated. Yet the State, which is happy to set aside the rights of landowners for Shell in Mayo, seems to have no interest in recognising any modification of those same rights in Wicklow.
Your comparisons with Norway are quite ludicrous. Oil companies have been exploring in Irish waters for 30 years and have found virtually nothing in comparison with the North Sea. This is only the second commercial discovery in Irish waters, and in comparison with the North Sea its small. Hundreds of commercial discoveries have been made in the North sea, many of them fifty times the size of the Corrib field. As Irish waters obviously have very limited petroleum resources compared with the North Sea, it would be madness for the Irish Government to impose the same tax and royalty terms as the Norwegian and British Governments have. Oil companies would simply walk away. But, if you don't accept this argument, then fine! Go ahead and elect a socialist government and let it impose the same tax and royalty rates for exploration in the relatively barren Irish waters that the Norwegians have in the vastly more productive Norwegian waters. I'll bet you won't get a single oil company to explore Irish waters under those terms.
Now that you mention that rumour, there was talk years ago, about Irish workers not been allowed access to rig operations in Irish waters years ago.
The rumour then was that oil had been found, but the oil companies were keeping mum on it, as they did not want the Irish govt to know at the time. Presumably they figured it would be better to wait before telling them. And if that's the case, it has paid off, since Bobby Molloy and Ray Burke signed away most of our rights on these resources. See
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=67410&condense_comments=false#comment112681
The chances are any oil fields are reasonable size, but not in the North Sea oil category, but with the recent price rises and Peak Oil at hand, it is worth extracting it now.
And as has been typical up and down this country in areas to do with planning permission it's done by stealth through stages. So as suggested above, the plan could well be to get a fair amount of the infrastruture in place, in terms of the site and other facilities and then suddendly announce there's oil just offshore. At that point, it would be next to impossible to prevent them enlarging the processing plant into a full oil terminal / handling area and staying around much longer.
Well without the tax we dont stand to make much from this field, so just what is the point in your gratitude for them finding it. Why should we be so keen for them to exploit it now when its on their terms.
Also your logic is flawed when it comes to the cost of extracting against possible profits, if we wait a good few years until the price rises due to lack of resources then we could set whatever terms we like and it would still be profitable. As a capitalist at heart myself i just have to ask why we as a nation are giving it away, who's getting the payout? you ask us to elect socialists and see it go bottom up, but if we dont make our fair share out of it why should we care if it goes bottom up, sure a few people in relevant industries here will have jobs but its negligable in relation to a wider view of the economy, we should be using our resources as resources and not seeing them as things we need to offload for a quick buck at a low price.
Read the constitution and see what it says about the ownership of such resources, remember the people who found the ardagh chalice and derrynaflan horde, its the same sort of thing, its not theirs its ours even if they did find it. The finders keepers arguement might still hold water in schoolyards but its not how you want to structure society. Its not cheeky of us to ask for a reasonable percentage of what is ours in the first place. If you inherited a house with a hidden safe, its still your safe, if you have some friends round who discover it, well its still your safe, it you need to hire someone to open it you dictate the terms not him, under what logic would he own the contents and not you.
"It was shell which carried out the genocidal operation in Ogoni, Nigeria, subsequent hanging of 9 people including Ken Saro Wiwa, in 1995, for their part in the campaign to protect the Ogoni peoples’ rights to their land, their environment and their resources."
Are you sure it was Shell and not the Nigerian Government who did this? I'm not familiar with the circumstances. The Nigerian Govt might not sue you but Shell probably will.
Shell have threatened numerous people with legal action over the past few years including Liamy McNally of Midwest Radio, Martin Ferris, and obviuosly members of the local campaign.
They responded in the appropriate manner ...... go fcuk yourselves!
Dear Mr. Soya Soya Bean Man, I see no real cause for concern.
It may well be that it was the Nigerian Government which carried out the executions but I think that if you investigate the matter you will find that Abacha & his gang of crooks were deeply ensconced in the pockets of the Shell Corporation.
[In much the same way that our own corrupt political elite are in the pockets of the multinationals like Shell.]
Interesting to note that at Saro-Wiwa's trial before the kangaroo court, Shell was represented by counsel holding a watching brief.
So I think that if Shell were to get thick about the matter, a wee apology plus a correction to put the facts straight would rectify the matter without any need for a court action.
And now let us pause to draw inspiration from Saro-Wiwa´s closing address to the kangaroo court that condemned him:
"I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief. The Company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learnt here may prove useful to it for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war that the Company has waged in the Delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the Company's dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished."
"In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side. God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41:"All those that fight when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the oppressor. Come the day."
Maybe Shell would like to sue Saro-Wiwa posthumously ?
After all, don't they belong in the words of our own James Connolly to those:
"Whose hands of greed are stretched to rob
The living and the dead."
Being ably assisted of course by the corrupt hoors of our political establishment.
(With apologies to the ladies on the street for bringing their profession into disrepute).
Everybody must BOYCOTT Shell, Statoil and Marathon fuels. Local people cannot get work up here, even if they could they could not take it because of what people would think of them for exploiting the land we must live on. This area is so scenic. Why should aliens come from elsewhere to ruin it on us. GO TO HELL SHELL etc.....
You can rest assured that the largest Irish Festival in the world will be playing a part in boycotting Shell and informing the masses about the wrong doings in Mayo. As discontented Americans we are well aware of the greed that is generated by processing unrenewable resources--Cur Amach an Sceach! Our 'Shun Shell' campaign will be circulating material in and around the Gaeltacht tent and Cultural Village by visiting Irish and Americans alike. Shame on Shell!
This is such a terrible story - I'm an American, living in Scotland for the past 20 years ,and just read about this in the Guardian last week, and was horrified - but the article went nowhere as to describing what the risks and shoddy technology are. I ran the An Oige youth hostel in Poll an Tsomais for a summer in 1979, just across the estuary from Rossport, and that part of the world was one of the most beautiful, and backbreaking landscapes I have ever, ever had the chance to live in. My letter writing starts now - and hello to anyone who might remember me from that long ago! Hope to visit there next year for my fiftieth b-day. The judge is an arse - someone should threaten him with building a plastics incinerator behind his back garden - he'd soon forget about upholding the law...