We have been a major investor in Nigeria for more than 50 years and remain determined to stay. We are committed to helping the country achieve its ambitious goals for increasing energy production, meeting domestic energy demand and diversifying the economy. We need to do this in ways that keep the people who work for us safe and make business sense for our shareholders.
We also remain deeply committed to supporting the government’s efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the Niger Delta. This starts with generating oil and gas revenues – we paid $1.6 billion (Shell share) to the government in 2007 in taxes and royalties from Shell-run operations. Onshore in the Delta, the government received 95% of the profits from each barrel of oil and gas equivalent produced by the SPDC joint venture based on average oil prices last year.
We work closely with the government’s Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to which Shell-run operations contributed more than $110 million in 2007 ($44 million Shell share). We are also helping the government build the capacity of the country’s public institutions to use these oil and gas revenues effectively for development, for example through strong support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Nigeria, and by using our relationships with international development experts. Shell-run operations also provide their own community development programmes in the Delta, spending a further $68 million ($20 million Shell share). We make concerted efforts to use local contractors and suppliers in ways that spread economic wealth without increasing conflict. In 2007, Shell-run companies awarded contracts worth nearly 1 billion dollars to Nigerian companies. We are providing logistical support to government security forces in the Delta as they seek to re-establish law and order, as well as providing training to help them avoid human rights violations (see Security and human rights).
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