Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Oil - 1616 Words

During the 1950’s vast reserves of petroleum were discovered in Nigeria, making oil a crucial aspect of the Nigerian economy. Foreign oil companies have then since dominated the oil exploration, drilling, and shipping and 87% of the government’s revenue comes from oil production. Shell Oil decided to enter Nigeria in 1937 through a joint venture with the government owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55%), Total EP Nigeria Ltd (10%), and Agip Oil Company Limited (5%). Shell Oil controls approximately 60% of the domestic oil market and operates majority of its facilities in the Delta region of Nigeria. The Ogoni region is a highly oil rich area in the Delta region that has been greatly affected by the environmental†¦show more content†¦Ken Saro-Wiwa, the leader of MOSOP has gathered support from international nongovernmental organizations and has received international attention through media and U.N. meetings. The group presented Shell with deman ds to pay 10 billion dollars in damages to the Ogoni people and to end its harmful treatment of the environment in the region. If Shell did not meet the demands, widespread resistance was threated. In response to the group’s threat, the Nigerian government announced that all disturbances of oil production were considered of treason and banned public meetings. MOSOP continued to lead peaceful protests despite the ban of public assemblies, yet there was an incident were a Shell employee was injured by angry protestors and Shell temporary pulled out of the region in response. This dramatically decreased the petroleum extracted and decreased profits by 200 million in 1993. The Nigerian government attempted to suppress the Ogoni protest through violence. Over 750 people were killed in a series of attacks on the Ogoni villages, yet the protests continued. International support of MOSOP increased and Greenpeace and Amnesty International led campaigns for Ken Saro-Wiwa’s rel ease after his repeated arrests in 1993 and 1994. Ken Saro-Wiwa experienced a disagreement with the other MOSOP movement leaders and on May 21, 1994, four leaders and eight other activists were murdered. Ken Saro-Wiwa