Shell still trades Niger Delta oil after divestment — Investigation

Goli Innocent

Lagos — An investigation has revealed that Shell plc continues to benefit commercially from oil assets it sold in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, raising fresh concerns over accountability, environmental impact, and transparency in the oil sector.

The report by Data Desk, based on shipping data from commodities intelligence firm Kpler, showed that since March 2025, Shell has traded about 11 million barrels of crude oil from facilities it previously owned, including the Forcados and Bonny terminals, despite officially exiting onshore operations in the region.

This development comes barely a year after Shell completed the sale of its Nigerian onshore assets to Renaissance Africa Energy Company in a $2.4 billion deal a move that helped the company claim a major climate milestone by reporting zero routine gas flaring across its operations.

However, the investigation paints a different picture. While Shell no longer operates the assets directly, it continues to play a key role in moving crude to international markets, leveraging its global trading network and shipping capacity.

Data reviewed in the report indicates that Shell traded about 8 million barrels from the Forcados terminal and another 3 million barrels from Bonny. At an average 2025 Brent crude price of $69 per barrel, the total value of these shipments is estimated at roughly $759 million.

Industry experts say the arrangement is not unusual but raises important questions. Neil Atkinson, a former senior official at the International Energy Agency, noted that companies acquiring such assets often rely on established players like Shell to handle trading and logistics.

“What matters is getting the oil to market,” he said, suggesting that Renaissance may still depend on Shell’s global reach to sell crude efficiently.

Even so, the environmental consequences are drawing sharper scrutiny. Satellite data analysed in the investigation showed that gas flaring has increased significantly across several of the divested oil blocks since the transfer of ownership.

In some cases, the rise is alarming. At OML 32, flaring levels were reported to be more than 20 times higher in the year after the sale. Other fields, including OML 21 and OML 28, recorded increases of 390 per cent and 93 per cent respectively.

This trend contradicts the climate narrative that followed Shell’s exit. Before the divestment, the company had acknowledged that its Nigerian onshore operations accounted for a large share of its global flaring emissions. Yet, shortly after the sale, it announced it had achieved zero routine flaring effectively shifting emissions away from its books.

Environmental advocates argue that this reflects a broader pattern among global oil majors selling off ageing, high-emission assets while maintaining indirect economic benefits.

Sophie Marjanac of the Polluter Pays Project described it as a strategy to “dodge accountability”, warning that communities are often left to deal with pollution and environmental damage long after the original operators have exited.

For communities in the Niger Delta, the impact remains immediate and severe. Gas flaring continues to release harmful pollutants, damage livelihoods, and contribute to climate change. The World Bank estimates that global gas flaring emits about 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually more than the yearly emissions of some developed countries.

Shell has declined to comment on specific trading activities, while Renaissance said it has a long-term plan to reduce flaring through its flare elimination and gas monetisation strategy.

Still, the situation highlights a deeper issue within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector ownership may change, but responsibility often becomes blurred.

For Nigeria, the lesson is clear. Asset transfers alone will not solve environmental challenges in the Niger Delta. Without strict enforcement, transparent oversight, and real investment in cleaner infrastructure, the cycle of pollution and profit will continue only with different names on the door.