What are Shells business plans for Nigeria?
Wiwa: Well, Shell is drilling is quite a lot. They have one new big oil find, they say. And they have plans for natural gas plants which they are already working on. They are putting pressure on the Ogonis, because they want to put a pipeline through Ogoni, again. MM: Do the other oil companies operating in Nigeria affect the Ogonis in any way? Wiwa: The only other oil company that operates in Ogoni, apart from Shell, is Chevron. And they have two oil wells. They have not operated their oil wells, to the best of my knowledge, since 1994. Most of their other operations are offshore, though they do operate in other parts of the delta. But the important thing is that Shell is the operator of the joint venture between other oil companies and the Nigerian government. Shell is the technical operator. Whatever Shell says is what they do. MM: So Shell is the one in charge, not the government? Wiwa: Shell is the one, of course. Shell is in charge. That is well known; it is typical of the behavi
