21 April 2016, Lagos – Royal Dutch Shell has failed to halt production at the Gbaran Ubie oil and gas facility in Bayelsa State, contravening a court order for the site to be sealed and raising the prospect of legal action, government officials said on Wednesday.
The facility, in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta, supplies the Bonny liquefied natural gas export terminal and supplies gas to generate electricity.
The Bayelsa State Government had on Monday sealed off the premises of Gbaran Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas facility, a property of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.
It said the closure of the company located in Gbarantoru in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, followed an eviction order issued by the State High Court in Yenagoa.
But on Wednesday, Bayelsa State spokesman, Francis Agbo, was quoted by Reuters to have said that Shell had “flouted the court order” and production had not ceased.
“There is ongoing work in the facility in clear violation of the court order,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of the state’s Physical Planning and Development Board, Boro Ige-Edaba, said Bayelsa State Government would “take appropriate action to prosecute them”.
Punch
