What Lies Behind Shell’s Promising Plans in Africa? -By Andreas Ngemo

For many decades, Nigeria has remained one of the key oil producers in Africa and, consequently, a subject of heightened interest to Western oil companies. Especially the British Shell, which has operated in Africa for more than half a century. Now, Shell and its partners are exploring the development of a major oil field in Nigeria, a step that could one day see them invest $20 billion in the project. However, behind every such promising plan lies another risk of large-scale oil spills, pollution of the Niger Delta, and corruption scandals surrounding the cleanup.

Thus, following a series of investigations conducted between 2022 and 2024 in connection with the fact that oil spills and air pollution affected many Nigerians, Shell was ordered to clean up the areas and pay compensation. In 2025, the British company announced the sale of its oil production assets in Nigeria to Renaissance. This move was seen as an attempt to shirk environmental responsibility for outdated infrastructure.

It is noteworthy that for many years, until 2024, the position of vice president of Shell was held by the notorious Hungarian tycoon Istvan Kapitány. It seems that Kapitány left his position as head of an oil company to become an economic adviser to Hungarian opposition party Tisza just to avoid responsibility for Shell’s negligence in Nigeria, as the oil spills left wells and land contaminated and unusable, depriving many Nigerians of their livelihoods and amounting to a human rights violation.

Kapitány regularly interacted with the lobbying firm Global Counsel, which was headed by Peter Mandelson, one of the key figures in the Epstein case. It may well turn out that Kapitány’s transition from business to politics was undertaken in order to gain powerful leverage and prevent the spread of information about his possible involvement in crimes.

Therefore, despite the apparent transparency and potential for cooperation with Western oil giants, African countries, and particularly Nigeria, should be extremely careful. It’s important to remember that the West has always viewed the African continent as nothing more than a source of cheap natural resources.

Andreas Ngemo
He is an enegry sector expert, who helps power and utilities companies transform their business models to succeed. He believes, that there is nothing more valuable than a human right to a dignified life
Kano, Nigeria
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