By JIMITOTA ONOYUME

PORT HARCOURT- SHELL Petroleum Development Company, has denied allegations linking its operations in Ogoni with benzene, an agent found in water that is known to cause cancer in humans.

Shell’s Manager, Corporate Media Relations, Mr. Tony Okonedo, in a statement, said there was nowhere in the recently released report of United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP on Ogoni linking the operations of the company with benzene.

He quoted a portion of the UNEP report to substantiate the position of the company on the issue. The said portion reads: ‘In one community, at Nisisioken Ogale, in western Ogoniland, families are drinking water from wells that is contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen at levels over 900 times above World Health Organisation guidelines. The site is close to a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NPPC, pipeline.”

Okonedo said: “From the portion of the UNEP report above, it was clear that Shell’s operations had nothing to do with benzene as alleged in some quarters.”