Shell Petroleum Development Co., or SPDC, said Monday that sabotage and oil theft accounted for 98% of oil spilled from its Nigerian facilities in 2009, refuting criticism from Delta residents who accuse the company of poor maintenance.

Tony Okonedo, media relations officer for the Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) joint venture, said the company's integrity program ensures that all its facilities and equipment are "regularly monitored, maintained, equipment replaced where needed, and that staff are trained."

However, Mutiu Sunmonu, SPDC's managing director, said: "The continued high incidence of sabotage and theft makes the job more difficult on top of the normal maintenance requirements of our operations...we strive to maintain our facilities to the highest standards."

Okonedo also said SPDC was close to completing the construction of a new, 97-kilometer Niger Delta pipeline at a cost of $1.1 billion. The Nembe Creek Trunkline would have the capacity to transport 600,000 barrels a day from 14 flow stations in the Niger Delta to the Bonny export terminal in southern Rivers state.

Okonedo said the pipe is the largest single project under the SPDC's ongoing asset integrity program that has replaced more than 1,000 kilometers of major pipelines and flow lines in the last five years, with some 318 kilometers replaced last year alone. However he told Dow Jones Newswires he couldn't say when the project would be completed, stressing that issues such as security would determine the completion period.

Meanwhile Nigeria 's leading independent daily The Guardian said Monday the United Nations Environment Program, or UNEP, was currently carrying out an environmental assessment of the impacts of oil spills in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.

The report quoted Nick Nuttall, UNEP spokesman, as saying that it had been agreed that SPDC would pay the $9.5 million required to carry out the assessment.

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