British oil giant Shell, allowed pollution at its Nembe Creek oil facility to persist for years, even after internal warnings flagged the environmental and public-health risks, the BBC reports; as the revelations add fresh scrutiny to the oil major’s operations in the Niger Delta.
The BBC reported that Shell continued to pump millions of barrels of crude through the Nembe Creek Trunk Line in Nigeria for years despite internal warnings that the pipeline was causing widespread pollution.
The broadcaster said it had quoted emails, presentations and other documents disclosed during ongoing UK legal proceedings.
The documents, it said, showed communities in the Niger Delta are suing Shell over more than 100 oil leaks between 2011 and 2013 that they say damaged health, land and livelihoods. The 60-mile (96.5 km) Nembe Creek Trunk Line runs from inland oilfields to the Bonny Terminal and passes near Bille, a riverine community of 45 islands where residents told the BBC that fishing grounds had been destroyed.
A senior Shell executive raised alarms as early as 2008. It said Markus Droll, then-technical vice-president, wrote in an internal October email that operating the pipeline outside normal guidelines while it faced massive theft and infrastructure failures was risky, warning: “If there is another massive explosive attack tomorrow… then we could well find ourselves in the situation of simply having to close the production down.”
Droll also questioned whether safeguards were adequate, said “funding can be an issue,” and described himself as “pretty uncomfortable” with the approach.
Also, regional executive vice-president Ann Pickard replied, criticising Droll for not marking the email “legally privileged” and saying it “exposed us significantly.”
The broadcaster reported that Pickard acknowledged the decision to continue operating was “not an easy decision” but argued that it posed the “lower risk to both people and environment” compared with shutting down amid militancy and theft.
The BBC reported that by 2012 parts of the pipeline had been classified internally as “red” because of extensive illegal connections by oil thieves, and that Shell’s standards required either an immediate shutdown or “immediate corrective action” for “red” status.
The broadcaster said executives nevertheless approved continued pumping, arguing a shutdown would prompt “a significant number of new illegal connections” elsewhere on the network.
The BBC said Shell told it the company’s decisions reflected “complex factors” including large-scale theft, illegal refining and militancy, and that Shell said it worked with Nigerian authorities and local communities to address spills and clean up regardless of cause.
Residents of Bille who disputed Shell’s defence. Fisherman Balafama Augustus Bruce, 64, who is a claimant in the UK case, told the BBC that before 2011 the area had been “a beautiful area” with abundant sardines, catfish, tilapia and oysters, but that many species were now gone or deformed.
“We used to fish around here. But because of the damage [the spills] have caused, nobody is fishing here again. Because of that I’ve become poor. I eat from hand to mouth.”
Also, Chief Boma Renner Dappa, speaking for Bille’s local leaders’ council, acknowledged theft occurred but told the BBC Shell should still be held responsible, saying: “They are not concerned about what happens to you. Their concern is continue to make profit.”
The BBC reported that internal concerns about scrutiny had also emerged. It said a February 2013 email showed executives considering an audit of oil theft and pipeline integrity from 2009–2012, and that Vincent Holtam, then general manager for onshore assets, warned the audit could “do more harm than good.”
Holtam wrote the audit would likely come out “UNACCEPTABLE,” leaving Shell “very exposed in disputing any oil loss claims from the Government or compensation claims from the community,” and that the BBC’s documents did not confirm whether the audit proceeded.
In March 2013 Shell launched a confidential review called “Project Madrid” to examine spill clean-up options, and that a 36-page presentation estimated about 100 illegal refineries were operating around the pipeline, polluting roughly 9,000 hectares of water and 9,000 hectares of land. The broadcaster said the presentation indicated Shell teams were cleaning 18 reported spills from an estimated 60 bunkering points and that executives had been given options ranging from temporary shutdowns while tolerating theft to halting production for years to fully address the problem.
The BBC said the pipeline resumed after temporary shutdowns for repairs in 2013 and that Shell sold the Nembe Creek Trunk Line last year to Renaissance Africa Energy, but that Bille residents told the BBC they still held Shell responsible for years of operation.
The Bille community and others are seeking $1bn through the UK lawsuit — $250m in compensation and $750m for environmental clean-up — and that the UN has estimated at least 13 million barrels have spilled in Nigeria since 1958 across at least 7,000 incidents.
According to the report, Shell said the documents lacked “critical context of the operating environment in the Niger Delta at the time,” and that widespread organised criminality made prevention impossible.
The broadcaster quoted law firm Leigh Day, which represents the communities, as saying “Shell Plc in London was ultimately making the key decisions.”
Shell said it “strongly believes in the merits of our case” and would defend it at trial next year.
