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Leaks on the pipelines affected fishing ponds and land in two villages, Oruma and Goi, and residents are still affected by the spills 15 years later, according to environmental groups.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and Shell, through its Nigerian subsidiary, began exporting from the fields in the Niger Delta in the late 1950s. It manages around 50 oil fields, five gas plants and more than 3,000 miles of pipelines, according to the company.
Yet its operations have also been damaging in terms of reputation, and Shell and other oil companies, such as Italy’s Eni, have long been accused of pollution in the region. In 1994, Bopp Van Dessel, head of environmental studies for Shell Nigeria, resigned, arguing that he felt unable to defend the company’s environmental record “without losing his personal integrity”.
“Any Shell site I saw was polluted,” Mr Van Dessel later told British television. “It was clear to me that Shell was devastating the region.”
In 2008, an American cable published by WikiLeaks found that three-quarters of pipelines in Nigeria were over a decade overdue for replacement, with some having a life expectancy of 15 years still in service after 30 years.
Shell and Eni argued that most of the leaks were caused by sabotage. However, under Nigerian law, oil companies are responsible for ensuring effective standards of safety and practice.
“Sabotage, theft of crude oil and illegal refining is a major challenge in the Niger Delta,” Bamidele Odugbesan, spokesperson for Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary, said in an emailed statement. “Whatever the cause, we clean up and fix it, just like we did with the spills in this case.”
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