Shell Neglects to Mop Up Mess After Nigerian Spill

Once again, oil giant Shell has come under fire from authorities for failing to clean up the aftermath of spills that saw Nigerian lands swamped in oil. Major accusations made by a joint report from Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development claim that the company has made false claims about the extent of its clean-up efforts in the West African region. The report accuses Shell of neglecting to implement UN recommendations, accompanying this allegation with further indictments that several sites Shell claims it has cleaned are still significantly polluted. This follows a previously released 2011 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report that confirmed oil spills had contaminated drinking water, destroyed the fishing industry and jeopardised the health of local people living in the southern Nigerian region of Ogoniland.

A history of pollution

The Amnesty/CEHRD report identified four key sites that fell into the ‘highly polluted’ category, stating that they all remained "visibly contaminated in 2015, even though Shell says it has cleaned them". According to the authors, "The investigation demonstrates this is due to inadequate clean-up, and not new oil spills," it says.

"By inadequately cleaning up the pollution from its pipelines and wells, Shell is leaving thousands of women, men and children exposed to contaminated land, water and air, in some cases for years or even decades," says Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights researcher at Amnesty.

As well as targeting Shell for irresponsible clean-up efforts, the report also indicts the Nigerian government for its failure to properly regulate the oil industry. The combined negligence of both parties could have serious consequences for the health of Nigeria as a country, and its people.

Shell denies wrongdoing

Unsurprisingly, Shell has countered the accusations. While the company does accept that spills in Nigeria have occurred as a result of pipeline failures, it also stresses that a large portion of the pollution is caused by illegal refining and oil theft throughout the country.

While Shell may be under fire from Amnesty International, it has done incredible things for the oil industry. ‘The World’s Largest Gas to Liquids Facility Runs on LIMS’ delves into the 2006 establishment of, Pearl GTL, a joint effort that was fronted by Shell and Qatar Petroleum. The site is the largest gas to liquids facility on the planet, with over 30,000 content, volume, emissions and equipment measurements transmitted at any given time. Today, the plant relies on a laboratory information management system (LIMS) to efficiently manage, analyse and integrate the key data that keeps the facility performing at its absolute highest.

Image via Flickr Creative Commons. Credits: BUNDjugend