Shell knew pipeline poisoned Nigerian communities, but kept pumping anyway

Internal company documents disclosed in a UK court case suggest that oil giant Shell continued operating one of its most important Nigerian pipelines for years despite warnings from its own staff that the facility posed significant environmental risks amid rampant oil theft and infrastructure failures.

The documents, first reported by the BBC, were released as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by communities in the Niger Delta who are seeking to hold Shell liable for pollution linked to more than 100 oil leaks between 2011 and 2013.

At the centre of the dispute is the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, a major pipeline that transported crude oil from inland fields to export facilities near the coast. The pipeline, which Shell sold last year, was capable of carrying up to 150,000 barrels of oil daily but was repeatedly targeted by oil thieves and illegal refiners.

The communities, including residents of Bille in Rivers State, are seeking $1 billion in damages and environmental remediation, comprising $250 million in compensation and $750 million for cleanup.

According to documents obtained by the BBC, concerns within Shell about the pipeline date back to at least 2008.

In an internal email, Markus Droll, Shell’s then technical vice-president, questioned a decision to continue operating the line outside the company’s normal technical standards.

“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 wrote.

He also expressed concern over the condition of parts of the system, saying: “I don’t agree that funding can be an issue.”

“Sorry if I sound like a broken record on this – but the approach makes me – as your Technical VP – pretty uncomfortable.”

Ann Pickard, Shell’s regional executive vice-president at the time, replied that Droll had exposed the company by expressing formal disagreement without legal protection.

“You have just exposed us significantly in your official disagreement as technical manager without legal privilege,” she wrote.

While acknowledging the decision was difficult, Pickard argued that continuing operations represented the “lower risk to both people and environment.”

Further internal records from 2012 reportedly show Shell classified sections of the pipeline as “red” due to extensive illegal tapping by oil thieves. Under the company’s own standards, that status required either an immediate shutdown or urgent corrective action.

Instead, executives approved continued operations, arguing that shutting down the line could trigger even more illegal connections elsewhere, according to the documents.

The disclosures come amid longstanding controversy over environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, where decades of oil production, spills, theft and illegal refining have polluted rivers, wetlands and farmlands.

Residents of Bille told the BBC that fishing grounds that once sustained local livelihoods have been devastated.

“Before 2011, here was a beautiful area. People play here and go into the river,” fisherman Balafama Augustus Bruce said.

“We used to fish around here. But because of the damage [the spills] have caused, nobody is fishing here again.”

Chief Boma Renner Dappa, spokesperson for the Bille local leaders’ council, accused Shell of prioritising profits over communities.

“All that has happened in this environment is as a result of negligence,” he told the BBC.

Shell disputes the claims. The company argues that most pollution was caused by large-scale oil theft, sabotage and illegal refining activities rather than operational failures. It says its Nigerian subsidiary invested heavily in spill response and prevention and worked with authorities and communities to address criminal activity.

“The documents selected are presented without the critical context of the operating environment in the Niger Delta at the time,” a Shell spokesperson told the BBC.

“In isolation, they do not reflect the challenges of working against the backdrop of widespread organised criminality.”

The lawsuit is expected to go to trial in the UK next year, with the communities arguing that key decisions affecting Shell’s Nigerian operations were ultimately taken by the company’s leadership in London.