Shell snared by its internal email in Nigerian oil spill case
Court documents reveal that Royal Dutch Shell had been warned that a N igerian pipeline had reached the end of its life years before it spilled up to 500 000 barrels of oil.
BBC News reports that two spills in 2008 took place in Bodo, a town in the Ogoniland region, where people interviewed for an Amnesty International report into the effects of the incident reported headaches and eyesight problems. The claimants, who are suing for a clean-up plus damages, say the illegal refining only started in earnest after the spills, which killed the fish they rely on for food and their livelihoods. An internal Shell email in December 2009 said the firm was 'corporately exposed as the pipelines in Ogoniland have not been maintained properly or integrity assessed for over 15 years', according to the report. 'The decision by Shell to continue pumping oil through pipelines which they knew were not fit for purpose is quite shocking,' said Martyn Day, a senior partner at Leigh Day, the lawyers representing the community filing the claim. The report says Shell, in documents submitted in its defence, admits its pipeline failed due to a faulty weld, but disputes the volume of spilled oil. Full BBC News report Full Amnesty International statement