{"id":60818,"date":"2026-06-03T13:18:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=60818"},"modified":"2026-06-03T13:18:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:18:52","slug":"greenpeace-africa-responds-to-bbc-investigation-revealing-shell-knew-of-niger-delta-pipeline-pollution-risks-and-kept-pumping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/60818\/greenpeace-africa-responds-to-bbc-investigation-revealing-shell-knew-of-niger-delta-pipeline-pollution-risks-and-kept-pumping\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace Africa responds to BBC investigation revealing Shell knew of Niger Delta pipeline pollution risks and kept pumping"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wednesday, June 3 <\/strong>– Internal Shell documents obtained by the BBC<\/a> show that Shell continued operating the Nembe Creek Trunk Line in Nigeria for years while it knew the pipeline was causing widespread pollution, overriding warnings from its own technical executives and its own operating standards. Sections of the pipeline were classified “red” under Shell’s own rules, a status requiring immediate shutdown. Shell kept the oil flowing.<\/p>\n\n

Responding to the revelations, Sherelee Odayar, Oil and Gas Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

“Shell saw the danger in its own files and chose profit over people. Its engineers raised the alarm. Its own standards demanded a shutdown. Its executives kept the oil flowing and worried about legal privilege while the rivers of the Niger Delta turned to poison.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

“This is wilful neglect. The communities of Bille lost their fishing grounds to a company that weighed their lives against its margins and decided the margins came first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

“Shell banked the profit for decades while Bille paid in lost fishing grounds and ruined health. Under the Polluter Pays Principle, that debt comes due. Shell must pay to clean the water, restore the land, and compensate the people whose livelihoods it destroyed. Justice for the petitioners means Shell answers for every barrel spilt and every life upended.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa stands with the Bille community and every Niger Delta family demanding accountability. The verdict the people of the Delta deserve is simple. The polluter must pay, and in full.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Internal Shell documents obtained by the BBC show that Shell continued operating the Nembe Creek Trunk Line in Nigeria for years while it knew the pipeline was causing widespread pollution, overriding warnings from its own technical executives and its own operating standards. Sections of the pipeline were classified “red” under Shell’s own rules, a status requiring immediate shutdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":60821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[46,137,26],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-60818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protecttheenvironment","tag-greenpeaceafrica","tag-nigeria","tag-energy","p4-page-type-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60823,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60818\/revisions\/60823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60818"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=60818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}