Nigeria: Shell documents expose basket pipeline, missing wells and US$10.9bn decommissioning costs as pollution scandal grows
Shell must answer for decades of pollution in the Niger Delta after internal company documents revealed broken rules, failing infrastructure and unresolved clean-up costs that risk leaving affected communities to pay the price, a coalition of human rights and environmental organisations, including Amnesty International, said today in a new report.
The report, Nigeria: Lifting the Lid, analyses internal Shell emails, audits, presentations and confidential reviews disclosed in UK legal proceedings, revealing a wider human rights scandal than previously reported. While Shell presented its operations as meeting global standards, the documents point to concerns raised by the Nigerian army over alleged complicity in oil theft, suspected staff and contractor collusion, exemptions from safety standards, chronic neglect of known pipeline integrity risks, missing well data, weak leak detection and flawed spill monitoring.
Shell knew the risks from ageing and leaking infrastructure, including an old pipeline internally described as “a basket” [case], yet kept oil flowing. It later decided to divest its onshore business rather than face the enormous cost of clean-up and decommissioning, including an internal US$10.9 billion decommissioning estimate. A separate internal presentation stated that 375km² of mangrove forest had been harmed by pollution.
Amnesty International wrote to Shell on 3 July 2026 to share its findings related to the disclosed documents. In response to Amnesty’s report, Shell wrote that: “The characterisation and portrayal of Shell in your letter is not one we recognise. Shell is committed to honesty, integrity and respect for people, and to conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner.” Shell says that the findings do not reflect the “challenging operating environment in the Niger Delta at the time”. Their full response is included in the report.
“Shell has long blamed oil theft and sabotage for pollution in the Niger Delta. But these documents cut through years of denial and raise grave questions about what Shell knew, what it allowed to continue, and whether it then sought to walk away from the costs of its toxic legacy,” said Isa Sanusi, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
“The scandal was not simply illegal ‘bunkering’ or oil theft. The real scandal is Shell’s pursuit of profit at the expense of people’s rights. Shell was willing to accept further environmental damage in Nigeria that would not have been tolerated elsewhere, and years of public denial are now challenged by its own documents.”
The real scandal is Shell’s pursuit of profit at
the expense of people’s rights.
The report is published by Amnesty International together with The Corner House, Hawkmoth, HEDA Resource Centre, Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, Miideekor Environmental Development Initiative (MEDI), Recommon and Social Action. For affected communities, the findings confirm what many have said for decades: oil pollution has damaged water, farmland, fisheries, health and livelihoods, while companies continued to profit and deny responsibility.
“Shell cannot be allowed to take the oil, take the profits and leave the pollution behind. Communities in the Niger Delta deserve truth, justice, clean-up and full remedy,” said Olanrewaju Suraju, Chairman of the HEDA Resource Centre, a Nigerian governance and environmental justice NGO.
Concerns over role in oil theft, broken rules and failing infrastructure
The documents show that even while Shell blamed criminal gangs for oil theft, senior staff allowed illegal taps to remain on pipelines because removing them would “take considerable system downtime”, meaning the temporary suspension of profitable crude oil flows. One senior Shell manager wrote in 2013 that this had led the Nigerian security force responsible for pipeline security to accuse Shell of being “complicit” in oil theft “because we are not removing the bunkering points.” A Shell presentation that year, referring to the effects of the illegal tapping, asked: “are we comfortable to continue producing, KNOWING that further environmental damage WILL occur?”
The report also reveals that Shell exempted its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) from key elements of its global health and safety standards so oil could continue flowing through tampered pipelines, even when not deemed safe under Shell’s own safety rules. This was an approach one senior Shell executive appeared to acknowledge would not be tolerated elsewhere. Internal documents additionally show Shell executives suspected staff and contractors may have been involved in oil theft, with one email warning: “we have to work on the assumption that the bunkerers get good access to SPDC planning data.”
Internal audits further exposed serious weaknesses in Shell’s pipeline management, including a major maintenance backlog, weak oversight systems, and poor records on pipeline clamps that Shell had allowed to become permanent repairs on leaking pipelines. More than 1,600 clamps were registered, including older clamps whose locations were unknown.
A 2012 technical review also found that SPDC flowlines were supposed to be replaced every 15 years, but this was “not being followed” and only “breakdown maintenance” was being applied.
Shell cannot be allowed to take the oil, take the profits
and leave the pollution behind.
‘Missing’ oil wells, weak monitoring and flawed spill monitoring
An internal report in 2014 to Shell’s then CEO said there were “hundreds” of SPDC onshore wells that were either missing from its electronic well-tracking system or whose condition could not be verified. Shell later launched a “well hunt campaign”, which identified 750 overdue maintenance tasks that contributed to an “unsatisfactory” audit rating. A 2013 report also found that SPDC’s pipelines had no real-time monitoring system, despite the fact that quickly detecting spills and limiting contamination is key to reducing pollution. Without such monitoring, anything short of a major rupture could go unnoticed.
“A fossil fuel giant that could not verify the location and integrity of hundreds of wells and pipeline clamps, and lacked effective leak detection, cannot credibly claim it had pollution under control. Shell must stop deflecting blame,” said Dr Emem Okon from Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, a Nigeria-based group promoting women’s rights and environmental justice.
Shell’s claim that oil theft caused most pollution is also weakened by its own documents, which show staff were not properly equipped to tell whether spills were caused by corrosion or third-party interference. This matters because, although companies must clean up spills regardless of cause, under Nigerian laws affected communities are only entitled to compensation where spills are classified as operational rather than sabotage or theft.
“For communities seeking justice, Shell’s flawed spill monitoring could mean the difference between compensation and abandonment,” said Celestine Akpobari from MEDI, an NGO rooted in the Ogoni struggle, advocating for environmental restoration and justice.
For communities seeking justice, Shell’s flawed spill
assessments could mean the difference between
compensation and abandonment.
‘Basket’ pipeline left full of crude
The report also finds that Shell failed to properly decommission the old Nembe Creek Trunk Line after replacing it in 2010. A 2014 internal email said around 80km of the old pipeline was still filled with stagnant crude, with six operational spills since 2010, and could not be decommissioned because of budget constraints. The email described the pipeline as “a basket” and warned that more spills would follow without urgent action. The response appeared to confirm that the failure to decommission was primarily financial, despite recognition that action was needed to reduce environmental impact and liability.
“Shell knew old infrastructure was leaking and needed decommissioning, yet the documents suggest action was delayed because of cost. Communities should never have been forced to live with pollution because a company did not want to pay to clean up its own mess,” said Simon Taylor, co-founder of Hawkmoth, a Netherlands-based NGO advancing a just, accountable transition away from fossil fuels, with experience of challenging oil and gas abuses, including in Nigeria.
Divestment and unanswered US$10.9bn decommissioning costs
An internal report sent to Shell’s then CEO in 2014 estimated that decommissioning all existing SPDC assets could take decades and cost US$10.9 billion, equivalent to US$14 billion today, apparently excluding clean-up costs. Another internal presentation on past oil spills identified 375km² of affected mangrove forest and asked whether Shell had the “appetite” to take on the “open-ended problem”. Shell later sold SPDC to Renaissance Africa Energy in 2025, despite concerns over the new company’s capacity, limited public financial information and the need for up to US$1.2 billion in secured loans from Shell to support the acquisition itself.
“Shell’s divestment cannot become a corporate escape route. After decades of profiting from Niger Delta oil, Shell must not transfer the risks of ageing infrastructure and legacy pollution to communities or to a buyer whose capacity remains in serious doubt. It must pay its fair share whether or not it has the ‘appetite’ for accountability,” said Isaac Osuoka, Director at Social Action which advocates for environmental justice, community rights and accountability in the Niger Delta.
Shell must stop deflecting blame.
Clean-up, remedy and reform
Amnesty International and partner organizations are calling on Nigerian authorities to overhaul its oil industry oversight, require accessible audits of all operational and decommissioned infrastructure, and establish a properly resourced Niger Delta clean-up superfund.
“Shell is one of the world’s largest investor-owned fossil fuel companies. Its documents are now in the open. The question is whether governments will act on them,” said Isa Sanusi. “In addition to living with unacceptable oil pollution, Nigerians are experiencing extreme heat, deadly flooding and other extreme weather events linked to the global heating caused by the use of Shell’s primary product: fossil fuels. Nigeria must overhaul oversight of the oil industry, while UK and Dutch authorities must investigate whether Shell misled shareholders, regulators and affected communities about the true state of its operations and liabilities. Shell must stop hiding behind divestment, disclose the truth, fund clean-up and remedy, and ensure that affected communities finally receive justice.”
Shell must stop hiding behind divestment, disclose the
truth, fund clean-up and remedy, and ensure that
affected communities finally receive justice.
Background
In 2015, the Ogale and Bille communities filed UK legal action against Shell Plc and SPDC over serious oil pollution. The Bille case is due to be heard in March 2027.
Nigeria: Lifting the Lid analyses Shell documents from 2008 to 2014, including 27 redacted documents released in April 2026 after NGOs, Hawkmoth, Heda Resource Centre and Oil Change – UK, applied for publication in the public interest, plus further details from a May 2026 court filing.