Shell "warned Nigeria pipeline could leak before spills"

[DeadLetterOffice]

This is why I don't trust oil companies. Well, this and a few hundred other reasons, but you get the idea.

Oil firm Royal Dutch Shell was told a pipeline had reached the end of its life years before it spilled up to 500,000 barrels of oil, according to court documents seen by the BBC.

Two spills in 2008 affected about 35 sq miles (90 sq km) in southern Nigeria, according to a group suing Shell. The area included sensitive mangroves.

<snip>

In September 2006 - two years before the spills - a letter from Basil Omiyi, managing director of Shell's Nigeria business, SPDC, to the governor of Rivers State said that the pipeline was of "immediate and utmost concern".

Shell had not inspected the pipeline for several years due to difficulties in accessing it, he said.

"There is a risk and likelihood of rupture on this pipeline at any time, which if it happens, could have serious consequences for the safety of life, the environment and the nation's economy."

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29997074

[malokvale77]

1. No words. (nt)