Shell knowingly continued pumping oil through a corroded pipeline in Nigeria for years despite multiple internal warnings that the conduit was unfit for purpose. A cache of leaked documents obtained by this publication shows that senior executives were repeatedly told the Trans-Niger Pipeline was at risk of catastrophic failure yet did nothing to halt operations.
The documents, which comprise more than 500 pages of emails, engineering reports and board minutes, date from 2015 to 2020. They reveal that Shell’s own integrity management team flagged the pipeline’s ‘accelerated degradation’ as early as 2016, recommending an immediate shutdown for repairs. The recommendation was overruled by the company’s Nigerian subsidiary, which cited ‘production targets’ and ‘contractual obligations’. Sources confirm the pipeline continued to run at full capacity.
‘It’s a money over people decision, plain and simple,’ said a former Shell engineer with direct knowledge of the pipeline operations. ‘Every day we ran that line, we were rolling the dice. The corrosion rate was off the charts. We told them the next spill could be a major one, the kind that poisons water for decades. They didn’t care as long as the oil flowed.’
The pipeline, which carries crude from the Niger Delta to the export terminal at Bonny, has been responsible for at least 17 major spills between 2017 and 2020, according to data from the Nigerian oil spill monitor. The leaks have devastated fishing communities and farmland in Bayelsa and Rivers states. The documents suggest that many of these spills were foreseeable and avoidable.
In one internal email from November 2017, a Shell corrosion engineer wrote: ‘We are operating beyond the design life. The wall thickness in several sections is below minimum. I cannot guarantee the integrity of the pipeline for another year.’ The email was copied to two senior managers in Shell’s Nigerian division. Neither replied. The pipeline was not shut down until two years later, and then only for two months.
Shell has a long history of legal trouble over its Nigerian operations. The company is currently defending a class action lawsuit in the UK brought by 11,000 Nigerian farmers and fishermen over oil spills. A separate case in the Netherlands concerns liability for spills in the Niger Delta. The leaked documents are likely to strengthen the claimants’ arguments that Shell knew about the risks but chose to ignore them.
A Shell spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the documents but denied any wrongdoing. ‘The Trans-Niger Pipeline is subject to rigorous inspection and maintenance. Our integrity management processes are designed to ensure safe operations. The suggestion that we knowingly endangered communities is categorically false.’ However, the spokesperson refused to say why the integrity team’s recommendations were overruled or why the pipeline was not shut down.
This is not the first time Shell has been accused of putting profit before safety. In 2019, a whistleblower revealed that the company had used falsified maintenance records for years to avoid shutdowns. That scandal led to a fine of £1.2 million from the UK regulator. The new documents go further, showing that senior management was actively involved in the decision to ignore engineering advice.
‘Shell has a pattern of delay, deny and deflect when it comes to Nigeria,’ said Dr. Kemi Ogunlade, a lecturer in environmental justice at the University of Lagos. ‘These documents show that the company knew the pipeline was dangerous and kept it running. That is not negligence, it’s criminal. They should be prosecuted.’
Shell said it is reviewing the documents and will cooperate with any investigations. But for the communities living along the pipeline, the damage is done. The oil has already been spilled, the water has already been poisoned, and the company’s profits have already been banked.
