Shell kept Nigeria oil flowing despite theft, Amnesty says

Amnesty International and a coalition of rights groups accused Shell executives of knowing that thieves were tapping Nigerian oil pipelines but keeping oil flowing to preserve profits.

The groups' report, released Wednesday, said a significant cause of pollution in the Niger Delta was Shell's failure to properly maintain wells and pipelines operated by its Nigerian subsidiary, the Shell Petroleum Development Company.

The report said executives at Shell and SPDC were aware of widespread oil theft, allegedly helped in part by corrupt SPDC employees. It quoted a 2013 internal presentation on tapped pipelines asking: “Are we comfortable to continue producing, KNOWING that further environmental damage WILL occur?”

Shell has said in court that it was not responsible for the actions of subsidiaries including SPDC, which it said operated independently. The rights groups said the internal presentation was prepared under Project Madrid, which involved senior parent company officials.

The report said Shell ultimately allowed tapped pipelines to operate “on a stop-start basis,” halting only when pollution passed a certain threshold.

Shell said the investigation “selectively referred to and quoted from documents in a way that creates a misleading impression.” Renaissance, a consortium of mostly Nigerian firms that bought SPDC in 2025, did not respond to the report.

The allegations are the latest in decades of claims about pollution by international petroleum companies in Nigeria. The report is based on internal audits and emails made public as Shell faces lawsuits from local communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Oil theft and illegal refining, known as “bunkering,” continue in Nigeria, though violence linked to militancy and oil theft has diminished since the 2000s. Most oil majors have left Nigeria's onshore fields for offshore sites, with local firms mostly taking their place. Shell and others are accused of offloading onshore sites to avoid paying for environmental damage they caused.