Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development have disputed Shell’s assessment of the 2008 Bodo oil spill in Niger Delta, saying it was far worse than the company had previously admitted.
An independent assessment obtained by the groups showed that the spill was worse than what was reported by the oil company.
Shell’s report on the spill that resulted from a faulty pipeline in Bodo, a town of 69,000 people, claimed that only 1,640 barrels of oil were spilt in total during the period.
But in a statement on Monday, Amnesty International said the figure was contrary to an unpublished assessment report conducted by a US firm, Accufacts Inc, which stated that the total amount of oil spill within a 72-day period was between 103,000 barrels and 311,000 barrels.
“The difference is staggering. Even using...