LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Half a World From the Gulf, a Spill Scourge 5 Decades Old (front page, June 17), reporting that spills are a major problem in the Niger Delta, misses crucial context that explains why they happen.
You make a comparison between the Exxon Valdez spill and Nigeria. The two are completely different. The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria is the largest oil producer in the Niger Delta. In terms of volume, spills due to human error or equipment failure from its facilities over the last 10 years amounted to about 5 percent of the Exxon Valdez spill volume annually.
This is not to minimize the issue. Of course, any oil spill is a serious concern, and Shell works hard to reduce those within its control. It replaces equipment and hundreds of miles of pipelines each year. It compensates people affected, and it cleans up all spills, whatever the cause, as quickly and thoroughly as possible in an environmentally friendly way.
But most of the oil spilled from its facilities is because of sabotage and large-scale theft. These two causes accounted for 98 percent of its spill volume in 2009. Real progress to stop this wont happen without solutions to the root causes of widespread discontent in the delta. The very real security problems put our staff at risk and make it impossible to clean up spills as fast as we would like.
Mutiu Sunmonu
Managing Director, Shell Petroleum
Development Company of Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria, June 17, 2010
A version of this letter appeared in print on June 22, 2010, on page A26 of the New York edition.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
