By Eduard Gismatullin and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo – Dec 23, 2011 9:13 AM GMT
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europes largest oil company, confirmed the source of what could be Nigerias worst offshore spill in more than a decade to a leak in a flexible export line to a tanker.
Cleanup operations continued to the leak in the line between the tanker and production facility, The Hague-based Shell said in an update on its website. The company shut its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga offshore field after it leaked less than 40,000 barrels earlier this week.
The sheen has thinned considerably due to a combination of natural factors and dispersant application, and in places is breaking up, all of which should aid further dissipation, Mutiu Sunmonu, Shells chairman for Nigeria, said in the statement late yesterday.
The Anglo-Dutch company deployed five ships to spray dispersants and brought experts in to fight the spill. Bonga, Nigerias first deepwater discovery, produces almost 10 percent of the countrys crude, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the coast.
The leak could be the countrys worst since a January 1998 Exxon Mobil Corp. spill dumped an estimated 40,000 barrels into the sea from the Idoho platform on the southeastern coast, with slicks reported as far west as Lagos.
Shell had planned to export five cargoes of 1 million barrels each of Bonga crude a month from December to February, loading programs obtained by Bloomberg News show.
The damaged export line was isolated three days ago and the facility remains closed.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at [email protected]
To contact the reporters on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at [email protected]
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: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
