Shell spills 4,000 barrels of oil in Niger Delta: report

Oil company Shell is once again involved in a major oil spill in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Due to a leak, the equivalent of 3,800 barrels of oil have drained away, Reuters reports. According to Shell, the damage was caused by a failed attempt to drain oil. Shell is trying to repair the damage to nature and pipelines. Thus far about 1,200 barrels of oil have been cleaned up. Shell's activities in Nigeria have been under fire for years because of the great environmental damage caused by leaking oil. Critics blame the oil pollution in the are on aging pipelines and negligence. According to Shell, the pipelines on the mainland are often illegally tapped and that is the cause of contamination. The Nigerian parliament recently determined that Shell must bay nearly 4 billion dollars (3.2 billion euros) for the damage caused by an oil leak in the offshore Bonga oil field at the end of 2011. There nearly 40 thousand barrels of oil drained into the sea.