内容摘要：Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conway, Ark. (5,171 square feet)

Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conway, Ark. (5,171 square feet)

The company said accidents aboard the Bonga fell from an average of one per year to zero after 2018, and spills by 90% since 2020. Safety experts look after Prelude, Shell said, while the Brazilian ship was decommissioned. The U.S. accident isn’t reflective of the company’s culture, the company said. The company also noted more than 90% of those surveyed in 2021 felt positive about another category measured, the Bonga’s safety processes.Rich Howe, Shell’s vice president for deep water operations, said a “relentless focus on safety” was “deeply ingrained in the Shell culture” and was “widely recognized.”

“These documents are evidence of that culture,” he said, speaking about the internal report and surveys.The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’sfor working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at

Off the coast of Nigeria, one of the world’s largest oil production ships, called the Bonga, was taking oil from a field on the ocean floor and transferring it to a tanker ship. Such transfers are routine in the offshore oil industry, but something went wrong on the Bonga, owned by energy giant Shell.A major leak began in one of the lines that connected the two vessels. Over the next three hours, the crew detected that more oil was being pumped from the ship than the tanker was receiving. Another hour passed before an oily sheen was spotted on the water. An hour after that, the crew member in charge of the fueling shut off the flow.

By then, about 40,000 barrels of oil had escaped into the Atlantic Ocean, according to an English High Court evaluation, making the December 2011 incident one of Nigeria’s worst spills in a decade. At the height of the spill, an oil slick spread over 685 square miles (1,776 square kilometers), twice the size of New York City. Nigerian regulators later fined the subsidiary Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) $3.6 billion, an amount being appealed today.

Now a confidential review of Shell’s fleet of production ships, obtained by The Associated Press, plus internal company safety surveys and interviews with two whistleblowers, show that as recently as three years ago — almost 11 years after the Bonga spill — there were safety issues with the fleet, including the Bonga. The 2022 review found fault with the same systems involved in the Bonga spill. The whistleblowers said the problems risk another Bonga-type disaster.A Kashmiri Muslim bride sits along with others during a mass marriage of 51 couples in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, May. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Kashmiri Muslim bride sits along with others during a mass marriage of 51 couples in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, May. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)South Korean Air Force’s Black Eagles aerobatic team performs during the first day of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore, Feb. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

South Korean Air Force’s Black Eagles aerobatic team performs during the first day of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore, Feb. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)A Hindu devout hits another with burning coconut leaves, sending sparks and embers flying, in a ritual known as Lukat Gni, as part of Balinese Hindu New Year celebrations, in Bali, Indonesia, March 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)