By definition, a single unauthorized tap rendered a pipeline non-compliant and required immediate corrective action or shutdown.
Internal Shell documents from late 2012 reveal that the company formally requested and approved an exception to its global Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Social Performance (HSSE & SP) control framework, allowing operations to continue on compromised pipelines in Nigeria despite failing to meet technical integrity standards.
The application, filed by Arie Dijksman and endorsed by Pipeline Asset Manager Jurgen Janzen at the time, acknowledged that Shell’s Nigerian pipelines had been classified as “red” under GAIR definitions due to numerous illegal connections installed by oil thieves.
By definition, a single unauthorized tap rendered a pipeline non-compliant and required immediate corrective action or shutdown.
However, the company argued that shutting down the system to remove all illegal taps would take considerable time and risk worsening the problem, as thieves often installed new connections during downtime.
