Poison Fire
After five decades of oil production, the Niger Delta has become an environmental disaster zone. One and a half million tons of crude oil leaked into streams, farms and forests, equivalent to 50 Exxon Valdez disasters per year.
The natural gas contained in crude oil is not collected, but burned for decades in gas flares that burn day and night.
The combustion produces greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 18 million cars and releases toxic and carcinogenic substances in populated areas. Corruption is rampant, law and order are desolate, and people are dying. But the oil keeps flowing.
Poison Fire follows a group of local activists as they collect video testimonies from their communities about the impact of oil spills and gas flares.
We see streams full of crude oil, mangroves devastated, wells that have been leaking gas and oil for months. We have met people whose survival is threatened by the loss of farmland, fisheries and drinking water, as well as the health hazards of gas flaring.
We also spoke to Jonah Gbemre, who took Shell to court over gas flaring in his village and won a surprise court victory.
Ifie Lott travels to the Netherlands for Shell’s AGM. She wanted to ask a simple question: Will Shell comply with a court order to stop the burning?
