From Extraction to Eruption: Oil, Gas, and the Unfolding Environmental and Health Crisis in Bille Kingdom

A subterranean gas eruption is turning a riverine community into an escalating environmental and public health emergency

Nigerian community of Bille has faced a growing environmental disaster caused by subterranean gas eruptions from decaying oil infrastructure originally built by Shell in the 1960s. Our new report details the depressing health, economic, social, and environmental conditions of community members, showing how the crisis has contaminated all local water sources with toxic hydrocarbons and methane, causing respiratory illnesses, ecosystem collapse, and fire risks. Despite preliminary investigations, government responses—including a small state relief package—have been fragmented and inadequate, exposing deep failures in regulatory oversight and asset management that threaten a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe. 

For details of our new report, read more.