Dustup over Nigeria oil spill report

ABUJA, Nigeria, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- It is too early to criticize a U.N.-backed examination into oil spills in the Niger Delta, a U.N. environmental group said.

Amnesty International is criticizing the U.N. Environment Program for a study in Nigeria that the advocacy group says clears petroleum company Shell of oil spills in the country.

The group said in a statement to Nigerian newspaper Next that UNEP relied on information from Shell when carrying out its investigations. Amnesty International said that much of the findings in the $9.5 million study are out of step with reports from the environmental group.

"They (UNEP) are totally lacking in credibility," Amnesty International told the newspaper. "The people of the Niger Delta have been lied to and denied justice for decades."

The UNEP report indicates 10 percent of the oil spills in the Niger Delta were the fault of equipment failure by companies such as Shell. The oil company is allegedly funding the study.

Environmental groups in Nigeria said 50 years worth of disasters have left more than 9 million barrels of oil spilled in the Delta region

UNEP said it has yet to complete its field work for the report, adding released information regarding the Niger Delta spills is based on an incomplete assessment, the newspaper reported.

The complete report, UNEP said, would be available next year.