WikiLeaks: Shell Oil Infiltrated Nigerian Gov't

The Shell logo is seen on a flag outside a Shell gas station in Fleet, England, July 29, 2010.

/ AFP/Getty Images

A high-ranking executive for the international Shell oil company once bragged to U.S. diplomats that the company's employees had so well infiltrated the Nigerian government that officials had "forgotten" the level of the company's access.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, could access Nigerian politicians' every movement from the employees it placed in the government, the Guardian newspaper of London reported on its website Wednesday evening.

Special Report: WikiLeaks

The disclosure comes from the trove of secret State Department cables released to a number of news outlets by the document-dumping website WikiLeaks.

Royal Dutch Shell, which owns more than half of the stock in the Houston-based Shell Oil Co., inserted so many employees into the Nigerian government because of the country's access to the oil rich Niger Delta, the Guardian reported.

Nigeria ranks as No. 8 on the list of oil exporting countries and produces the most oil among African nations, the Guardian reported. Shell has been blamed for extensive pollution and damaging the environment in the delta, the Guardian reported.

Although the country's oil reserves earn billions in oil revenue, 70 percent of the country's populations lives below the poverty line, the Guardian reported.

The oil company infiltrated the government so well that it swapped intelligence with U.S. diplomats, the Guardian reported. Shell provided names of Nigerian officials who allegedly supported militant actions and asked if militants were armed with anti-aircraft missiles.

More on WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks: Contractors Hired Afghan Dancing Boys
WikiLeaks Hacker Friends Claim MasterCard Attack
Cyberwar over WikiLeaks a Sign of the Future?
PayPal Takes Punches from Pro-WikiLeaks Hackers
WikiLeaks: Lockerbie Bomber Freed after Threats
WikiLeaks Winning the Info War So Far
Julian Assange Arrested in UK, Denied Bail
WikiLeaks: U.S. Can't Stop Middle East Arms Race
Swiss Cut Off WikiLeaks' Bank Account
WikiLeaks' Swedish Servers May Be Under Attack
Video: Julian Assange's Life on the Run
WikiLeaks Reveals U.S. Strategic Sites List

[wereinthearmynow]

Remember one thing especially if you are from another country. THE POLITITIONS are not the American people. We think we are voting for people that have our best interest in mind, then we find out they do not! The US Government has sold the very ground from underneath us behind our backs.
American's are the most giving of any nation.
NOT THE politicians, the people. I am so sick of our politicians that I refused to vote in November. What greedy bastard is up next? I DO NOT care! Politicians never will get my vote again because there is not an honest one out there. My husband asked me what I would like for Christmas. I told him...cases of ammunition babe we are going to need it for the civil war!!

[TheKnowerseeker]

"The oil company infiltrated the government so well that it swapped intelligence with U.S. diplomats, the Guardian reported. Shell provided names of Nigerian officials who allegedly supported militant actions and asked if militants were armed with anti-aircraft missiles." -- Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, that'll never be a resource for American intelligence again.

[johnadonovan]

Voluminous evidence suggests that Royal Dutch Shell is the most evil company on the planet and not just because of its alleged plunder and pollution of Nigeria. Google: "Royal Dutch Shell Nazi Secrets"

[linfinster]

"Although the country's oil reserves earn billions in oil revenue, 70 percent of the country's populations lives below the poverty line, the Guardian reported."

Such a disgrace to both Shell and the countrymen at fault for being so greedy!

[YrWrongAgain]

Nigeria had a government last long enough to take a bribe? What a scoop!

[rwsmith29456]

Let's go back to rubber plantations.

[j40405]

An oil company infiltrates the government. IS this really something no one would know? How could they NOT infiltrate an obscenely corrupt government of an African Nation. Does anyone realize that ALL African Governments are nothing but cesspools of crime and corruption. HMM, Where could they possibly learn to be that way?

[wjksea]

Oh my ! shock and awe! Is that why just like the Saudis, the Nigerian royals lead such ravishing lives while their people are subjugated and in many cases, uneducated and left with a world of corruption and chaos?

[Molly-Pchr]

Wow, I sure needed to know this. Corruption in the world? Oh, I never would have guessed. Wickedleaks is a joke. They insult my intelligence.

[newsbarn]

Keep em comin wikileaks! finally things are being put out in the open about the corruption of major corporations, banks and the US government. No wonder they want to shut them down. And they call Assange a terrorist? hahahaha..yea right....the big corporations, banks and the US and more dangerous than osama bin laden ever was...