Global human rights watchdog,Amnesty International has said international oil companies like Shell and Eni are negligent when it comes to addressing the issue of oil spills in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Describing their actions as serious, Amnesty said the oil companies took weeks ‘to respond to reports of spills and published misleading information about the cause and severity of spills, which may result in communities not receiving compensation.’

Shell and Eni have for decades been two of the most active oil majors operating in the  Niger Delta region and whose activities have led to ecological disaster in the zone. The region  is scarred by decades of spills which have killed plants and aquatic animals.

Under Nigerian law, companies must visit sites within 24 hours of reporting a spill  but oil companies frequently attribute these spills to sabotage while the host communities claim that they happen  as a result of other issues like corrosion.

According to Amnesty, Shell has reported 1,010 spills since 2011 and Eni 820 since 2014. It added that out of the 1,830 reported cases, 89 were found by the oil companies to have reasonable doubts surrounding the causes of the spills.