The data are uncertain: there have been many thousands of spills during this period – often poorly documented and their magnitude hidden or simply unmeasured by either the companies or the government. Indeed, just as BP was being hit with new criminal penalties, ExxonMobil announced yet another pipeline leak in the Niger Delta.
该数据并不准确：过去的50年中有好几千次石油溢出事故——通常这些事故都未被详细记录，其石油泄漏量常常被掩盖甚至被公司及政府故意忽略。确实，正当英国石油公司遭受新的刑事处罚时，埃克森美孚又通报了一起位于尼日尔三角洲的石油管道泄漏事件。