For 13 years, British tankers have filled up on Angolan crude oil and left behind a trail of what residents describe as systematic, routine destruction.

One small patch of BP co-owned Angolan seabed – known as Kizomba A in Block 15 – has cumulatively spilled oil across an area covering at least nine times the size of London, according to satellite imagery analysis.

The oil clogs the fishing nets. It blackens cassava, oranges and bananas, and dries the coconut trees. It poisons the fish that the communities in the northern provinces of Zaire and Cabinda depend on to survive.

Many go for days without eating while others feel they have no option but to eat the toxic food, exposing residents to potential carcinogens and gastrointestinal distress.

The toxic hydrogen sulfide released by the oil extraction activity permeating banana crops is also a breathing hazard. Its sulphurous, rotten-egg odour causes nausea and vomiting.

Meanwhile, BP policies commit to mitigating human-rights impacts and addressing environmental harm.

The block is operated by ExxonMobil and co-owned by Azule Energy, a joint venture between BP (UK) and Eni (Italy), Equinor (Norway) and Sonangol (Angola). Under Angolan law, all associate companies in a concession are liable for environmental damage and reporting oil spills.

During the spills, BP and operator ExxonMobil have bought and sold millions of barrels of oil from the block, according to trade data analysed by Declassified , while BP also charters its ships for other companies’ trade from the block.

Across 2022-25, BP cumulatively reports earning $2.15bn from Azule Energy and receiving $2.11bn in dividends, while consistently valuing its Azule investment at more than $5bn.

Despite the devastating health consequences and complaints from residents, the spills continue.

‘Chronic spill’

Satellite analysis found no trace of oil leaks before the Kizomba A platform was installed in 2002 – with the first signs appearing in 2003 when extraction began, medium-sized spills persisting for weeks from 2007 and a permanent discharge visible from 2013.

Since then, a minimum of 19 barrels of oil appear to have been dispersed across 3 square kilometres every day in Block 15, our analysis shows.

This represents a cumulative total of around 90,000 barrels in the most conservative scenario – a disaster comparable to the 1999 Erika tanker sinking which forced changes to European maritime laws after devastating wildlife and industry along France’s Atlantic coast.

One expert told Declassified that it is “possible” that the spill is equivalent to around 4.5 million barrels, which is very close to the spillage of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Satellites can detect the surface area of an oil spill but not its thickness, meaning spills could be larger.

The gap with Angola’s official record is stark. Based on seven years of data, national oil agency ANPG reports an average of just 450 spilled barrels a year across every offshore block in the country, a fraction of the minimum figure estimated for Block 15 alone.

Children play on Praia dos Pobres, a beach in the northern Angolan town of Soyo which overlooks an LNG refinery (Photo: Giorgio Michalopoulos)

“The analysis shows abundant evidence of a persistent oil discharge that, based on satellite imagery, did not exist before 2002, suggesting this floating oil to be produced by human intervention, given also the proximity to the oil producers’ infrastructure,” said Oscar Garcia, a geoscientist and founder of Water Mapping LLC, who reviewed the findings.

“Driven by surface currents and wind, a persistent spill like this can definitively reach the shoreline – a scenario we have seen play out almost identically in the Gulf of Mexico and California.”

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said: “Inspections found no evidence of operational anomalies, equipment failures or loss of containment from Block 15 facilities that would account for the observed sheen or alleged impacts.”

Attributing the spills to natural seepages, they said: “ExxonMobil has engaged the appropriate authorities and continues to monitor the area and evaluate available data.”

The oil company did not reply to our request for an oil sample from the spill site. This testing would allow independent scientists to verify its natural-seepage claim.

Donald Boesch, a marine scientist President Obama appointed to the National Commission of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, likened the Kizomba A spill to the “chronic” Taylor Energy spill which leaked in the Gulf of Mexico for nearly 15 years before it was contained.“There’s a pretty direct parallel between the two…That’s a lot of oil over 13 years,” Boesch said.

Residents’ own memories track closely with the satellite record. They recall the biggest spills occurring in 2003, 2005 and 2025 in Cabinda, and in 2020 near Soyo, with smaller spills a near-constant presence in between.

Analysis of prevailing wind and current data around Block 15 supports their testimony that part of the detected pollution is likely to travel to shore.

Offshore activities threaten a rich marine ecosystem, from mackerel and tuna to manatees, dolphins and endangered sea turtles that nest along the coast. Angola’s shoreline also supports mangroves and seagrass beds, with cold-water corals farther offshore.

Despite concerns raised by residents, ExxonMobil and its partners were last year granted an extension to keep Block 15 operating until 2037.

After more than 50 years operating in the country, BP moved its Angolan business into Azule Energy, a joint venture with Eni, in 2022. BP has joint control of Azule Energy and BP executive Gordon Birrell is an Azule non-executive director.

Azule is investing heavily to find, extract and produce more oil and gas from Block 15 which is one of Angola’s most productive oil-producing areas.

Its 2025 annual report said it had committed to spend $1.33bn on long-term infrastructure, with the vast majority earmarked for Block 15 and another offshore block in Namibia.

‘There are days we do not even eat’

For those living along the coast, the consequences are measured in kilos of fish, not barrels of oil.

“There are days that we do not even eat… every single day we are at the sea,” said João. “We used to come home with 30 kilos of catch. Three days ago, I came back without any fish.”

Sardines and corvina, once staples, have “drastically decreased”. In June, a spill left them without fish for a month.

Cabinda fishermen described catches that were already dead or smelled of oil when cut open but had to be eaten anyway.

When fish are scarce and crops are ruined, residents turn to cassava leaves for protein. Kizaka , an Angolan stew of pounded cassava leaves, oil and peanuts becomes a staple.

But even that fallback is not reliable: “Our fields are rotten… When we collect it, it is often already rotten, with insects inside and this fermented smell,” João said, echoed by the Cabinda residents.

In another Cabinda community, they say oranges and tangerines no longer grow at all.

Spikes in illness

Nurses in Zaire and Cabinda’s former health secretary told Declassified patient registries showed increases in flu, skin infections, malaria and gastrointestinal illnesses, which they linked to oil pollution.

“When a spill is observed in water, there is a higher frequency of flu, acute diarrhoeal diseases and vomiting,” one nurse told us on condition of anonymity, showing the patient registries. “Their lives depend on the sea.”

They linked gastrointestinal illnesses, including food poisoning, to polluted fish and skin infections to polluted seawater, while fever, constipation, coughing and diarrhoea-related dehydration were also common. Children experienced the most severe symptoms, according to the nurse and former health official.

Dr. Carlotta Tati, former Cabinda health secretary, said she had observed a rise in cancer cases that she connects to oil extraction, adding that state authorities do not formally track this data.

Cabinda’s former health secretary, Dr. Carlotta Tati, in her office (Photo: Giorgio Michalopoulos)

“For a long time now, no one has been studying the causes of these cancers, but there’s a very high incidence here,” she told Declassified .

She described elevated rates of liver cancer which she associates with contaminated food, and lung cancer among long-term oil workers, saying: “Here, 41-year-olds are dying of it, and we are not a population of smokers.”

“Our ocean is so polluted,” she added. “The kids like going to the beach, but they constantly suffer from skin conditions. Our sea isn’t clear and blue, it’s brown, murky water. Many people have skin problems, and sometimes we’ve also seen some cases of skin cancer here.”

No epidemiological study has established a causal link between local oil extraction and these cancer rates in Angola. Dr. Tati’s observations reflect her clinical records rather than a formal public health investigation.

Residents in Zaire and Cabinda also describe a rotten-egg smell linked to the pollution that causes nausea and stomach sickness.

“Even if we are far in the forest, we can smell it, usually around 3/4pm. It is the usual smell of rotten eggs, it makes us sick in the stomach,” said Francisco. Nevertheless, they go on working. “Our energy continues. It must continue.”

The Say-Do gap

The companies operating in these waters describe their safety records in absolute terms.

ExxonMobil claims to have a “zero-spill mindset”, while BP says: “no accidents, no harm to people and no damage to the environment.”

“Aside from being a violation of their own corporate environmental policies, these spills clearly breach the rights of affected communities in Angola,” said Harj Narulla, a leading Doughty Street barrister specialising in climate litigation.

“Oil spills of this kind often lead to large compensation payments to victims, potentially running into the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. For example, BP paid over $65 billion to clean up the Deepwater Horizon spill, including large settlements with communities and governments affected.”

BP’s policies commit to mitigating human-rights impacts on local communities and addressing environmental harm. Azule has adopted similar commitments on human rights and pollution prevention.

Crude oil contamination has left fruit trees blackened in local communities (Photo: Giorgio Michalopoulos)

BP is also a founding member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a global initiative which advocates for corporate accountability and openness. However, the company’s reporting does not disclose spills or associated human-rights violations at ventures it owns but does not operate.

Since BP’s Angolan business has moved to Azule, it says it monitors how risk is managed in non-operated joint ventures and provides staff with resources to influence them on sustainability, including engagement in human rights.

Angolan law does not leave reporting to voluntary commitment. Every spill over one barrel or any significant environmental impact must be reported. Companies must have prevention plans and take “effective measures” to control and clean up pollution, including seeking assistance from other oil companies if needed.

Companies that fail to comply face fines of between $5,000 and $500,000 or suspension from extraction activities. All associate companies of a block, not just the operator, are jointly and severally liable.

The environment, petroleum and fisheries ministries are jointly responsible for oil spill preparedness and response, while ANPG is responsible for regulatory compliance and oversight over all petroleum operations.

Against this legal backdrop, the companies’ own sustainability filings describe remarkably clean operations. BP declares 110 oil spills in 2025, of which it contained 57.

For the same year, ANPG reported just 20 barrels across three incidents nationwide.

“The local government knows everything,” António, an especially respected member of one Cabinda community, said. “We are already suffering. The people who should be solving the problems of the people are not here.”

Regulatory blind spot

An accountability gap is built into how harm is reported, leaving communities with little external leverage even where a company’s home-country rules are, on paper, robust.

BP and Azule do not report spills on assets they own but do not operate, despite their stated aim of keeping non-operated assets in line with their environmental, social and governance policies. Azule’s 2025 annual report acknowledges that “production was affected by a series of reliability and operational issues in Block 15 (Mondo and Kizomba A)” but does not provide further detail.

As neither ExxonMobil, BP nor their partners report spill volumes broken down by country, independent verification is difficult. Satellite analysis has therefore become one of the only tools available to communities and researchers.

WWF senior policy advisor Lawrence Picton said there must still be accountability to investors.

“If they’re listed in the UK, they will be liable to UK investors,” he said. “Whenever they raise money, they have to be honest about what the money will be used for and the climactic impacts of the company, where it’s relevant to investors.”

“Has the investor been misled? That’s one of the main legal challenges.”

BP has been subject to Financial Conduct Authority requirements for Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures-aligned climate disclosures since its 2021 financial year and statutory UK climate-related financial disclosures since its 2023 financial year. These standards require reporting on financially material climate-related risks.

Broader Companies Act non-financial standards require the disclosure of “the impact of the company’s business on the environment” under 414C . However this is subject “to the extent necessary for an understanding of the development, performance or position of the company’s business.”

“Any drop of oil spilt in high waters will get here,” Mateus, a Cabinda fisherman said. “We should be compensated for our damages… smaller spills are constant – for those, no one is taking responsibility.”

“We are not asking for constant attention; the country is big… but at least a little bit of attention… remember us, we suffer from the oil.”

BP, Azule Energy, ANPG, the Angolan Ministry of Health and Ministry of Environment did not respond to requests for comment. Equinor referred comments to ExxonMobil.

An Eni spokesperson said: “’Eni has no direct interest in the asset” and referred questions regarding Block 15 operations “to Exxon, the Operator.”

Satellite detection and analysis of the Kizomba A oil spill were led by independent researcher Guillermo Tamburini-Beliveau , which was the starting point for this investigation.

This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe

*All names have been changed and individual community names omitted for their safety.

The post Revealed: The BP-linked oil spill leaving Angolans sick and hungry appeared first on Declassified UK .