Shell is to be prosecuted for not telling the Dutch authorities quickly enough when one of its plants released ethylene oxide into the atmosphere in March 2004.

Shell says the company first thought less than 100kg had been released – the threshold for an official report. But it later transpired that up to 2,000kg had been released.
Ethylene oxide, a highly flammable product used in making other chemicals, was released during the start-up of its Moerdijk plant south of Rotterdam.