Oil Spillage: Shell To Pay $15m To Niger Delta Communities

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has agreed to pay the sum of €15 million to communities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region that were affected by multiple oil pipeline leaks.

The oil firm disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

The compensation is the outcome of a Dutch court case filed by Friends of the Earth, an international network of environmental organisations in 73 countries.

In 2008, four farmers sued Shell for oil spills in their villages: Goi, Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo. The four oil spills, which affected the communities, occurred between 2004 and 2007.

On January 29, 2021, a Dutch appeal court ruled that SPDC pays for damages caused by the oil spills.

Following the judgments of the court of appeal of The Hague, Shell said it has negotiated a settlement with Milieudefensie, a Dutch division of Friends of the Earth, for the benefit of the communities.

“The settlement is on a no-admission-of-liability basis, and settles all claims and ends all pending litigation related to the spills.

“Under the settlement, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC), as operator of the SPDC joint venture, will pay an amount of EUR 15 million for the benefit of the communities and the individual claimants.

“An independent expert has confirmed that SPDC, as operator of the SPDC joint venture, has installed a leak detection system on the 20 lines that form the KCTL pipeline in compliance with the judgment of the court of appeal of The Hague, the Netherlands,” the statement read.

Shell further disclosed that the parties agreed that remediation has been completed and certified by relevant regulatory in accordance with Nigerian law.

“The parties agree this also follows from the judgments of the court of appeal,” it added.