SHELL TO PAY €15 MILLION TO NIGERIAN FARMERS OVER OIL SPILLS IN NIGERIA

Fri 23 December 2022:

The oil corporation Shell has stated that it will pay 15 million euros ($15.9 million) to communities in Nigeria that were impacted by many oil pipeline spills in the Niger Delta.

“The settlement is on a no admission of liability basis, and settles all claims and ends all pending litigation related to the spills,” Shell said on Friday in a joint statement with the Dutch division of Friends of the Earth.

The compensation is the result of a Dutch court case brought by Friends of the Earth, in which Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC was found responsible for the oil spills and ordered to pay farmers’ damages last year.

The funds will go to the Nigerian communities of Oruma, Goi, and Ikot Ada Udo, which were impacted by four oil spills between 2004 and 2007.

According to the company, an independent expert confirmed that SPDC had installed a leak detection system on the KCTL pipeline in accordance with the appeal court’s orders.

Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) recorded 822 combined oil spills in 2020 and 2021, totaling 28,003 barrels of oil spilled into the environment. According to experts, the Niger Delta’s life expectancy is now 41 years, ten years lower than the national average.

Shell stated last year that it still believes the spills were caused by sabotage, despite the appeals court’s final ruling.

However, the court ruled that Shell had not proven “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the spill was caused by sabotage rather than poor maintenance.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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