Shell agrees to pay €15m settlement for oil spills in Niger Delta

By Abubakar Yunus Abuja

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) says it will pay €15 million to communities in Nigeria that were affected by multiple oil pipeline leaks in the country’s Niger Delta region.

SPDC is the Nigerian subsidiary of global oil giant, Shell Plc.

The oil major made this known in a statement recently.

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

Four farmers had sued Shell in 2008 for oil spills in their villages: Goi, Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo.

The communities were impacted by four oil spills that 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,” the statement reads.

“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.”

According to Shell, 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,” Shell said.