Shell Agrees To Pay €15M Settlement for Oil Spills in Niger Delta
- Shell said it would pay 15 million euros to Niger Delta farmers to compensate them for damage from pipeline leaks
- According to a statement from the company, the money will be for the benefit of the communities and the individual claimants
- Four Niger Delta farmers and fishermen had sued Shell in the Netherlands to pay for cleaning up spills from its pipelines
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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 on Friday.
Source: Twitter
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.
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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.
Court stops shell from selling its Nigerian oil assets after company shifts focus, NNPC also gives conditions
Meanwhile, Shell Plc has been stopped from selling any of its oil assets in Nigeria as the oil company looks to diversify from oil production.
The decision was made by a court of appeal sitting in Imo state on Monday, March 14, 2022, until it pays a $2 billion penalty appeal for an alleged oil spill.
According to a Reuters report, during the hearing, a panel of three judges said Shell is restrained from “selling, allocating, vandalising or disposing off any of its assets/properties” pending the determination of the appeal.
Remittances to FG continues to decline
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that as the Nigerian government thinks of removing petrol subsidy next year, the country’s National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has continued to remit less amount of money to the federation account.
The NNPC remitted the sum of N10.54 billion to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in November 2021 from the proceeds of sales of crude oil and gas in October.
It gave this account during a presentation to FAAC for the month of December 2021, a report by Nairametrics says.
Source: Legit.ng
