News & Politics
Shell to pay £55m to Niger Delta community for 2008 oil spills.
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has agreed to pay £55 million in compensation for two regrettable oil spills that occurred in Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State in 2008. Shell's subsidiary in Nigeria agrees to pay £55m to Bodo community in compensation for 2008 oil spills— will ross (@willintune) January 7, […]
By
Tomi Idowu
10 years ago
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has agreed to pay £55 million in compensation for two regrettable oil spills that occurred in Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State in 2008.
Shell is going to give each family affected by the spillage a compensation of £2200(614428.96 Naira) each and as a whole that totals £35 million while a sum of £20 million is to be used for the benefit of the Bodo community as a whole.
Around 11,000 or 15,000 residents of the Bodo community represented by a UK law firm, Leigh Day, appealed in 2011 to a London court for more than £300 million in compensation for the spilling of 500,000 barrels of oil.
The London High Court had in June 2014 rejected the community’s attempts to expand the scope of the compensation, ruling that the pipeline operator could not be held responsible for damage caused by oil theft.
Managing Director of SPDC, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, noted that from the outset, his company accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo.
“We have always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement. We are fully committed to the clean-up process being overseen by a former Netherlands’ Ambassador to Nigeria. Despite delays caused by divisions within the community, we are pleased that clean-up work will soon begin now that a plan has been agreed to with the community,” Sunmonu explained.
“However, unless real action is taken to end the scourge of oil theft and illegal refining, which remains the main cause of environmental pollution and is the real tragedy of the Niger Delta, areas that are cleaned up will simply become re-impacted through these illegal activities,” he added.
It is also worthy of note that Shell successfully sold an oil field in Nigeria in November for $600 million and so their compensation should not have such a dent on the multinational’s balance sheets.
