Ogoni Community Drags Shell to London Court

Following a disagreement on the amount to be paid as compensation over the 2009 major oil spill that devastated their environment, the people of Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State have again dragged Shell Petroleum Development Company  (SPDC) Limited before a London Court.

The action was as a result of the failure of an out-of-court settlement between the community and Shell.

Former Secretary of Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders, Chief Saint Pii, told journalists in Port Harcourt  that the community decided to return to court because Shell refused to pay the 500 million pounds they demanded as compensation as part of the out-of-court settlement. He accused Shell of trying to pay peanuts as compensation to the over 10,000 indigenes of Bodo community as well as organisations that were affected by the oil spill, which occurred as a result of equipment failure in the oil giant’s facilities located in the community.

Shell offers to pay N7.5b for Bodo oil spill

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and the Bodo Community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State are inching close to a settlement in a compensation case which followed two major oil spills in 2008. About N7.5b has been offered already.

About 15,000 persons from the Bodo community sued SPDC over the development, which occurred in 2008 for which the company had accepted responsibility, although it insisted that the volume spilt and the number of those who lost their livelihood as a result are exaggerated.

Both parties nonetheless commenced talks on compensation but the talks broke down in 2012, following which the villagers filed a suit against the oil company at a London High Court in March 2012, seeking millions of dollars in compensation.

Sources close to the negotiators indicated that Shell has offered N7.5 Billion as compensation to the affected persons and the community. An official of Shell who would not discuss the figure offered however indicated that “SPDC and the Bodo community have both committed their full support to the clean up process currently in progress with the support of Bert Ronhaar, the former Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria. 

Shell to negotiate with Nigerians over oil spill compensation

Compensation talks will begin in Nigeria between lawyers for Royal Dutch Shell and for 15,000 Nigerian villagers who say their livelihoods were destroyed by oil spills from pipelines operated by the company. The Nigerians launched a suit against Shell at the High Court in London in March 2012, seeking millions of dollars in compensation for two oil spills in 2008 that polluted the waterways of the Bodo fishing communities in the Niger Delta. The legal action is being closely watched by the industry and by environmentalists for precedents that could have an impact on other big pollution claims against oil majors.

A vast maze of mangrove swamps and creeks, the Niger Delta is home to communities of subsistence farmers and fishermen living alongside the multi-billion-dollar oil industry.

A Shell spokesman confirmed that talks would begin on Monday September 9, 2013 between Leigh Day and lawyers for the Anglo-Dutch firm. They will take place in Port Harcourt, the main city in the Delta, and will be attended by representatives of the Bodo communities. The region has been plagued by a range of problems including sabotage, kidnappings of oil workers for ransom, theft of crude from pipelines, armed rebellions, and conflict between communities over clean-up contracts or compensation deals.

Shell accepts responsibility for the Bodo spills but the two sides disagree about the volume spilt and the number of local people who lost their livelihoods as a result. A previous round of compensation talks broke down in 2012, before the lawsuit.