Shell Ordered to Pay $111 Million in Damages for a 1970's Oil Spill

Shell Ordered to Pay $111 Million in Damages for a 1970's Oil Spill 

Shell, one of the world's six supermajor oil corporations, has agreed to pay N 45.9 billion (naira) (US $111.6 million) to resolve a decades-old legal dispute over an oil leak that happened during the Biafran-Nigerian civil war.

The lawsuit was filed in 1991 by a group of 10 Ogoni community members led by Chief Isaac Agbara in Eleme, Rivers State, demanding damages from the Nigerian arm of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for extensive contamination caused by a burst pipeline in 1970. Shell refused to accept responsibility for the oil leak, blaming it on a third party.

Shell must pay the compensation within 21 days, according to an order issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja. Shell's request that the money be sent to the court was denied by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, who also ordered that the money be delivered directly to the Ogoni people's counsel.

In 2010, a Nigerian court penalized SPDC about $41 million after nearly 20 years. Shell filed numerous appeals, all of which were unsuccessful. In 2019, the Nigerian Supreme Court upheld the community's victory in court. Authorities confiscated assets belonging to First Bank of Nigeria two years after the supreme court's judgment in order to recoup damages due by Shell.

The ultimate amount is made up of the initial 2010 judgment plus interest accrued over the previous eleven years. Also, in regard to the judgement, the general public opinion reflected the idea that Shell had run out of tricks and had come to the conclusion that the result was a vindication of the community's steadfastness in seeking justice.

This is Shell's most recent important legal development. Shell was held responsible for multiple oil spills in Nigeria by a Dutch court in January. Another Dutch court recently ordered Shell to decrease its overall carbon emissions by at least 45 percent by 2030, compared to 2019 levels.