Shell To Pay €15m To Ogoni Farmers Over Pollution

Shell To Pay €15m To Ogoni Farmers Over Pollution

Shell announced on Friday that it will pay 15 million euros to Nigerian farmers to compensate them for pipeline leak damage.

Following 13 years of legal wrangling, a Dutch appeals court ruled last year that Shell’s Nigerian branch must pay for a series of leaks and that the parent company must install new pipeline equipment to prevent further devastating spills.

Shell announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement with the Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie to assist affected communities.

“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,” it said in a statement.

The agreement also confirms the installation of a leak detection system on 20 pipeline segments in accordance with a Dutch court ruling, as well as the completion of remediation work.

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Despite acknowledging that the settlement follows up on the Dutch court ruling, the oil firm said the agreement “is on a no admission of liability basis, and settles all claims and ends all pending litigation related to the spills”.

Four Nigerian farmers and fishermen sued Shell in the Netherlands for compensation for spills caused by Shell’s pipelines in the Niger Delta.

Milieudefensie, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, assisted them.

Shell has always blamed pollution on sabotage and claimed to have cleaned up the affected areas.

The legal battle has now lasted so long that all of the original farmers have died, but their survivors and the affected communities have persisted.

“It is a great relief to all of us that after the years of legal battle with Shell, we will soon be recipients of this money as compensation for all we have lost,” said Eric Dooh, one of the current plaintiffs.

Donald Pols, director of Milieudefensie, stated that the settlement will allow the plaintiffs and their communities to move on with their lives.

However, he stated that it has a broader significance.

“If we look at the court case as a whole, the major gain is that a new standard has been set: companies will no longer be able to get away with pollution and with ignoring human rights,” he said.

“Now they can be called to account.”

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