Shell To Begin Compensation Talks Over Nigeria Oil Spills

Shell is to begin compensation talks with
thousands of Nigerian villagers who say
their livelihoods were ruined by two
massive oil spills in the Niger Delta, the
energy giant said on Friday. The talks will start next week in Port
Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria’s
southern Rivers state and the hub of
Africa’s largest oil industry, the Anglo-
Dutch company said. About 15,000 residents of Bodo, a
cluster of fishing villages in Rivers State,
are seeking millions of dollars of
compensation over the 2008 spills. “We’re hopeful that an acceptable
agreement can be reached with the Bodo
community during next week’s
settlement negotiations in Nigeria,” a
Shell spokesman said. Lawyers acting for the villagers say the
local environment was devastated by the
two spills, depriving thousands of
subsistence farmers and fishermen of
their livelihoods. Experts estimate the spills to be between
500,000 and 600,000 barrels, according
to London-based law firm Leigh Day,
which is representing the Nigerians. Shell admitted liability for the spills in
2011 but disputes the amount of oil
spilled and the extent of the damage. “To date nothing has been paid in
compensation and no clean-up work has
begun,” Leigh Day said. The Nigerians’ lawyer Martyn Day
described Shell’s position on the clean-
up as “pitiful”. He said: “We will be doing our damnedest
to ensure that Shell pay out a fair
amount for the damage they have
caused and put the Bodo Creek back into
its pre-spill state.” Shell said it hoped a deal could be
reached with the villagers to provide
“fair compensation, as well as a way
forward on cleaning up the entire area
affected by oil spills”. Previous talks have broken down over a
compensation and clean-up package for
the Nigerians. Shell provided the villagers with food
relief in 2009 but Leigh Day blasted the
supplies as “entirely inadequate for a
community of 31,000 people”. The oil giant said it rejected some of the
claims made by Leigh Day, but that its
goal was “resolution, not recrimination”. It described the 2008 spills as “highly
regrettable”. Shell blames oil thefts and sabotage of
key pipelines as the major causes of
spills in the Delta, where swathes of land
have been ravaged by oil pollution. Nigeria is the world’s eighth-biggest oil
producer, pumping some two million
barrels a day. Shell is the biggest producer in the west
African country, where it has been
drilling for over 50 years. [AFP]