Shell will pay 15 million euros to Nigerian farmers over pollution damage
Logo of Shell Plc, a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England.
Energy major Shell said on Friday that it was paying 15 million euros to Nigerian farmers over the damage caused by pipeline leaks. This has come a year after a Dutch appeals court ruled that Shell's Nigerian branch must pay for a series of leaks and that the company must install new pipeline equipment to avoid such a leak from taking place in future. The verdict was the culmination of 13 years of a legal battle.
Shell said Friday that it had reached a deal with the Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie that has helped the 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.
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The deal also confirms that the company will install a leak detection system on 20 pipeline segments.
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Despite acknowledging that the settlement follows upon 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 to pay for cleaning up spills from its pipelines in the Niger river delta, a major oil-producing region.
They were aided by Milieudefensie, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth.
Shell has always attributed pollution to sabotage and said it had cleaned up affected areas.
The legal battle has lasted so long that the original farmers have now all died, but their survivors and the affected communities pushed on.
"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.
Milieudefensie's director Donald Pols said the settlement will allow the plaintiffs and their communities to finally get on with their lives.
(With inputs from agencies)
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