| Shell logo |
Leigh Day, the lawyers representing 15,000 claimants from the Bodo community in the Niger Delta, filed particulars of the claim against Shell at the High Court last year seeking compensation for the spills which caused environmental damage.
At the hearing, Leigh Day in a statement Friday said it had argued that under the Nigerian Oil Pipelines Act anyone who suffered from an oil spill can claim compensation if they can show Shell was guilty of neglect in failing to "protect, maintain or repair" the pipeline.
 |
| Shell staff cleaning oil spills in Niger Delta |
The judge found that while Shell did not have an obligation to provide policing or military defense it could be legally liable if it had failed to take other reasonable steps to protect the pipeline, such as the use 0f appropriate technology.
Shell in 2011 admitted liability for two spills of about 4,000 barrels due to operational failures. According to Leigh Day, experts estimate the spills around the fishing villages in the oil-rich Rivers State to be between
500,000 and 600,00 barrels.
"This is a highly significant judgment. For years, Shell has argued that they are only legally liable for oil spills which are caused by operational failure of their pipelines and that they have no liability for the devastation caused by bunkered [stolen] oil," Leigh Day's senior partner Martyn Day said after today's hearing.
Shell, Nigeria's biggest oil producer, says sabotage and oil theft are the main causes of spills but environmentalists say the company has not done enough to prevent such incidents.
0 comments:
Post a Comment