alright then, don't everybody rush-rush back to the village to share in this modest bounty



Royal Dutch Shell agrees £55m Nigeria oil spill settlement

[img]http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/fa3d40c6-95a4-11e4-b3a6-00144feabdc0.img[/img]

Christopher Adams and William Wallis

Royal Dutch Shell is to pay tens of millions of pounds in compensation to 15,000 Nigerian fishermen affected by two huge oil spills. The out of court deal, believed to be the biggest of its kind, ends a three year legal battle.

The Anglo-Dutch oil company has agreed payouts averaging £2,000 each to the fishermen in the Bodo region of the Niger delta, as part of a compensation package worth £55m for what it called two “highly regrettable” spills in 2008.




The deal settles a lawsuit brought against Shell in London over leaks in the Bomu-Bonny pipeline that caused environmental damage to rural coastal settlements of 49,000 people living in 35 villages, many of whom are subsistence farmers and fishermen.

The agreement is thought to be the biggest out of court settlement related to a Nigerian oil spill and the first time thousands of individual Nigerians will receive direct compensation for one.

Some 15,600 people, including 2,000 children, will within weeks receive payments averaging £2,200 each, a sum equivalent to more than 30 times the minimum monthly wage in Nigeria, where 70 per cent of the population live below the poverty line. The rest of the agreed £55m compensation package will go to the community.

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), a Shell subsidiary, had admitted liability for spills of 4,000 barrels caused by operational failures but later withdrew those estimates, conceding that they underestimated the extent of the leaks.



Leigh Day, lawyers representing the claimants, said 500,000 barrels had leaked, damaging 600,000 hectares of mangrove swamp. It alleged that the spills were so devastating that the local fishing industry almost ground to a halt and said Shell had originally offered just £4,000 to the entire Bodo community before the villagers sought legal action in London. Although it welcomed the outcome, the law firm said it was “deeply disappointing that Shell took six years to take the case seriously”.

Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of SPDC, said it was “pleased” to have reached agreement and clean-up work would begin soon.

Human rights group Amnesty International called the settlement “an important victory for the victims of corporate negligence”.

But some activists were disappointed that the case did not go to court where it could have set a legal precedent for settlements of this kind within the UK legal system involving spills that have occurred abroad.

“This way they lose the legal precedent but the UK court system is still delivering what is by far the biggest payout so far,” said Joseph Hurst-Croft, executive director of the Stakeholder Democracy Network, which works with communities in the Niger Delta. “This is one spill. It is a big one. But if they are liable for one spill what are they liable for over the years? If I was a shareholder I would be factoring in future liabilities,” he said.

A 2011 report by the UN Environment Programme, following a survey of Ogoniland, where Shell began producing oil in Nigeria in the 1950s, said it would take 25-30 years to treat legacy spills in the area. It provided a detailed account of the environmental destruction in the region and the damage to the livelihoods of its inhabitants as a result of oil spills.

Implementation of the report’s recommendations, however, has stalled while the mechanics of the clean-up are worked out and the proportion of funds to be paid by the Nigerian government and oil companies including Shell are agreed, according to a senior Nigerian official.

UNEP recommended a figure of $1bn to cover the first five years of the operation.

The Nigerian official said the Leigh Day settlement provided an important precedent at a time when activists in Nigeria were working on putting together similar compensation cases. There have been thousands of oil spills in the Niger delta over the years, albeit of varying scale, under different operators and in many cases as the result of sabotage and oil theft.



Shell agrees Nigeria oil spill deal
Press AssociationPress Association – 13 hours ago

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/shell-agrees-nigeria-oil-spill-deal-000141847.html#DIKqdzm


Shell has agreed a multi-million pound payout to thousands of people in Nigeria hit by "devastating" oil spills.

The oil giant says a £55 million settlement has been reached with the Bodo community of fishermen and farmers in the Niger Delta following "two highly regrettable operational spills in 2008".

Lawyers representing 15,600 claimants due to receive over £2,000 each say the agreement is the first of its kind.

They believe it is also one of the largest payouts to an entire community following devastating environmental damage and say the case should act as "a template for Shell in future cases in Nigeria and in the other countries in which it operates".

The settlement was announced by Shell's Nigerian subsidiary, the Shell Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), and ends a three-year legal battle in London which was due to culminate in a trial later this year.

An SPDC statement said the £55m included an individual payment to each claimant who accepted the agreement in compensation for losses arising from the spills.

Those personal payouts total £35m, and the remaining £20m will be paid "for the benefit of the Bodo community generally".

Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of SPDC, said: "From the outset, we've accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo.

"We've always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement."

But Bodo lawyers said it was "deeply disappointing that Shell took six years to take this case seriously and to recognise the true extent of the damage these spills caused".

Shell suggested earlier settlement efforts failed because compensation claims had been grossly exaggerated.

The SPDC says clean-up work was delayed by "divisions within the community", but would now begin soon.

It also says parts of Bodo where oil spills occurred are suffering from the "scourge" of oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage.

Mr Sunmonu called for action by the Nigerian government and bodies like the United Nations to solve the problem and prevent future spills.

He said: "We urge all those with influence, including Bodo community leaders and NGO groups, to support this effort."

Today's settlement was welcomed by London-based law firm Leigh Day which acted for the Bodo community.

Leigh Day said in a statement that the settlement package compensated "15,600 Nigerian fishermen and their community after it was devastated by two massive oil spills in the Niger Delta in 2008 and 2009".

Each member of the community affected will receive "approximately 600,000 Nigerian naira (£2,200) paid into their individual bank accounts over the next few weeks".

The lawyers say the minimum wage in Nigeria is 18,000 Nigerian naira a month, and 70% of the population live below the poverty line.

They state: "The total cost of the compensation package agreed with Shell is £55m, being split £35m for the individuals and £20m for the community, and is thought to be one of the largest payouts to an entire community following environmental damage.

"It is the first time that compensation has been paid following an oil spill in Nigeria to the thousands of individuals who have suffered loss."

Martyn Day, from Leigh Day, said: "We came to a provisional agreement with Shell just before Christmas. I immediately then travelled out with a team of 20 to meet with our clients to see if they were happy with the deal.

"We were able to see 15,400 of them (98%) in eight days.

"In the week before Christmas, I personally met with around 800 clients and I don't think I have ever seen a happier bunch of people. Every single one of the clients we met has said yes to the deal."

But Mr Day added: "Whilst we are delighted for our clients, and pleased that Shell has done the decent thing, I have to say that it is deeply disappointing that Shell took six years to take this case seriously and to recognise the true extent of the damage these spills caused to the environment and to the those who rely on it for their livelihood.

"We hope that in future Shell will properly consider claims such as these from the outset and that this method of compensation, with each affected individual being compensated, will act as a template for Shell in future cases in Nigeria and in the other countries in which it operates."

Chief Sylvester Kogbara, chairman of the Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders, said: "For now, the Bodo community is very happy that this case has been finally laid to rest.

"The hope is that this will forge a good relationship with Shell for the future, not only with the Bodo people but with all the Niger Delta communities that have been impacted in the same way as us."

Chief Kogbara said his community hoped that Shell "will take their host communities seriously now" and follow the recommendations of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) for the clean-up of the whole of Ogoniland, an area polluted for decades by the oil industry.

Leigh Day described Bodo as a fishing town set in the midst of 90 sq km of mangroves swamps and channels, "the perfect breeding ground for fish and shellfish".

The surrounding rural coastal settlement consists of 31,000 people in 35 villages, the majority of whom are subsistence fishermen and farmers.

Leigh Day says experts confirmed that the oil spills destroyed thousands of hectares of mangrove - "the largest man-made disaster of this sort ever seen".
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Modest bounty? Over half a million barrels leaked and they are only paying £55 million