It isnt an open and shut case as people think. There seems to be a massive mis-representation of what Shell actually accepted:

---------------------------------------------
04-Aug-2011

Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria, writes an open letter to the media following inaccurate reports over spills in the Niger Delta.

The volume of the two Bodo spills is some 4,000 barrels. This compares with 4,000,000 barrels estimated by the US government to have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico as as a result of BP Deepwater Horizon, and Exxon’s figure of 260,000 for Exxon Valdez.
SPDC has publicly released internal data on spill numbers, volumes and causes. It is the only operator in the Nigeria to do so.
These data show that about 75% of SPDC spills across the delta over the last five years (2006-2010) have been the result of sabotage, oil theft and illegal refining by criminal gangs. In Ogoni land it is higher still.
However, 25% of spills have been caused by operational failure or human error. SPDC has stated publicly that this is unacceptable and that it has to improve its performance.

Visit the spills reporting website

A UN Environment Protection report has also been released today and is a study of oil contamination in Ogoni land. Read more


In the last 24 hours, a high level of media have reported legal action which is taking place in the UK involving oil spills in Nigeria. In the coverage a number of facts have been mis-reported and given an inaccurate picture of events.

In response, Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Managing Director Mutiu Sunmonu has written an open letter to the media to redress inaccuracies in the points made, in particular regarding the scale of the spills – which have been compared by many reports to the size of the BP Deepwater Horizon incident or Exxon Valdez spills - and the financial claim.



An open letter on oil spills from the Managing Director of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd

4 August 2011

Oil spills in the Niger Delta are a tragedy, and the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) takes them very seriously. That is why we have always accepted responsibility for paying compensation when they occur as a result of operational failure. SPDC has always acknowledged that the two spills in the Bodo area in 2008, which are the focus of extensive media reports today, were caused by such operational failure. Even when, as is true in the great majority of cases, spills are caused by illegal activity such as sabotage or theft, we are also committed to cleaning up spilt oil and restoring the surrounding land.

It is unfortunate that inaccurate reporting has created the impression that SPDC in particular and oil companies in general are responsible for all oil spills in Nigeria. The two spills at issue here resulted in around 4,000 barrels of oil being spilt. It is regrettable that any oil is spilt anywhere, but it is wildly inaccurate to suggest that those two spills represent anything like the scale which some reports refer to. Equally, speculation by the plaintiffs' lawyers as to the level of compensation which may be payable is misguided and massively in excess of the true position.

Concerted effort is needed on the part of the Nigerian government (which itself owns a majority interest in the assets operated by SPDC under a joint operating agreement with the Nigerian state oil company, NNPC), working with oil companies and others, to end the blight of illegal refining and oil theft in the Niger Delta, both of which perpetuate poverty. This is the major cause of the environmental damage which media reports have so graphically illustrated.


Mutiu Sunmonu
Managing Director
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd

Justice done.