Shell admits responsibility for oil spills in Nigeria

Shell admits responsibility for oil spills in Nigeria

2011-08-04 21:17:45 GMT+7 (ICT)

LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- Oil giant Shell has accepted responsibility for two devastating oil spills in Nigeria's Ogoniland region, The Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Bodo fishing community had sued Shell in the United Kingdom alleging that oil spills in 2008 and 2009 had destroyed the environment, ruined the livelihoods of 69,000 people and may take at least 20 years to clean up.

Experts who studied video footage of the spill in Ogoniland said they could be as large as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, when 10 million gallons of oil destroyed the remote coastline. Until now, Shell has claimed that less than 40,000 gallons were spilled in Nigeria.

Correspondents said the spillage was caused by pipelines which ran through the village and corrosion of pipelines and tanks is the main cause of oil spills in Nigeria, the newspaper reported. This occurs because most pipelines are old and lack regular inspection and maintenance.

Martyn Day, representing the community, told the BBC: "This is one of the most devastating oil spills the world has ever seen and yet it had gone almost unnoticed until we received instructions to bring about a claim against Shell in this country."

Day also said that the community had three set of claims for which they would demand adequate compensation immediately.

The first claim, for at least $100 million, was to clean up the area, the second one was for damages to the community land and the final one was for losses suffered by individual families.

"The Bodo people are a fishing community surrounded by water. What was the source of their livelihood now cannot sustain even the smallest of fish. The spills have caused severe poverty amongst the community," Day said to the BBC. "Marine life has been devastated within the 2,000 hectares of the creek and the mangroves have been, without exception, destroyed," he added.

Shell has accepted the spills were caused by equipment failure and not by sabotage or theft, as it had stated before. The oil company said it would pay compensation in accordance with Nigerian law but warned it "could take several months to reach a conclusion."

Day said the settlement could set a precedent for other damaged communities in the Niger Delta to seek compensation in British courts.

On Friday, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) will release a report on the environmental disaster in the Niger delta. UNEP's report, which studied more than 60 spills, is expected to say that oil pollution in Ogoniland is much worse than previously believed, having sunk deep into the water table. Many spills have not been cleared up since 1970 and the effects on the local economy, health and development have been severe. However, the report will not apportion blame for individual spills.

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