Shell will pay $15.9) to communities that were affected by multiple oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta, the oil company has announced. “The settlement is on a no admission of liability basis and settles all claims and ends all pending litigation related to the spills,” Shell said on Friday in a joint statement with the Dutch division of Friends of the Earth.
The compensation is the result of a Dutch court case brought by Friends of the Earth, in which Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC was last year found to be responsible for the oil spills and was ordered to pay for damages to farmers. The money will benefit the communities of Oruma in Bayelsa State, Goi in Ogoni Land Rivers State and Ikot Ada Udo in Akwa Ibom State, which were affected by four oil spills that occurred between 2004 and 2007.
