Nigeria's top court says Shell's appeal should be heard after oil spill claim
05/01/2024 12:26
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Supreme Court on
Friday ruled that Shell should be granted a hearing over an
alleged oil spill in the Niger Delta after the Court of Appeal
halted an asset sale and ordered a judgement claim to be paid
prior to hearing its case.
The case, one of several against Shell Plc SHEL.L locally
and abroad, started with a High Court ruling in November 2020
that ordered Shell to pay 800 billion naira ($878 million) to
communities of Egbalor Ebubu in Rivers state, who accused the
firm of an oil spill that damaged waterways and farms.
Shell denies causing the spill.
Shell had appealed to stop the High Court from executing its
judgement but the Court of Appeal ordered Shell to deposit the
money in an account controlled by the court, before its appeal
could proceed.
Shell was also ordered to pause the disposal of local assets
last June until the Supreme Court ruling, to allow for any
compensation due to the Niger Delta Community.
Mohammed Ndarani, the community's lawyer, told Reuters that
the Supreme Court had now returned the case to the Court of
Appeal.
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the appeal court did
not look into the merits of the case and directed that Shell be
granted a hearing.
The case is being closely watched after the country's oil
regulator refused to approve Exxon Mobil's $1.28 billion asset
sale to Seplat Energy in 2022, raising concerns among
international oil companies about the difficulty of selling
assets in Nigeria.
Shell, like other oil majors operating in the country, is
focusing on deep water drilling and divesting from onshore
operations, which are prone to crude theft and vandalism of
pipelines, hitting Nigeria's oil production.
($1 = 911.44 naira)
(Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by
Elaine Hardcastle)
((chijioke.ohuocha@thomsonreuters.com; +234 703 4180 621;
Reuters Messaging: chijioke.ohuocha.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))