Business
Nigeria agencies seek $11.5 billion compensation from Shell for oil spill damage
“We cannot do or say anything now until we do the post-impact assessment study. We have received over 300 letters of claims and we are replying to them.”
Parliament told Shell to submit its clean-up plans and assessments to lawmakers next week when a date for a future hearing would be set.
NOSDRA and NIMASA are asking Shell for compensation which would equate to around US$287,500 per barrel for the 40,000 barrel Bonga spill.
In comparison, BP has total provisions of US$42.2 billion for compensation for the 4 million barrels spilled in the spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, which amounts to around US$10,550 per barrel.
Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil are spilled in the mangrove creeks onshore Nigeria every year, destroying the environment and livelihoods.
Many are caused by sabotage or oil theft, but a United Nations report in 2011 said oil firms don’t do enough to clean up spills and maintenance of infrastructure was inadequate.
