Agencies Insist Shell Must Pay $11.5bn for Oil Spill

Two federal government agencies, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA)  and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have insisted that the multinational oil and gas company, Royal Dutch Shell must pay the sum of $11.5 billion as compensation for an oil spill in December 2011.

The agencies, in charge of environmental protection affairs, told a parliamentary hearing yesterday that Shell should compensate for damage caused by an oil spill at its offshore Bonga field.

Shell had taken responsibility for the spill, but it said there was no legal basis for the agencies’ demand.

The oil company has also said it was ready to carry out a post-impact assessment to determine the environmental effects of the spill.

The giant oil and gas company argued that onshore damage was the result of a different spill, and that Shell was not responsible for that incident.
“We are going to do post-impact assessment to determine the effect on the environment. By May, the contractor would get to the site and by the third quarter of the year the job would be concluded,” said Chike Onyejekwe, the Managing Director of Shell’s offshore Nigeria unit.

“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.”

NOSDRA told the National Assembly that Shell should pay $5 billion as a fine for environmental damage.

The oil leak in 2011, which was one of the biggest in the history of Nigeria, caused roughly 40,000 barrels to spill into the Gulf of Guinea.
NIMASA had also sought $6.5 billion as compensation for 100 communities which it said were affected onshore.

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