Nigeria: Shell Agrees to Pay $83.5 Million for Oil Spills

Jan 7, 2015 | New York Times
View Original

The oil giant Shell agreed early Wednesday to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds, or about $83.5 million, ending a three-year legal battle in Britain over two spills in 2008 that destroyed thousands of acres of mangroves and the seafood that had sustained Bodo villagers in the Niger Delta of southern Nigeria. A lawyer for the claimants called it “one of the largest payouts to an entire community following environmental damage.” Of the total settlement, $53.1 million will go to 15,600 fishermen and farmers, and $30.4 million to the Bodo community. A local chief said the community money would be used for basic services.