In response to the High Court’s preliminary issues trial ruling today that Shell can be held responsible for its oil spills in the Niger Delta, Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International Nigeria’s Director, said:

“It is welcome news that despite Shell’s best efforts to use this trial to evade responsibility the High Court has ruled it can be held liable for the oil spills and leaks it has failed to clean up - regardless of how long ago they happened or whether they were caused by theft by others from Shell’s poorly maintained pipelines.  

“The judgement is an important step towards justice for communities in the Niger Delta. It is a vital opportunity to make Shell pay for the devastating pollution it has caused on the Ogale and Bille lands, and to require it to clean up its toxic mess thoroughly caused by nearly 70-years-worth of oil leaks and spills, and properly compensate the Ogale and Bille communities before it leaves the region.”

Toxic legacy

More than 13,500 Ogale and Bille residents in the Niger Delta have filed claims against Shell over the past decade demanding the company clean up oil spills that they say have wrecked their livelihoods and caused widespread devastation to the local environment. They can’t fish anymore because their water sources, including their wells for drinking water, are poisoned and the land is contaminated which has killed plant life, meaning communities can no longer farm.  

For nearly 70 years Shell's oil spills and leaks due to poorly maintained pipelines, wells and inadequate clean-up attempts that have ravaged the health and livelihoods of many of the 30 million people living in the Niger Delta – most of whom live in poverty. Shell plc is domiciled in London and should be legally responsible for the environmental failures of its subsidiary company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.