Nigeria community rejects Shell compensation offer

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's Bodo community in the oil-rich Niger Delta has rejected a compensation offer from Shell for
two oil spills in 2008 that devastated the mangrove and fishing area, lawyers and the
company said Friday.
"It is a great shame that the negotiations have not led to a settlement. I had hoped that this
week would at last see the end of the litigation and enable us to start the process of rebuilding the community," said Chief Kogbara, chairman of the Bodo Council.
Shell has acknowledged liability for the spills five years ago, but it disputes the amount
spilled and the impact on the community.
The Bodo community's law firm, Leigh Day,
said that 13,000 fishermen lost their
livelihoods because of the spills, and 31,000
inhabitants of 35 villages were affected in and
around the Bodo lagoon and its associated
waterways. Independent experts estimate
between 500,000 and 600,000 barrels were
spilled, devastating the environment and
contaminating more than 75 square kilometers
of mangroves, swamps and channels, says the
law firm.
But a spokesman for the Shell Petroleum and
Development Company of Nigeria Ltd.,
Jonathan French, said the number of fisherman
impacted is likely lower, given the size of the
area. The company also said a joint
investigation team estimated that only 4,100
barrels were spilled. Shell blames most of the
spills in the region on militant attacks or
thieves tapping into pipelines to steal crude oil.
"We took part in this week's settlement
negotiations with two objectives — to make a
generous offer of compensation to those who
have suffered hardship as a result of the two
highly regrettable operational spills in 2008,
and to make progress in relation to clean up,"
he said.
The Bodo members unanimously rejected the
offer from the oil giant after talks that started
Monday in Port Harcourt, the London-based
Leigh Day law firm said in a statement.
Shell offered about $50 million to the
community, according to a person close to the
talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he wasn't permitted to speak to the
media.
"Our clients know how much their claims are
worth and will not be bought off cheaply," said
Martyn Day, senior partner at Leigh Day.
Though an agreement wasn't reached, both
Shell and Leigh Day said that talks between the
community and company to start a cleanup are
progressing and will continue in late
September. Shell said it has not been able to
access the area to start the cleanup process.
The spills caused the largest ever loss and
damage to mangroves by oil, said the law firm.
Local communities remain largely hostile to
Shell and other oil firms because of
environmental damage. Some environmentalists
say as much as 550 million gallons of oil have
been poured into the delta during Shell's
roughly 50 years of production in Nigeria, one
of the top crude oil suppliers to the United
States.
The United Nations has recommended that the
oil industry and Nigeria's government set up a
fund, with an initial injection of $1 billion, to
begin what could be a 30-year cleanup and
restoration project in the oil-stained region.