Shell to face High Court trial over legacy oil pollution in 2027
Oil giant Shell will now face a full trial in London’s High Court in 2027 over allegations it was legally responsible for legacy oil pollution in Nigeria.
Shell Plc and a Nigerian-based subsidiary of the company, now known as the Renaissance Africa Energy Company, are being sued by members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger Delta.
The legal action is led by the claimant law firm Leigh Day, which began legal action in 2015.
The claim contains allegations that years of chronic oil spills have left the communities, which have a combined population of 50,000, without access to clean water, unable to farm and fish, and with a serious ongoing risk to public health.
The case has been through several courts, including the High Court in 2017 and the Court of Appeal in 2018. Both courts ruled that there was no arguable case that Shell owed the claimants a duty of care.
However, the Supreme Court overturned those in 2021, viewing that there was a “real issue to be tried”. The High Court went on to green-light the legal battle in November 2023.
The parties went to a preliminary issues trial between February and March this year at the court, where Mrs Justice May had to rule on several issues, including Shell’s rejected argument on liability and concluded that the oil giant can still be liable for these spills.
Shell argued that there was a strict five-year limitation period. The judge, in her 102-page judgment, determined that the limitation period for all private law causes of action is five years.
She did state that “some 85 spills have, so far, been identified,” and despite it being launched 10 years ago, she added that this case was “still at a very early stage”.
On if Shell could be liable for damage from bunkering or illegal refining, the judge noted that “there appear to me to be a very significant hurdles in the way of any claimant successfully pursuing a claim under section 11 (5)(b).”
She concluded that “at this preliminary stage I do not think it would be sensible or right to give a definitive answer”.
Leigh Day partner Matthew Renshaw said: “Shell’s attempts to knock out or restrict these claims through a preliminary trial of Nigerian law issues have been comprehensively rebuffed.”
“This outcome opens the door to Shell being held responsible for their legacy pollution as well as their negligence in failing to take reasonable steps to prevent pollution from oil theft or local refining,” he added.
A spokesperson for Shell said the company welcomed this judgement.
“For many years, the vast majority of spills in the Niger Delta have been caused by third parties acting unlawfully, such as oil thieves who drill holes in pipelines, or saboteurs.”
“This criminality is the cause of the majority of spills in the Bille and Ogale claims, and we maintain that Shell is not liable for the criminal acts of third parties or illegal refining. These challenges are managed by a joint venture which Shell’s former subsidiary operated, using its expertise in spill response and clean-up.”
“The spills referenced in this litigation were cleaned up by the joint venture regardless of the cause, as required by Nigerian law, working closely with government-owned partner NNPC Ltd, Nigerian government agencies and local communities.”
“Clean-up certificates were issued by the Nigerian regulator NOSDRA,” the spokesperson added.
On response to Leigh Day’s press statement, the Shell spokesperson said “one could fairly say Leigh Day’s attempts to broaden the claims were largely rejected”.
The trial, which will be closely watched, is set to take place over four months from March 2027.