United Kingdom Supreme Court has issued a ruling in favor of Shell, a British multinational oil and gas company, regarding a 2011 offshore oil spill.

The court concluded that Nigerian claimants were time-barred from suing Shell subsidiaries over the incident, thereby ending the legal battle.

This case is one among several legal disputes Shell has faced in London courts, involving residents of Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, an area plagued by pollution, conflict, and corruption associated with the oil and gas industry.

The allegations stem from an incident in December 2011, where it was claimed that approximately 40,000 barrels of crude oil leaked during the loading of a tanker at Shell’s Bonga oilfield, located 120km off the coast of the Niger Delta.

Shell, however, disputed the allegations, asserting that the spill was dispersed offshore and did not cause adverse effects on the shoreline.

A group comprising 27,800 individuals and 457 communities repeatedly attempted to take Shell to court, contending that the oil spill polluted their lands and waterways, leading to the destruction of farming, fishing, drinking water, mangrove forests, and religious shrines.

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Nevertheless, the Supreme Court panel, consisting of five justices, unanimously upheld the decisions of two lower courts, which ruled that the claimants had exceeded the six-year legal deadline for initiating legal proceedings.

The claimants’ legal team argued that the ongoing repercussions of the pollution constituted a “continuing nuisance,” a civil tort that would have exempted them from the deadline.

However, Justice Andrew Burrows, delivering the ruling, dismissed this argument, stating that there was no continuing nuisance in the case.

Although only two Nigerians served as appellants in the Supreme Court case, the verdict will likely affect the thousands of other claimants involved.

Shell welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling, declaring that it concluded all legal claims related to the spill in English courts.

While acknowledging the regrettable nature of the Bonga spill, a Shell spokesperson emphasized that it was promptly contained and cleaned up offshore.

At the time of reporting, no response had been received from the Nigerian appellants’ legal representative regarding the court’s decision.