Shell avoids a $5 billion fine for the Bonga oil leak after a UK court finds against Nigeria

After a 12-year struggle with the Nigerian government over the Bonga field oil leak, the British Supreme Court has cleared Shell.The decision is the result of years of litigation between Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and victims of the 2011 Bonga oil disaster, which affected around 350 villages in the Niger-delta region.According to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), SNEPCo was fined $5 billion as compensation for the harm to natural resources and the resulting loss of income for the impacted coastline towns. NOSDRA further acknowledged that throughout the investigation, it was discovered that the oil spill had impacted 285,000 people from 350 settlements and satellite villages inside the contact zone. However, while delivering the judgement, the panel of five Supreme Court justices unanimously upheld the ruling of the two lower courts which held that the six-year time frame allowed for taking action on such cases had elapsed before the group presented the case for hearing. Shell noted that the judgment of the British Supreme Court had ended all litigation in English courts related to the spill.