Niger Delta reject offer for $51m as compensation for two oil spills

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Nigerians affected by two major oil spills in the country in 2008 have rejected an offer by the Royal Dutch Shell for a compensation of up to $51m.

On Friday, the lawyer representing the claimants rejected the Shell offer.

"Shell have consistently sought to underestimate the damage whilst paying only lip service to an apology. These spills, which are some of the largest oil spills in history, have devastated a community of many thousands of people and ravaged the environment," Martyn Day said in a statement.

"The offer of 30 million pounds [$51m] has been offered before and has been flatly refused by our clients who found it insulting and derisory, nothing has changed this view."

Around 11,000 residents of the Bodo community in the Niger Delta represented by law firm Leigh Day appealed in 2011 to a London court for compensation for the spilling of 500,000 barrels of oil, according to Shell.

In a preliminary hearing ahead of a trial which will take place in May 2015, the London high court ruled that Shell's Nigerian subsidiary could be liable if it were proven that it did not take reasonable steps to protect and maintain the pipeline from thefts which have plagued the key African oil producer.

"Short of a policing or military or paramilitary defence of the pipeline, it is my judgement that the protection requirement involves a general shielding and caring obligation," the judge said in a ruling.

Leigh Day argued that under the Nigerian Oil Pipelines Act anyone who suffered from an oil spill can claim compensation if they can show a company was guilty of neglect in failing to "protect, maintain or repair" its pipeline.