Shell challenges Amnesty International oil spill report

ABUJA, Nigeria, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Responding to an Amnesty International report, a Shell spokesman said Friday the company aims to compensate all Nigerians "genuinely affected" by oil spills.

Amnesty in a report published Thursday said there is "irrefutable evidence" that Shell Petroleum Co. of Nigeria underestimated the amount of oil spilled in the Niger Delta in 2008.

Around 11,000 villagers from the Bodo community in the oil-rich Niger Delta filed suit in a London court against Shell last year, saying oil spills in the region devastated the regional fisheries industry.

"Amnesty International firmly believes Shell knew the Bodo data were wrong," Amnesty's director for global issues Audrey Gaughran said in a statement. "If it did not it was scandalously negligent -- we repeatedly gave them evidence showing they had dramatically underestimated the spills."

Shell had said it used local contractors to clean the affected areas and those operations were completed by 2009. Further contamination was the results of spills caused by oil theft, sabotage and other illegal activity prevalent in the region.

Shell said a multilateral investigation found about 4,100 barrels of oil were spilled from two incidents in 2008. Amnesty said more than 100,000 barrels were spilled.

Shell in a statement sent to UPI said it's accepted that separate findings show spill volumes above initial estimates. The company said it was concerned by higher volumes, but said that's not the key issue for determining the level of compensation.

"SPDC is prepared to compensate all members of the Bodo community who have been genuinely affected by the spills, taking account of the entire area which has been impacted," a spokesman said.

The company said it dismissed allegations raised in Amnesty's report, including suggestions it continued to used faulty pipelines and equipment in the region.

"We are in the process of preparing for a trial in May 2015 regarding the Bodo operational spills," the company said, at which time internal documents related to pipeline operations "will be set in their proper context for review by the court."