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By Bart H. Meijer
AMSTERDAM, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A Dutch appeals court on
Friday said that the Nigerian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell
was responsible for oil pipeline leaks in the Niger
Delta and ordered it to pay unspecified damages to farmers.
The case was brought in 2008 by four farmers and
environmental group Friends of the Earth, seeking reparations
for lost income from contaminated land and waterways in the
Niger Delta region, the heart of Nigeria's oil industry.
Friday's decision went a step further than a 2013 ruling by
a lower court, saying that Shell's Nigerian subsidiary was
responsible for multiple cases of oil pollution.
The appeals court said Shell had not proven "beyond
reasonable doubt" that the oil spills had been caused by
sabotage, rather than poor maintenance.
"This makes Shell Nigeria responsible for the damage caused
by the leaks", the court said. "The amount of compensation to be
paid will have to be determined at a later stage."
The court did not hold Shell's parent company directly
responsible, but ordered it to install a leak detection system
on the Oruma pipeline, site of a significant number of the
spills in the case.
Although only Shell's Nigerian subsidiary was found
responsible, the decision could pave the way for more
environmental cases against the company.
A lower court in The Hague in 2013 said Shell's Nigerian
subsidiary SPDC was responsible for a case of oil pollution and
ordered it to pay damages to a local farmer.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; writing by Anthony Deutsch; editing
by Jason Neely)
