Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to a multi-million-dollar settlement to compensate 15,600 Nigerian fishermen over two serious oil spills in 2008 after a three-year legal battle.
The Anglo-Dutch energy giant's Nigerian arm has agreed to pay STG55 million ($A100 million) to people in Bodo, a town in southern Nigeria, Shell and the fishermens' London-based lawyers Leigh Day said on Wednesday.
The Shell Petroleum Company of Nigeria (SPDC) will pay around STG35 million to the individual claimants, and a further STG20 million to the community.
The out-of-court settlement averted a full trial at the High Court in London and the money has been paid to the claimants' lawyers.
Each individual will receive around STG2200, equivalent to around three years' income on the Nigerian minimum wage, Leigh Day said.
SPDC accepted in November that the spills, caused by operational failures on the Bomu-Bonny pipeline in Bodo, were greater than the previously-reached total figure of 4144 barrels, though they did not give an amount.
Amnesty International claimed the first leak could have exceeded 100,000 barrels, while Leigh Day claimed both spills could have entailed 600,000 barrels.
SPDC said the leaks were "highly regrettable", but insisted most oil pollution in the Niger River Delta region was caused by theft and illegal refining.
Separately, SPDC is set to clean up the affected area.
Chief Sylvester Kogbara, chairman of the Bodo council of chiefs and elders, said his community was happy the case had finally been laid to rest.
"The hope is that this will forge a good relationship with Shell for the future, not only with the Bodo people but with all the Niger Delta communities that have been impacted in the same way as us," he said.
