Nigeria’s
House of Representatives committee has ordered oil major Shell to pay $3.96
billion(N604billion) for a 2011 spill at its offshore Bonga oilfield in the
latest assessment of damage to the environment.
“The cause
of the spill was equipment failure resulting from a snapped loading hose under
water,” said the report.
NOSDRA has
previously said the spill had hurt locals in the area who rely on fishing for
their livelihoods as the slick covered an area of around 950 square km.
NOSDRA
estimated that around 40,000 barrels were spilled when a tanker was loading
crude at the offshore platform operated by Shell’s subsidiary SNEPCO. The Bonga
field was producing 200,000 barrels per day at the time.
“Since all efforts by this committee were
tactfully rebuffed by SNEPCO, (it) has decided to adopt the damage assessment
report submitted by NOSDRA as the lead agency in all oil spill management,”
Uche Ekwunife, chairman of the environmental committee told the assembly.
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