UK court reserves judgment in £55m Shell oil spill case
The High Court of Justice, King’s Bench Division, London, has concluded hearings in the £55m oil spill lawsuit against the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.
The case, designated Case No: HT-2013-000028, stemmed from two major oil spills that occurred in 2008 in the Bodo community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.
According to Leigh Day, the London-based law firm representing the claimants, the Bodo community suffered two spills involving nearly half a million barrels of oil from the Bomu-Bonny Trans-Niger Pipeline, operated by SPDC.
Justice O’Farrell took final arguments on Monday and Tuesday, June 16 and 17, and reserved judgment, which typically takes up to three months.
The two additional days were granted after the parties were unable to conclude arguments over 13 days in May, during which both sides called 10 witnesses, including scientists from the United Nations, financial experts and Nigerian law experts.
A June 19, 2025 press release by Leigh Day quoted the Paramount Ruler of the Bodo Community, King John Bari-Iyiedum Berebon, as saying, “More than 17 years after these devastating oil spills took place, we hope and trust that justice will finally be delivered by the High Court and a full and thorough clean-up will be carried out.”
The monarch says “the horrendous oil pollution” in and around Bodo has “destroyed our environment and ruined our livelihoods.
“Unless a full and thorough clean-up is ordered by the court, the lives of our people are set to be blighted for generations to come.”
In January, SPDC completed the transfer of its mining licence to Nigerian consortium Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings in a $2.4bn deal.
Leigh Day solicitor, Alex Wessely, says the trial heard evidence from Shell/Renaissance’s own witness that “these oil spills are by far the largest to have ever occurred worldwide and have had a devastating impact on the local environment and the people of Bodo.”
“Our clients believe Shell/Renaissance has failed to properly clean up these devastating oil spills, putting the health of more than 30,000 people in the Bodo area, including many children, at severe and ongoing risk,” he said.
The case, which was initially mediated by the Dutch government in 2013, returned to court in May this year after the Bodo community, represented by King Berebon and 14 others, disputed the quality of the clean-up undertaken by SPDC.
Justice O’Farrell had in a February 2024 ruling granted the Bodo community’s request for the case to proceed to trial. The court dismissed SPDC’s objection to the request.
According to court documents, Shell admitted liability for the 2008 spills and, in 2014, agreed to fund cleanup efforts as part of a £55m settlement with the Bodo community.
The Dutch government launched the Bodo Mediation Initiative in March 2013, as a voluntary Alternative Dispute Resolution process aimed at facilitating cleanup agreements between SPDC and the community.
Initially chaired by a former Dutch ambassador to Nigeria, Bert J. Ronhaar, the BMI helped the parties reach a mediated settlement in December 2014.
That settlement included £55m in compensation — both for the community’s claim and approximately 15,000 individual claimants.
On April 30, 2015, SPDC and the Bodo community signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which SPDC agreed to fund the cleanup, remediation, and restoration of designated areas in Bodo.
