Nigeria’s Supreme Court upholds freeze on Shell’s asset sale

Nigeria’s Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that stopped Shell Plc from selling its assets in Nigeria until a dispute between the oil major and a Niger Delta community over a 2019 oil spill is resolved.

The High Court in March barred Shell from any asset sale in Nigeria until a decision is reached on the dispute. Eighty-eight communities in Rivers state were awarded $1.95 billion compensation for an oil spill they blamed on Shell and which damaged their farms and waterways.

Shell, which denied causing the spill, appealed the compensation verdict and the ruling blocking the sale of its assets. The company then went on to advertise for bids for the assets after filing an appeal.

But the Supreme Court, in a ruling dated June 16, said the parties should “maintain the status quo” until a hearing of all applications from Shell and the communities later this year.

“What the status quo means here is that there should be no bids, no sales until the hearing of the applications which has been fixed for November 3, 2022,” Mohammed Ndarani, the lawyer representing the Delta communities told Reuters on Monday.

A Shell spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shell wants to sell its stake in Nigeria’s onshore fields, where it has been active since the 1930s, as part of a global drive to reduce its carbon emissions.

The company, the most significant international oil major operating in Nigeria, has faced a string of court cases in the past over oil spills.

In April, Shell said the volume of crude oil spills caused by sabotage in the Delta more than doubled to 3 300 tonnes last year, a level last seen in 2016.