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Oil Firm Gets N68m Fine Over Unreported Oil Spill

nigerian oil thieves

A Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State, has ordered Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company Limited, SEEPCO, to pay a fine of N68 million for failure to report the oil spill incident at the Okwuibome location  (OPL 280) on March 5, 2011.

In a statement on Wednesday, the director general of the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, Peter Idabor, said it has secured a court judgment sanctioning an oil firm over failure to communicate to the authorities, the oil spill incident.

Idabor, who spoke through the head of Public Affairs, NOSDRA, Henshaw Ogubike, said that the court presided over by Justice Olatoregun-Ishola held that SEEPCO breached the NOSDRA Act 2006.

“Delivering the judgment on the case on October 29, 2015, Justice Olatoregun-Ishola upheld the submissions by the Counsel to NOSDRA.



“The court held that SEEPCO was in breach of Section 6 (2) of the Agency’s Act when it failed to report in writing the oil spill incident at OKWC and that the Agency had the powers under its enabling Act to impose the fine of N68 Million.”

NOSDRA prayers included “a declaration that the defendant was in direct breach of Section 6 (2) of the Plaintiff’s enabling Act when it failed to report in writing the oil spill incident of March, 2011 at the Okwuibome location.”




     

     

    Idabor explained that the judgment was a boost to NOSDRA’s efforts to ensure compliance with all existing environmental legislation and detection of oil spills in the industry.

    He stated that the $3.6 billion fine slammed on Shell is still an issue before the courts as the impacted victims had taken legal action to compel the oil firm to pay the fine and compensate them.

    The House of Representatives and NOSDRA in December 2014 recommended payment of $3.6 billion dollars as compensation to victims of the incident.

    Read Also:

    The spill from an offshore field operated by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) discharged 40,000 barrels of crude that polluted the Atlantic Ocean.

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