Shell Appeals Against Nigerian Court Ruling on Bonny Oil Export Terminal

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s Nigerian unit has filed an appeal with the Nigerian Supreme Court challenging a ruling voiding its ownership of the land where its Bonny oil export terminal is located.

The Court of Appeal in the southern oil industry hub of Port Harcourt on May 5 upheld a 2008 judgment that Shell must forfeit the Bonny terminal and its land to the island’s native people after illegally obtaining the title to the property.

“We believe the judgment is wrong,” Shell said today in an e-mailed statement. “We are also filing to suspend enforcement of the judgment pending the determination of the appeal.”

The Bonny terminal is the largest crude export terminal in Africa, with a capacity to process and export 1.25 million barrels of oil daily, according to Shell’s website. The Bonny community contends that a 1958 agreement it signed with Shell made it a tenant, nullifying a 1999 title to the land the company obtained from the government.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Tamuno in Port Harcourt at mmbonye@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net