On Wednesday, Britain’s highest court ruled that it was too late for Niger Delta residents to bring claims against energy giant Shell over a major oil spill more than a decade ago.
The court upheld prior rulings that claims were not made before the legal deadline.
Nigerian claimants had argued that the spill constituted a “continuing nuisance,” but the court disagreed, stating that the leak was a “one-off event or an isolated escape.”
The oil spill, which occurred in 2011, involved the Bonga oilfield and caused 40,000 barrels of crude oil to spill into the Gulf of Guinea.
The case does not affect a separate legal action against Shell over other spillages. Shell, which welcomed the ruling, said the spill was “regrettable” but had been “swiftly contained and cleaned up offshore.”
Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude producer, has been plagued by oil spills for decades.
Shell faces a separate ongoing legal case in Britain over more than 50,000 people in the Niger Delta region making pollution claims in English courts.