Shell Petroleum Company Case Study

Case Study: WIWA v. ROYAL DUTCH PETROLEUM COMPANY

The case below gives a situation where Shell Oil Corporation was sued for human rights violations arising from oil production in Nigeria. This case was a class action in the United States District Court on behalf of the Ogoni people who alleged that the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, Shell Transport and Trading Company, P.L.C., and Shell Petroleum Development Corporation of Nigeria (Inc.) collectively known as “Shell” cooperated with and assisted the Nigerian military in the brutal suppression of the Ogoni people, a Nigerian minority group.
The Ogoni people had demanded that Shell observes proper environmental safeguards and to pay compensation for environmental damages in relation

The plaintiffs on behalf of the Ogoni people argued that Shell was complicit in the commission of torture and extrajudicial killing pursuant to the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), 1789.
In June 2009, to quell international pressures, a settlement deal was issued by Shell of $ 15.5 million as compensation. The settlement also set up a Trust Fund called The Kiisi Trust for the Ogoni people. The trust was for education, women empowerment, and adult literacy and for the setting of small enterprises.
In light of the compensation issued by Shell, the environmental damage caused by Shell still persists and the Ogoni people still live under poor conditions.
Under the United Nations International covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1996 Article 11 outlines the rights of people to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of their living

For a State to ensure it is not left holding abandonment liabilities, the following are some protective measures it can adopt:-
1. Identifying people liable for decommissioning arising from the licence or beneficial entitlement to production;
2. Establishing the possibility of a clawback by government to people who could have benefitted from the license to be brought back to pay for decommissioning;
3. timely addressing issues of decommissioning; and
4. Establishing decommissioning security to standardize security arrangements for example like requiring security in the form of a decommissioning fund, letters of credit, bonds or a guaranty.

Conclusion
Decommissioning maybe an expensive undertaking but it is important to ensure that redundant oil installations to do not pose any future effects on the environment and on