Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) agreed to pay compensation to thousands of residents of the Bodo community in Nigeria’s crude-rich Niger River delta region for two “highly regrettable” oil spills in 2008. Shell will pay a total of 55 million pounds ($83.3 million) with “an individual payment to each claimant who accepts the settlement agreement in compensation for losses arising from the spills,” the Hague-based company said today in a statement. The settlement follows a three-year legal tussle between Shell and 15,600 Nigerians from Ogoniland, mostly fishermen, in a London court. “From the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo,” Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of Shell’s Nigerian unit, said in the statement. “We’ve always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement.” The compensation is split 35 million pounds for individuals and 20 million pounds for the […]