Nigerian court dismisses challenge to Shell onshore asset sale

A Nigerian court on 17 July dismissed a lawsuit by Bubaraiye Dakolo, the monarch of Ekpetiama kingdom in southern Bayelsa state, that sought to halt Shell's plan to offload its onshore assets over accusations of decades of environmental pollution.

Dakolo had taken the British energy company to court after Shell announced the conclusion of the sale of its Nigerian onshore assets in March 2025. The case sought to block Shell's exit from Nigeria's onshore oil sector without cleaning up alleged decades of pollution.

Federal High Court judge Ayo Emmanuel, sitting in Bayelsa, ruled that the suit was premature and incompetent. He said the allegations against Shell were statute-barred under Nigerian law. The judge said the claim mainly sought relief for environmental damage, negligence and the halting of commercial asset divestments, and did not qualify as a fundamental rights action.

The source says decades of extensive oil spills and gas flaring have caused severe environmental damage that destroyed fishing and farming livelihoods in parts of the Niger Delta, which accounts for most of Nigeria's oil production. Farming and fishing communities in the region have borne the brunt of pollution.

A four-year investigation by the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission, a panel of international experts and prominent figures, concluded in 2023 that it would cost $12 billion to clean up Bayelsa state. Bayelsa is where oil was first discovered in Africa in the 1950s, and companies including Shell have operated there for decades.

Dakolo's lawyer, Chukwudi Uguru, said they would appeal. He told journalists after the court session that they would fight the matter to the utmost end and were already looking toward the Supreme Court.

Renaissance Africa Energy, a consortium of Nigerian indigenous oil companies, completed the acquisition of Shell's onshore and shallow-water oil and gas assets in Nigeria in March 2025 after Shell's divestment from the business. Renaissance Africa Energy was listed among the defendants, along with Nigeria's attorney general, the oil minister and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.