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July 18, 2012

Nigeria Seeks Record Fine for Shell Oil Spill 
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The Nigerian government has ordered the oil giant Shell to pay a record
$5 billion fine for a major offshore oil spill last year. The spill at
the Bongo oilfield leaked an estimated 40,000 barrels of oil into the
sea, threatening local wildlife and massive pollution along the Nigerian
coast. The spill came just four months after the United Nations said it
would take 30 years and around $1 billion for a small section of the
Niger Delta to recover from environmental damage caused by Shell and
other companies. Shell says the new fine has "no basis."

 

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