• Nigeria’s Supreme Court has upheld a ruling stopping Shell from selling its assets in the country.
• A dispute over a 2019 oil spill is to be resolved between Shell and Niger Delta communities.
• The Niger Delta, source of crude, is a poverty-stricken region.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has maintained a lower court order prohibiting Shell from selling its assets in Nigeria; until a dispute between the firm and a community in the oil-rich Niger Delta over a 2019 oil leak is addressed.

Shell was prevented from selling any assets in Nigeria by a high court in March; until the matter was resolved. Eighty-eight communities in Rivers State received $1.95 billion in compensation for an oil spill; claimed on Shell that harmed their farms and waterways.

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Shell, which has claimed responsibility for the disaster; has challenged the award of damages and the injunction against the sale of its assets. After submitting an appeal, the business moved on to offer for bids on the assets.

However, the Supreme Court ruled on June 16; that the parties should “keep the status quo.”

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