Nigerian court order Royal Dutch Shell to hand over land around its Bonny Island facility

On 15 October 2008 a Nigerian court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to hand over land around its Bonny Island facility to the local population. The ruling was apparently made several months ago, but the court only announced the decision on 15 October because Shell had appealed the ruling several times. Bonny's population argued that under a July 1958 agreement, Shell was only a tenant on the land and that the population remained the landowner. Local residents brought the suit against Shell because they believed the company had secretly obtained a certificate of ownership from the Rivers state government. It is not yet clear what effect the handing over of the land will have on oil production. Previous attacks on the Shell facility on Bonny Island and its environs have forced the company to declare force majeure on two occasions in the recent past. The return of land control to the population is a key demand of local militant groups, including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which is active in the region. Shell's Bonny facility is one of the company's largest installations in Nigeria, and has a capacity of more than 12 million barrels of crude oil; is capable of loading super tankers, has an indoor facility for six ocean tankers, an expatriate club and residential quarters.