Oil giant Shell has announced plans to spend £1 billion on exploration and production in the North Sea, including building a pipeline to transfer gas from Norway to the UK.
But the news came as reports said Shell was facing a legal claim for £834 million compensation for alleged environmental damage in Nigeria. The resolution is said to relate to a petition by members of the Ijaw tribe of Bayelsa state.
A company spokesman said Shell was still awaiting a copy of the resolution passed by the Nigerian senate and declined to comment further.
The cash injection in Europe comes at a time when Shell is struggling to boost output and replace the 4.7 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves wiped from its books earlier this year.
Fines totalling £82.7 million were confirmed against the group earlier this week following investigations by financial watchdogs in the US and UK into the reserves crisis.
Thursday August 26, 2004
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