2010-04-20
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell has asked Nigeria's supreme court to overturn a ruling that requires the firm to forfeit its residential headquarters in Port Harcourt, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

An appeals court ruled in favour of the Mgbesilaru community in the Port Harcourt oil hub last week, saying their land was illegally given to Shell by the federal government.

The case has inspired a similar lawsuit against Shell by the local community on Bonny Island, where the company has its main crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals.

Relations between foreign oil companies and local community groups have long been fragile in the Niger Delta, which is home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry and where poverty is widespread.

Decades of neglect and frustration in the region led to the rise in militancy and criminal activity in recent years.

Shell's spokesman John Barnden said the company immediately appealed to the supreme court against the April 15 ruling. He declined to comment further about the case.

Shell paid rent to the Mgbesilaru community for decades until it was given ownership of the land by the federal government in 1999.

The court ruled the government did not have the right to give Shell the land.

"The bad faith of Shell is glaring. It is an intolerable conduct of a tenant," said Emmanuel Asido, one of the lawyers representing the Mgbesilaru community.

A lower court in a similar case ruled in favour of the Bonny community last year, saying Shell must forfeit land ownership on the island. The company has also appealed that decision.

Shell's oil facilities at Bonny can process and export up to 1.25 million barrels per day, making it the largest terminal of its kind in Africa.