Nigerian communities are claiming N505 billion ($310 million) in damages from Shell, which they accuse of breaching an existing court order by striking a deal to sell its onshore assets in the Niger Delta, court papers showed on Friday.

Shell is set to exit Nigeria’s onshore oil and gas sector after agreeing in January to sell its business to a consortium of five mostly local companies for $2.4 billion.

But more than 1,200 representatives of Ilaje communities in the Niger Delta asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the deal, arguing that Shell was violating a December 2023 ruling that suspended any assets sale until a compensation lawsuit was concluded.

The community has a pending lawsuit against Shell, which it accuses of causing an oil spill that damaged waterways and farms.

Shell has long maintained that such spills were mostly due to theft of oil and interference with pipelines.

In the court papers, the community said Shell should be penalised for going ahead with asset sale “when the plaintiffs and the host of their community members have remained in perpetual suffering over the failure of the defendants to obey the preservative orders of a competent court.”

Shell did not immediately comment.

It was not immediately clear when the court would hear the case.

The oil major has faced a string of lawsuits locally and abroad from communities demanding environmental restoration or compensation for land damaged by historical oil spills.

Shell’s asset sale is yet to be approved by the energy regulator and the petroleum minister. REUTERS