New From CFR: John Campbell on Nigeria’s Oil

Today on his blog, CFR senior fellow John Campbell analyzes the Dutch court decision absolving Royal Dutch Shell of liability for four oil spills in Nigeria. As he explains:

[An environmental advocate] said that Shell has spilled twice as much oil over the years as the amount leaked during the British Petroleum disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Shell and other big oil companies respond that the spills are caused by sabotage, oil theft, and illegal refiners, and that when spills occur, they are cleaned up to the satisfaction of the Nigerian federal government...the court ruled that the oil spills were, indeed, caused by sabotage, that Royal Dutch Shell is not liable.

You can read the full post here and CFR fellow Terra Lawson-Remer’s take on Africa’s resource curse here.