However, in one case, it found subsidiary Shell Nigeria culpable of neglecting its duty of care and ruled that: "Shell could and should have prevented this sabotage in an easy way".

BBC: Shell Nigeria case: Court acquits firm on most charges

Shell's local subsidiary is the top foreign oil producer in the Niger Delta, an oil-rich region of mangroves and swamps about the size of Portugal.

NPR: Dutch Court Rejects Most Of Shell Spill Case

However, in one case the judges ordered a subsidiary, Shell Nigeria, to compensate a farmer for breach of duty of care by making it too easy for saboteurs to open an oil well head that leaked on to his land.

NPR: Dutch Court Rejects Most Of Shell Spill Case

That was the case in Kiobel, which involved Nigerian plaintiffs suing a Nigerian subsidiary of the oil giant Shell for alleged actions taking place in Nigeria.

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The field is co-owned by Esso, a subsidiary of US oil firm Exxon but operated by Shell.

BBC: Shell fights spill near North Sea oil platform

Siwei is a subsidiary of ERA Mining Machinery, a Hong Kong-listed firm controlled by a shell company whose principals are two American entrepreneurs in China.

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In a key 2009 ruling, a district court in the Netherlands declared itself "competent" to handle claims for alleged damage caused by the oil company's activities in the Niger Delta, contrary to Shell's argument that the court did not have the jurisdiction to rule on its Nigerian subsidiary.

BBC: Shell in Nigeria: Dutch court to rule in pollution case