Farmers v BP battle begins

The High Court will hear one of the biggest environmental cases in English legal history this week as Colombian farmers begin a court fight against BP.

The trial, scheduled to last four months, is unusual in that BP is being asked to defend its actions overseas in an English court. The case also marks the first time litigation has been brought in the UK against a UK oil company to seek compensation for damage to privately owned land.

The 73 farmers allege that Equion Energia (formerly BP Exploration (Colombia) Ltd) breached agreements and were negligent in causing environmental damage to their private property due to the construction of the OCENSA oil pipeline across their farmland in the mid-1990s. They claim the construction work caused severe soil erosion and sedimentation of low-lying fields and water sources, reduced vegetation coverage and blocked up water sources.

The claims will be argued with reference to contractual and extra contractual liability under Colombian law.

Shubhaa Srinivasan, partner at Leigh Day & Co, who is representing the farmers, says: “We feel it is really important that big companies are held to account for the way in which they undertake their activities abroad—especially when those activities take place in remote corners of faraway places out of the public gaze.”

A BP spokesperson says: “The OCENSA pipeline project involved significant steps being taken at the time of construction to engage with local communities, make appropriate compensation payments and ensure that the land that the pipeline traversed suffered no material damage.

“BP believes that these measures were effective and that the construction of the pipeline was carried out to a high standard.”