LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell pioneeredNigeria's oil and gas industry and remains a major investor inthe West African country. But over the decades it has come underfire over spills in the Delta region and struggles with oiltheft, corruption and oil-fueled violence.
Following are some of the highlights of Shell's history inNigeria:
1936 - The Royal Dutch Shell Group establishes a Nigerianventure with the precursor company of BP Plc. The first shipmentof oil from Nigeria takes place in 1958.
April 1973 - Nigerian government takes a stake in theventure. Over the coming years, the government increases itsstake and BP exits.
1979 - The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria(SPDC) is established, incorporating assets of the olderShell-BP consortium. Over time, the Nigerian National PetroleumCorporation comes to own 55 percent, Shell owns 30 percent,France’s Total owns 10 percent and Italy’s Eni 5 percent. Shellremains the operator.
1990 - The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People(MOSOP), led by firebrand environmental rights activist KenSaro-Wiwa, starts campaigning for a fairer share of oil wealthfor the Ogoni people living on oil fields and compensation forenvironmental damage.
January 1993 - MOSOP organises protests of around 300,000Ogoni people against Shell and oil pollution. Nigeria’s militarygovernment occupies the region.
April 1993 - Shell forms Shell Nigeria Exploration andProduction Company Limited (SNEPCo), which signs ProductionSharing Contracts to develop offshore oil and gas interests.
1993 - Shell ceases production in Ogoniland.
November 1995 - Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP leaders areexecuted by Sani Abacha’s military government on alleged murdercharges, to worldwide horror. Nigeria is suspended from theCommonwealth.
Late 1990s - Over time, Shell's focus shifts to offshoreexploration, where it enjoys better margins and fewer threats ofattack by militants.
October 2003 - SPDC pumps more than 1 million barrels of oilper day.
2005 - Shell starts production at the giant Bonga offshorefield.
2006 - Militant group MEND (Movement for the Emancipation ofthe Niger Delta) emerges and begins to attack Shell facilities.Like MOSOP it seeks a great share of oil wealth for the Delta’speople and remediation for oil spills. SPDC pump stations andplatforms in Niger delta are attacked and production falls.
2008 - Two large spills, a result of operational faults, hitthe community of Bodo in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta. Tens ofthousands of barrels of oil are spilt.
January 2010 - SPDC sells some onshore fields and says it isno longer looking to Nigeria for growth.
April 2011 - Shell and Italy's Eni acquire oil productionlicence (OPL) 245, a large offshore field, for $1.1 billion fromlocal company Malabu.
August 2011 - A U.N. report criticises Shell and theNigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution inOgoniland which it says needs the world’s largest oil clean-up,costing an initial $1 billion and taking up to 30 years.
March 2012 - A group of 11,000 Nigerians from Bodo,Ogoniland, launch a suit against Shell at the London High Court,seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation for the 2008oil spills.
January 2013 - A Dutch court rules that Shell could be heldpartially responsible for pollution in the Niger Delta, sayingthe company should have prevented sabotage at one of itsfacilities. Four Nigerians and Friends of the Earth filed thesuit originally in 2008 in the Netherlands.
January 2015 - Shell accepts liability for the Bodo spills,agreeing to pay 55 million pounds ($83 million at the time) toBodo villagers and to clean up their lands and waterways.
May 2018 - Court case against Shell and Eni over the 2011OPL 245 acquisition starts in Milan. Nine current and formerexecutives and contractors, including ENI Chief ExecutiveClaudio Descalzi, are accused by Italian prosecutors of payingbribes to secure the license.(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)