The senate adopted Tuesday a motion ordering the payment to members of the Ijaw ethnic group "for the severe health hazards, economic hardship, injurious affection, avoidable deaths and sundry maladies" resulting from oil spills at Shell facilities, the document said.

In London, a Shell spokeswoman said: "The reported senate resolution has not been communicated to the company.

"We would only be able to comment on it after a careful study of the resolution."

The senate based its directive on recommendations from a legal advisory panel convened in response to an Ijaws petition filed in December 2000.

Shell's spokeswoman said the company "strongly contested" the claims by the Ijaws in 2002 when a public hearing was held by Nigeria's house of representatives.

At that time, the 1.5 billion dollar compensation was not included in the lower chamber's resolution, she said.

According to the senate document, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, the legal panel reported "uncontradicted evidence" that massive oil spills have occured at Shell facilities in the Bayelsa state.

It recommended that 500 million dollars be paid immediately, with the remaining one billion spread over a period of 10 years in equal instalments, the document said.

A Shell statement said: "We have been advised by our lawyers that the (Senate) resolution does not necessarily have the binding force of an Act of the National Assembly."

Communities in oil-rich southern Niger-Delta region of Nigeria have often accused foreign oil companies, especially Shell, of environmental pollution and destruction of their ecosystem through oil activities.

TERRA.WIRE