The Supreme Court in London has ruled that it is too late for a group of Nigerian claimants to sue the oil giant Shell, in relation to an offshore spill more than a decade ago.

Lawyers representing nearly 30,000 people in the Niger Delta have been trying to sue Shell, saying the oil slick polluted their land and waterways, damaging farming, fishing, drinking water and religious shrines.

An estimated 40,000 barrels worth of crude oil leaked from a tanker at Shell's Bonga field in 2011.

The Supreme Court upheld rulings by two lower courts which found the claimants had brought their case after the expiry of a six-year legal deadline.