A Nigerian judge ruled on Monday that the burning of natural gas by oil firms in the Niger Delta violates the human rights of local people and should stop immediately, the parties in the case said...The ruling was against the government, state oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corp...and Shell Development Petroleum Corporation (SPDC)..."Following the ruling, SPDC has immediately filed a notice of appeal challenging the validity of the judgment on the basis of violation of legal process," the company said. "However, we wish to restate SPDC's commitment to ending routine flaring of gas in its Nigerian operations. It is a big undertaking for which the company has over the last five years, made significant investment of some $2 billion," it added.