Corruption trial: FG gains control of oil block as Shell, Eni lose license
The license for the block, estimated to hold 482 million barrels of economically recoverable oil, expired on May 11.
The federal government has gained control over OPL245 oil block, almost a decade, after Shell and Eni paid $1.3billion for the license in a scandal deal that generated countless criminal investigations and court trials.
The license for the block which is projected to hold 482 million barrels of economically recoverable oil, expired on May 11.
This expiration was confirmed by Eni in response to questions at their annual general meeting for 2021
The expiration of license sufficed before the conclusion court cases between Nigeria and Milan
President Muhammadu Buhari two years ago, declined the request of Shell and Eni to develop the block while corruption trials were ongoing.
Buhari further instructed that no further correspondence would be considered until criminal and civil court proceedings in Milan and London related to the 2011 deal had been concluded.
Milan court had earlier acquitted 15 defendants who were alleged to have connections to the two oil giants, on charges of alleged corruption over the deal.
The two companies and the accused managers, including Eni boss, Claudio Descalzi have repeatedly and on several occasions denied any wrongdoing.
Eni, an Italian multinational oil and gas firm, reportedly instituted a claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, seeking compensation from Nigeria for the non-conversion of the license.
Federal government, however, refuted Eni’s claim that “it is legally certain that Eni has accrued the right to conversion” and has argued that Nigeria’s legal strategy is driven by “undisclosed interests.”
Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), an Anti-corruption campaigners, have commended the stance taken by the federal government by opining that Shell and Eni should accept that they have lost the field.
According to the chairman of the group, Lanre Saraju, “the rule of law demands that no-one should be above the law.”
He stressed that “Shell and Eni’s deal for this license” was deeply fraught with flaws adding that “It would have been totally egregious to convert the license while the companies are still on trial for corruption in Nigeria and proceedings in Milan may not be concluded.”
He advised that “now that the license has expired, Shell and Eni should accept that they have lost the field.”
