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Tag: Shell

  • Shell contract feud: Petitioner accuses Reps Committee of demanding N10m Bribe

    Shell contract feud: Petitioner accuses Reps Committee of demanding N10m Bribe

    …you’re a deranged liar, clerk reacts
    …insists Committee Clerk In Alleged Demand
    …alleged Committee Chair Attempted Covering Up For Shell Petroleum
    By Emman Ovuakporie
    A petitioner Mr Finidi Jahbless has alleged that the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Petitions is involved in a foul play in a petition brought before it against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
    Jahbless, from Warri in Delta state also said the committee chairman, Hon. Jerry Alagboso PDP, Imo), had at one of the hearings tried covering up a case of forgery allegedly perpetrated by Shell Petroleum.
    Mr. Jahbless, an origin of Delta state, South-South Nigeria, had petitioned the House to complain that the oil giant had treated him shabbily by refusing to pay for a job his company was duly awarded and executed for Shell.
    In the petition dated, 31st March, 2020, and addressed to the Speaker of the House, Mr. Jahbless complained about Shell’s flagrant disregard for series of invitations by the House to appear for explanations on allegations of breach of contract as alleged in his earlier petition.
    Lawyer to SPDC, Ama Etuwewe (SAN), had on March 4, 2021 tendered a document before the panel indicating that an agreement was reached and signed following a negotiation with stakeholders including the Petitioner, for payment which had since been made.
    Lawyers to the Petitioner, Karina Tunyan (SAN) & Co also wrote to the committee alleging rascality and arm-twisting tactics employed by Shell to manipulate and control the House through the committee.
    In the letter dated 13th April, 2021 and addressed to the committee chairman as seen by our correspondent, the law firm said: “We are astonished, to receive a copy of complaint letter written by the law firm of Agbajoh Etuwewe & Co to chairman House Committee on Public Petitions, showing that SPDC Nigeria Limited has powers to arm-twist the powers vested on the National Assembly under sections 88 and 89 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended).”
    The law firm in another letter dated March 9, 2021, and addressed to the committee chairman, also raised the alarm about a forgery allegedly perpetrated by Shell purporting to have reached an agreement with its client, Mr Jahbless towards an amicable settlement of their commitments.
    Titled: ‘Disclaimer of the Signature of our Client, Mr Finidi K. Jahbless on the Purported Document, that was Presented to the House Committee on Public Petition and Investigative Hearing…,’ the lawyers said ” we write on behalf of our client, to categorically disclaim the said document, which to the best of our knowledge, never existed because for over the years that this matter started, right from Public Complaint Commission, we never set our eyes on this document.”
    “We therefore challenge Barrister Ama Etuwewe (SAN), to present before this Honourable committee, all the parties that their names and signatures appeared, as being in attendance during the purported negotiation” the petitioner’s lawyers said.
    But according to the Petitioner, when the matter was heard by Tue panel on March 4, 2021, the chairman of the committee, Hon. Jerry Alagboso (PDP, Imo), tried to cover-up the fact that his signature was forged on the said agreement tendered by Shell.
    In a video recording of the committee’s proceeding of March 4, 2021, seen by TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) members of the committee were seen insisting that a case of forgery had been made and the chairman should deal with it before further deliberation on the matter.
    A member of the House, Hon. Awaji Inombek Dagomie Abiante from Bayelsa was clearly seen telling the chairman to first determine the allegation of forgery against Shell by the Petitioner who said he never signed any agreement and that he has not been paid for his work.
    Following pressure from members as seen in the video, Chairman Alagboso called for documents bearing the petitioner’s signature, which was compared to the one on the said document tendered by Shell and found to be irregular.
    At this point, the panel before adjourning the matter to April 17, resolved that Shell should go and settle with the Petitioner, failure of which the committee will invoke its relevant constitutional powers to compel compliance.
    However, the Petitioner told this newspaper that on getting back to the committee on the adjourned date, the committee chairman, Jerry Alagboso practically chased him away, saying that Shell has taken the matter to court.
    Asked if he was served with any notice of judicial proceeding regarding the matter, he responded in the negative, just as he said the committee did not communicate any such development to him nor show him the notice so sent to it by Shell on the matter.
    He said in his quest to get details of happenings around his petition, he approached the Committee Clerk, Mr. Yilzy Yakubu who then asked him for the sum of N10m before his report which he claimed was ready could be laid before the House, contrary to what the chairman had told the Petitioner.
    “I left the Chairman’s place and went to the Clerk, but he told me a different thing. He said the report of the committee on my petition was ready but if I want it to make it to House for consideration, I should bring the sum of N10m.
    “I went back to the chairman who earlier told me the case was in court, but he changed the tune again by saying that the report has been presented to the House. So I asked for the Votes and Proceedings of that day so I can confirm what he said, but he shouted me down.
    “When I left there, I went to the committee on Rules and Business that’s in charge of records of proceedings, but I was told my report has not been brought for presentation yet. The woman checked many times on the system, but nothing came up bearing my name.
    “Just when I was about leaving the Rules and Business office, the Clerk rushed in not knowing that I had preceded him and found out their lies”, he said.
    He added that after realising that he had caught them in the act, the Clerk rushed to him to say that the report was ready but the inability of the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase to “trash matters”, was stalling it.
    “The Clerk after seeing that they had been caught in their own lies started telling me the report was actually ready, but because the Deputy Speaker who usually presides over the Committee of the Whole doesn’t trash matters as he should, is delaying many things”, he alleged.
    Reached by our correspondent for reaction, the Committee Clerk, Mr. Yilzy Yakubu, also referred to as pastor, denied the allegation, describing the Petitioner as ” a deranged liar and a blackmailer.”
    He said: “May be the guy is mentally deranged, I’m thinking that the guy is mentally deranged. I can swear with my Bible, you know I’m a pastor. I can swear with my Bible that I have never in any way asked him to give me a kobo. If he can swear as a child of God, if he’s a child of God, let him swear that I asked him to give so–so money.
    “I have never seen a Petitioner where he will always come everyday to bombard the committee to write his report,
    and to know what is in the report. And it was on that note that I refused to disclose the recommendations of the report. So if he’s hating me because of hat, so be it. So that’s the brief explanation I have to give you”, the Clerk submitted.
    On the alleged indictment of the Deputy Speaker, the Clerk, in his reaction described the Petitioner as a “fraud”, who wants to nock peoples heads in acrimony and misunderstanding.
    “You see, that guy is a fraud. He wants to knock everybody’s head around and I want to believe that he can never get me. If I’m on his record, let him play what I have discussed with him. Let him play it on record, not just to frame anything. I went to Rules and Business because I have a report to submit to the House and the record of all the report that I have laid were not properly captured by Rules and Business. So I went to Rules and Business to obtain their own statistical compilation and I met him there.
    “First, he came and went to my chairman, and my chairman summoned me, and I know that we wrote this report since. I submitted 8 reports to Committee on Rules and Business, and Rules and Business said the reports were too many. So they slated 6 and dropped 2, so I didn’t know that his own was one of them.
    “So the chairman called me to ask what about this man’s report, of which he’s not supposed to come to the committee to ask for his report. But this man keeps harassing us all the time about his report. I told chairman that his report has been laid, of which he asked for the Votes and proceedings and incidentally when he went to Rules and Business, it wasn’t on their records. As at that time I went there for the statistics, I met him there. I said okay that’s my work, let him give me and the Rules and Business chance to reconcile our records. Because previously when we were reconciling our records of reports that we had laid before the House, I discovered she was not able to capture them all. That was what I told him, so that we could reconcile, and he said what reconciliation? That the lady said the report was not there. And he went mad”, the Clerk narrated.
    The committee chairman did not respond to calls and text messages put across to him for comments on this matter as at the time of filing this story.
    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG also gathered that the matter has aroused interest from some powerful quarters within the National Assembly, including the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, who was said to have sent a delegation of observers to the hearing on March 4, 2020.
  • Gov Diri demands Shell headquarters should be in Bayelsa

    Gov Diri demands Shell headquarters should be in Bayelsa

    Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri has re-echoed his call on Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to relocate its operational headquarters to the State.

    Governor Diri stressed that given the historical significance of the State to Shell, there was no better location to site its headquarters.

    He restated this when the Shell Country Chair and SPDC Managing Director, Mr. Osagie Okunbor led a management delegation on a courtesy visit to Government House, Yenagoa, on Tuesday.

    A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, quoted the Bayelsa helmsman as saying that the presence of Shell in Bayelsa was essential for the economic benefits of both parties.

    The governor emphasised that the long-standing relationship between the state and Shell, following the discovery of oil in commercial quantity at Otuabagi community in Ogbia LocalGovernment Area, was proof that they were both inseparable in oil and gas business.

    While assuring the company of a conducive working environment, Diri asserted that the stereotype of insecurity in the Niger Delta as a ploy to deprive the goose that lays the golden egg was no longer tenable.

    He said: “On behalf of this Prosperity Administration and the people of Bayelsa State, I have been directed to invite you to relocate your headquarters back to your state, the peaceful state of Bayelsa.

    “You are aware that I’m an apostle of the relocation of your headquarters. You would agree with me that Bayelsa is peaceful and stable.

    “I know it might not be very easy to relocate everything but let us feel a fundamental presence of Shell. In fact, there is no reason why the Shell headquarters should be in any place other than Bayelsa.

    “The history and story of Bayelsa cannot be complete without Shell. We have an intertwined and long-lasting relationship between the state of Bayelsa (then in the old Rivers State) and Shell.

    “As a people, I want to put on record that we have not been fairly treated as those who provide the resources for this country.”

    Speaking on the legal dispute over outstanding revenues owed the state by the company, Senator Diri said an amicable resolution was possible in the spirit of the renewed relationship between both parties.

    The governor also spoke about his administration’s decision to supervise the signing and be a part of Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) between host communities and companies operating in the state.

    He said this was occasioned by cases of breaches of such agreements, which result in conflicts.

    The policy, according to the governor, would be supervised by the Ministry of Justice in order to protect the interest of such communities and, by extension, the companies.

    “We made that policy statement to say that all GMoUs to be signed between the communities and any company, including the oil companies, has to be supervised by the Ministry of Justice. This was because we want to at all times protect the interest of our communities and even the companies. Also, at all times, the state government would be aware of the issues.

    “We have seen situations where GMoU is signed but only very few people, who claim to be community leaders, are aware of it. And that becomes a veritable tools for community conflicts.”

    The governor reeled out key projects being undertaken by his administration and solicited the partnership of Shell on major infrastructure projects like the proposed Nembe-Brass road as well as the ongoing Yenagoa-Oporoma and Sagbama-Ekeremorroad projects.

    He thanked the company for its support on the Ogbia-Nembe road.

    Speaking earlier, the Shell Country Chair and SPDC Managing Director, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, noted the key steps taken by Senator Diri to promote peace in the state and commended the governor’s leadership quality.

    Describing Bayelsa as the company’s most important host state, Okunbor said they were impressed with the governor’s handling of affairs of the state and his support for their operations.

    He said that Bayelsa was host to some of the company’s most strategic assets that keeps it going.

    The Country Chair promised to sustain the relationship between the company and the state through investment in key development projects in the state.

  • Shell’s pipeline spills 213 barrels of crude into Bayelsa community

    Shell’s pipeline spills 213 barrels of crude into Bayelsa community

    The Okordia-Rumekpe 14-inch crude truckline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has discharged some 213 barrels of crude oil into Ikarama community in Bayelsa.

    SPDC’s Media Relations Manager, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, confirmed the leakage and said that probe into the incident had been concluded.

    A Joint Investigative Visit’s (JIV) report on the incident on Thursday confirmed that the incident occured on April 7, while the investigation was concluded on April 12.

    JIV is a statutory probe into the cause of any recorded spill incident involving the oil firm, regulators, host communities and state ministries of environment.

    The JIV report concluded that the spill was an operational mishap traced to equipment failure which impacted nearby palm trees and fish ponds.

    It recommended remediation of the site.

    The report indicated that an estimated 1.34 hectares of land was polluted by the leakage which followed a rupture on the pipeline.

    According to the report, out of the 213 barrels of SPDC’s bonny light crude stream leak, some 110 barrels are recoverable from the ongoing recovery exercise at the site, leaving an estimated spilled volume at 109.12 barrels.

    The JIV report, which anticipated that oil recovery would be concluded before the end of April, also recommended replacement of sections of the pipeline to restore its integrity.

  • Shell confirms oil spill from its facility in Bayelsa community

    Shell confirms oil spill from its facility in Bayelsa community

    The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has confirmed oil spill from its facility at Agbura-Otuokpoti area of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

    The company’s Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Friday.

    Odugbesan said the company got a report of the spill on March 31.

    “At about 8.30am on March 31, a community surveillance vendor reported a leak on the company’s Joint Venture pipeline at Nun River in Bayelsa.

    “Following the development, the facility was shut down and full isolation established at 09.45am.

    “The SPDC Oil Spill Response Team was mobilised to the spill site and was able to contain the spill to prevent further spread.

    “The Joint Investigation Visit team led by government regulator will determine the cause and impact of the spill,” Odugbesan said.

    He, however, said that there was an anonymous note found at the spill site, suggesting sabotage.

    Residents, who said the oil workers had yet to come to the site as at Friday, have resorted to scooping oil from water surface into drums.

    Daniel Ebitimi, who claimed that crude oil has curative effect on burns and skin diseases, said he collected some kegs, which he hoped to sell.

    The predominantly fishing and farming settlements regretted that the leakage discharged large volumes of crude oil into the River, resulting in pollution of the waters.

    Mr Collins Jackson, an environmentalist, said the spill was discovered in the early hours of Wednesday, when the people noticed large volumes of crude floating on the river.

    Jackson dismissed the company’s claim of prompt response and allegations of sabotage.

    He said he visited the site of the leakage with other natives but did not find any oil worker, while crude continued to discharge into the water.

    “The claim of an anonymous note suggesting sabotage is at best a fallacy because we visited the place immediately our people noticed oil on water and we did not see any note.

    “Why will SPDC jump into conclusion when the investigation has not been concluded?

    “The theory of sabotage is funny because the pipeline is corroded and has signs of loss of integrity due to age.

    “Also, the site is close to the security outpost so the possibility of a vandal gaining access is very slim,” Jackson said.

    He said the allegations of sabotage had led to a disagreement among the regulators, communities and state government officials on the joint investigation,” he said.

    Chief Don-Evarada Abednego frowned at the alleged insensitivity of the oil firm to the plight of the people in the affected communities.

    Abednego described the spill as “life threatening”, considering that the community lacked basic amenities, such as healthcare facility and portable water.

    He, therefore, urged SPDC to urgently provide emergency relief to the people, saying that drinking water from the river posed serious danger to the people’s health.

    Also, Alagos Morris, an Environmental Activist and Head of Field Operations with Environmental Rights Action, pointed out that the response personnel had yet to arrive at the site of the spill.

    He called on regulators to rise to the challenge and come up with measures to arrest the situation, in addition to immediate clean up exercise.

  • Malabu scandal: Milan court acquits Shell, ENI

    Malabu scandal: Milan court acquits Shell, ENI

    A Milan court on Wednesday acquitted energy companies ENI and Shell in Nigeria’s oil industry’s biggest corruption scandal.

    Also acquitted by the court was a long list of past and present managers of the firms, including Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi.

    The verdict, read out in court by judge Marco Tremolada, comes more than three years after the trial first began and after a total of 74 hearings.

    He said the companies and defendants had been acquitted because there was no case to answer.

    The long-running case revolves around the purchase of the OPL 245 offshore oilfield in Nigeria in 2011 from Malabu Oil and Gas, a company owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete.

    Prosecutors alleged that just under $1.1 billion of the purchase price was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen, including Etete.

    Prosecutors had called for Eni and Shell to be fined and for a number of past and present managers from both companies, including Descalzi, to be jailed.

    The defendants all denied any wrongdoing.

  • Court orders freezing of Shell’s accounts in 20 Nigerian banks

    Court orders freezing of Shell’s accounts in 20 Nigerian banks

    In a bid to recover the cash value of more than 16 million barrels of crude oil allegedly diverted from AITEO Eastern E & P Company Ltd., a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos has granted an interim injunction directing 20 commercial banks to freeze the accounts of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd.

    Justice Oluremi Omowunmi Oguntoyinbo gave the order following an ex parte application by AITEO Eastern E & P Company Ltd who is the plaintiff/applicants with SPDC Ltd listed as the first defendant.

    Other defendants are Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell Western Supply and Trading Ltd, Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Ltd and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd which are listed as second, third, fourth and fifth defendants.

    The 20 banks where Shell companies operate accounts in Nigeria were also named as respondents in the suit.

    AITEO’s application was filed by Messrs Kemi Pinheiro SAN leading Dr Mike Ozekhome SAN, Dapo Olanipekun SAN and four other SANs.

    Justice Oluremi Omowunmi Oguntoyinbo directed the 20 banks to “ring-fence any cash, bonds, deposits, all forms of negotiable instruments to the value of $2.7 billion and pay all standing credits to the Shell companies up to the value into an interest yielding account in the name of the Chief Registrar of the court.”

    The Chief Registrar is to “hold the funds in trust” pending the hearing of the motion and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction filed before it by AITEO.

    The order followed an application by AITEO Eastern E & P against SPDC and the other defendants with the 20 lenders as respondents.

    The court restrained the defendants or their agents/privies from presenting to the banks ”any mandate or instrument for the withdrawal of any money and /or funds standing to the credit of any of the accounts” of the defendants kept/maintained “at any of the named respondent banks… “without first preserving/ring-fencing the sum of $1,251,305.5 or its equivalent in any other official currency including but not limited to the naira and/or pound sterling being the value of the plaintiff’s 1,022,029 barrels of crude oil (at the rate of $79.50 per barrel as stated in the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) letter dated 8th day of July, 2020.”

    The defendants were further restrained in the interim from presenting to the named banks any mandate or instrument for the withdrawal or any money and/or funds standing to the credit of any of the accounts of the five defendants kept or maintained at any of the named respondent banks and or their branches without first preserving and or ring-fencing the total sum of $2,700,583,779,75 or its equivalent in any other official currency comprising of $799,000,000.00.

    The sum is “the amounts claimed to have been paid in this suit by the plaintiff to the five defendants for the acquisition of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL)pipelines and the assets; $389,631,877.76 being the total amount claimed in this suit as having been lost by the plaintiff arising from the leakages in the NCTL and the degraded conditions of the NCTL; $578,951,901.99 being the total amount claimed in this suit as having been lost by the plaintiff arising from the crude theft/larceny in the NCTL; $933,000,000 being the total amount claimed in this suit as having being expended by the plaintiff for the repairs of the pipelines and acquisition of the equipment including well-heads, generators and pumps as well as replacing the flow lines within the NCTL;

    “That pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction, the named banks whether by themselves, director, managers, officers or howsoever are restrained in the interim from accepting, honouring or giving effect in any manner howsoever to any mandate, cheque or instructions presented by all the five defendants whether by themselves or through their agents or privies for the withdrawal of any sum of money and/or funds standing to the credit of all the defendants kept and or maintained at any of the named banks and or their branches without first preserving and or ring-fencing the sums as ordered in prayers 1,2,3 and/or 4 above.”

    Justice Oguntoyinbo further directed the respondents’ banks “to pay any sums of money standing to the credit of the defendants within 48 hours of the service of the order of this honourable court up to the sum/value of the amounts stated in prayers 1,2,3, and 4 above into an interest yielding account in the name of the Chief Registrar of this honourable court, who is to hold same in trust;

    “Pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction, the respondent banks are directed to sequestrate and/or ring-fence any cash, bonds, deposits, all forms of negotiable instruments or chose(s) in the action due to or standing to the credit sum/value of the amounts stated in prayer 1,2,2 and/or 4 above;

    “that pending the hearing and determination of the motion for an interlocutory injunction, the named banks are directed to file within 48 hours of service of the order of this honourable court on them returns of the statement of account of the all the five defendants maintained with them as at the date of the order of this honourable court, such returns to be verified by affidavits.

    When the matter came up in court, the judge was informed that the defendants had filed an application seeking to discharge the order.

    The judge adjourned further proceedings till Wednesday, February 24.

  • BREAKING: Dutch court rules in favour of Nigerian farmers, orders Shell to pay damages for oil spills

    BREAKING: Dutch court rules in favour of Nigerian farmers, orders Shell to pay damages for oil spills

    A Dutch appeals court on Friday said that the Nigerian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell was responsible for oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta and ordered it to pay unspecified damages farmers.

    The decision went a step further than a 2013 ruling by a lower court, saying that Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary was responsible for multiple cases of oil pollution.

    This ruling will pave the way for more cases against the energy company.

    A lower court in The Hague in 2013 said Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC was responsible for a case of oil pollution and ordered it to pay damages to a local farmer.

    The court dismissed four other complaints against Shell’s parent company, but the verdict was seen by legal experts as a way for others to sue in the Netherlands.

    The case was brought in 2008 by farmers and campaign group Friends of the Earth, seeking reparations for lost income from contaminated land and waterways in the Niger Delta region, the heart of the Nigerian oil industry.

  • Heirs Holdings Acquires 45% of OML 17 from Shell, Total and ENI

    Heirs Holdings Acquires 45% of OML 17 from Shell, Total and ENI

    Heirs Holdings (“HH”), the leading African strategic investor, in partnership with affiliated company Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (“Transcorp”), Nigeria’s largest publicly listed conglomerate, announced today the unconditional acquisition of a 45% participating interest in Nigerian oil licence OML 17 and related assets, through TNOG Oil and Gas Limited (a related company of Heirs Holdings and Transcorp), from the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited and ENI. In addition, TNOG Oil and Gas Limited will have sole operatorship of the asset.

    The transaction is one of the largest oil and gas financings in Africa in more than a decade, with a financing component of US$1.1 billion, provided by a consortium of global and regional banks and investors. OML 17 has a current production capacity of 27,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and, according to our estimates, 2P reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with an additional 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources of further exploration potential.

    The investment demonstrates a further important advance in the execution of Heirs Holdings’ integrated energy strategy and the Group’s commitment to Africa’s development, through long term investments that create economic prosperity and social wealth. Heirs Holdings’ heritage and approach to business fundamentally underscores its commitment to inclusive development and shared prosperity with its host communities. Heirs Holdings is fully invested in the development of the Niger Delta region.

    Heirs Holdings’ strategy of creating the leading integrated energy business in Africa is executed through a series of strategic portfolio holdings. Transcorp is one of the largest power producers in Nigeria, with 2,000 MW of installed capacity, through ownership of Transcorp Power Plant and the recent acquisition of Afam Power Plc and Afam Three Fast Power Limited. Transcorp closed the US$300 million Afam acquisitions in November 2020. Transcorp supplies electricity to the Republic of Benin, as part of an emphasis on promoting regional integration and delivering robust power supply to catalyse development in Africa. Transcorp also operates OPL281, under a production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (“NNPC”). Similarly, Heirs Holdings’ subsidiary, Tenoil is the operator of OPL 2008, under a production sharing contract with NNPC. Tenoil also owns the Ata Marginal Field, which will commence production in Q2, 2021, with 3,500 barrels of oil per day.

    Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu stated: “We have a very clear vision: creating Africa’s first integrated energy multinational, a global quality business, uniquely focused on Africa and Africa’s energy needs. The acquisition of such a high-quality asset, with significant potential for further growth, is a strong statement of our confidence in Nigeria, the Nigerian oil and gas sector and a tribute to the extremely high-quality management team that we have assembled. As a Nigerian, and more particularly an indigene of the Niger Delta region, I understand well our responsibilities that come with stewardship of the asset, our engagement with communities and the strategic importance of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. We see significant benefits from integrating our production, with our ability to power Nigeria, through Transcorp, and deliver value across the energy value chain.”

    Speaking further, he said “I would like to thank Shell, Total and ENI, for the professionalism of the process, the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and the NNPC for the confidence they have placed in us.”

    Speaking on the investment, the President/GCEO of Transcorp, Owen Omogiafo, said “This deal further demonstrates Transcorp’s integrated energy strategy and our determination to power Africa.”

    Heirs Holdings was advised by Standard Chartered Plc, as Global Coordinator, and United Capital Plc, with a syndicate of lending institutions including Afreximbank, ABSA, Africa Finance Corporation, Union Bank of Nigeria, Hybrid Capital, and global asset management firm Amundi. The deal also involves Schlumberger as a technical partner, as well as the trading arm of Shell as an offtaker.

  • Malabu: Nigeria in Milan court demands $1.1 billion from Shell, ENI

    Malabu: Nigeria in Milan court demands $1.1 billion from Shell, ENI

    Nigeria has demanded an upfront payment of $1.092 billion from Royal Dutch Shell and Italian oil giant ENI in damages it suffered over OPL 245 oil block.

    Nigeria made the demand on Wednesday in a court in Milan, Italy that is conducting the world’s biggest oil industry corruption trial.

    At a hearing into alleged corruption linked to Eni and Shell’s 2011 acquisition of the OPL 245 field, Lucio Lucia, lawyer for the Nigerian government, called for a guilty verdict and an advance payment, ahead of any broader damages package set by a court at a later date.

    Lucia did not specify how much Nigeria was seeking in damages overall but said the disputed deal had deprived Abuja of “profit oil”, adding “these are massive amounts”.

    The lawyer said that calculated under two different scenarios, the profits that had been lost amounted to $4.5 billion and $5.9 billion respectively.

    The long-running bribery case revolves around the purchase of the OPL 245 offshore field, some 150 km off the Niger Delta, for about $1.3 billion from Malabu, a company owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete.

    Prosecutors allege that about $1.1 billion of that was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen, half of it to Etete himself.

    Shell says the 2011 agreement was a settlement of long-standing litigation, following the previous allocation of the block by the Nigerian government to Shell and Malabu.

    Etete, Eni, Shell and the managers accused in the Milan court case, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, have all denied any wrongdoing.

    Eni said in a statement on Wednesday that the purchase price for OPL 245 was “congruous and reasonable” considering the value of the field and investment needed to bring it into production.

    In July, prosecutors in the case asked for Eni and Shell to be fined and some of their present and former executives, including Eni’s Descalzi, to be jailed.

    They also requested the confiscation of a total of $1.092 billion from all the defendants in the case, the equivalent of the bribes alleged to have been paid.

    The next hearing in the trial is scheduled for Sept. 21, when the defence is due to present its case.

  • Malabu: English court throws out Nigeria’s $1.1bn suit against Shell, Eni

    An English court in a virtual sitting on Friday threw out a $1.1 billion case filed by Nigeria against oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni over the OPL 245 oilfield.

    Justice Christopher Butcher, the judge assigned to the matter, while giving his ruling at the virtual hearing today, held that the court does not have jurisdiction on the case, giving a set back to the long standing trial on the Malabu oil deal of 2011.

    The Nigerian government filed the case in 2018 at a commercial court in London alleging payments made by the companies to get the OPL 245 oilfield licence in 2011 were used for kickbacks and bribes.

    Justice Butcher said the High Court “must decline jurisdiction over the action against” Shell and the other defendants.

    Shell and Eni had asked the court to decline jurisdiction as the Italian case against the oil companies was still in progress.

    The judgment does not affect the separate charges against the companies in an Italian court.

    Speaking on the ruling, a spokeswoman for Shell said the company welcomed the decision.

    “We maintain that the 2011 settlement related to OPL 245 was a fully legal transaction with Eni and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), represented by the most senior officials of the relevant ministries,” she said.

    A spokesman for Nigeria said in a statement said it was “naturally disappointed the Court has declined jurisdiction over its civil claim”.

    “Nigeria continues to support the criminal proceedings underway in Milan and maintains that the separate civil proceedings in London have an entirely different legal basis we intend to seek permission to appeal this decision,” the spokesman said.

    The OPL 245 oilfield is also central to a corruption trial in Milan in which former and current Shell and Eni officials are on the bench, as well as court proceedings Nigeria started against JP Morgan, which processed some of the payments in question.

    The bank has said it considers the allegations against it “unsubstantiated and without merit”.

    In 2011, the federal government brokered a deal between Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, the original allotees of OPL 245, and Shell/ENI who wanted to buy the oil block from the Nigerian company.

    While Shell and ENI paid a signature bonus of $210 million to the federal government, they paid $1.1 billion to buy 100 percent interest in the oil block from Malabu.

    The entire $1.3 billion was transferred to the account of the federal government in London, UK, from where Malabu was paid its $1.1 billion.

    It was then alleged that bribes were paid to officials of the government to facilitate the deal, which is considered unfavourable to Nigeria as the value of the oil block is estimated to be worth much more than what was paid for it. Eni and Shell have since denied the bribery allegations.

    With the case in Milan, Italy still on the table, Shell spokeswoman said that, based on the company’s review of the Prosecutor of Milan’s file, it did not believe there was a case to answer.