Justice John Tsoho of the federal high court in Abuja has set March 13 for ruling on a request by Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni to lift the temporary order ceding control of the long-disputed OPL 245 oilfield to the Nigerian government.
The judge had, last month, ordered both companies to cede control of the lucrative oil block to the Federal Government pending investigation and prosecution of suspects in the $1.1billion Malabu Oil scam by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The case is the latest of several inquiries, following those by Dutch and Italian authorities, into the 2011 purchase of the OPL 245 block, which could hold up to 9.23 billion barrels of oil, according to industry figures.
“The matter is adjourned to the 13th of March 2017 for ruling on the applications,” Justice John Tsoho said at the hearing, on Monday.
Shell’s lawyer, Kayinsola Ajayi, said the EFCC had failed to follow the necessary steps such as issuing an arrest warrant first before seeking a forfeiture.
EFCC’s lawyer, Johnson Ojogbane, however, dismissed this argument
The controversial OPL 245, was said to have been acquired from the Federal Government by Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in hazy circumstances in 1998 and afterwards sold to oil giants, Shell and Agip, in opague transactions.
The EFCC had on December 20, 2016, charged nine suspects, including a former attorney general and minister of justice, Mohammed Adoke, for the alleged scam.
Other accused persons named in the charges filed by the EFCC before a Federal High Court in Abuja, were Dan Etete, Aliyu Abubakar, Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd, Rocky Top Resource Ltd, Imperial Union Ltd, Novel Properties & Dev. Co. Ltd, Group Construction Ltd, Megatech Engineering Ltd.
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