Court rejects Nigeria’s $1.1bn damages request against Eni, Shell

The principle case revolved round a deal during which Eni and Shell acquired the OPL 245 offshore oilfield in 2011 in Nigeria.

An appeals court docket in Milan has rejected Nigeria’s $1.1bn compensation request towards Italian power group Eni and British oil and fuel firm Shell in civil proceedings referring to a $1.3bn oilfield deal.

The choice was learn out within the court docket on Friday.

In July, prosecutors had dropped associated prison proceedings, clearing Eni and Shell, in addition to high managers, together with Eni Chief Govt Claudio Descalzi, in one of many international oil business’s largest alleged corruption instances.

“We’re happy that these civil proceedings have been dismissed,” Shell mentioned in an emailed remark to the Reuters information company.

“This follows the Milan prison tribunal’s discovering that there was no case to reply for Shell or its former staff once they had been absolutely acquitted in 2021, a call that was upheld in July 2022, when prison proceedings ended,” it added.

Eni had no speedy remark.

The principle case revolved round a deal during which Eni and Shell acquired the OPL 245 offshore oilfield in 2011 for $1.3bn, to settle a longstanding dispute over possession.

Prosecutors alleged that about $1.1bn of the overall quantity was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen in Nigeria, then Africa’s largest oil producer.

The oil bloc was initially owned by an area firm the place controversial former Petroleum Minister Dan Etete had main stakes.

A lawyer representing Nigeria within the proceedings added the nation was nonetheless deciding whether or not to enchantment the choice at Italy’s high administrative court docket.

Paperwork explaining the explanations behind Friday’s choice can be made accessible in 90 days.