Page 10 - AfrOil Week 08 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

London court to hear Nigeria’s lawsuit

against JP Morgan Chase over OPL 245

NIGERIA A London court was due on February 23 to begin contested Etete’s rights to the field, triggering
hearing Nigeria’s $1.7bn lawsuit against US bank years of legal wrangling until a deal designed to
JP Morgan Chase for its role in the disputed 2011 end the battles was struck in 2011, when Etete’s
purchase of offshore oilfield OPL 245 by energy company Gas handed OPL 245 back to Nigeria
majors Shell and Eni, Reuters reports. as part of a resolution agreement involving Shell
Nigeria alleges that JP Morgan was “grossly and Eni.
negligent” in its decision to transfer funds paid To complete the deal, Shell and Eni paid a
by Shell and Eni into an escrow account to a signature bonus of about $200mn directly to
company controlled by former oil minister Dan the Nigerian government and then deposited
Etete rather than into government coffers. $1.1bn in the Nigerian government’s escrow
“JP Morgan was on clear notice that the pay- account with JP Morgan, Reuters reports court
ments put its customer, the Federal Republic of documents show.
Nigeria, at risk of being defrauded, which was Shell, Eni and its executives were on trial
what, indeed, happened,” a spokesman for the from 2018 to 2021 in a related Italian case in
Nigerian government is quoted as saying. Milan, in which Italian prosecutors alleged the
Damages sought include cash sent to Etete’s energy majors paid $1.1bn in bribes to Nigerian
company Malabu Oil and Gas (around $875mn officials and others through the OPL 245 deal.
paid in three instalments, plus interest, taking They were acquitted in March 2022, but prose-
the total to over $1.7bn. Neither Etete nor the cutors have appealed against the ruling. ™
energy majors are parties to the lawsuit.
A JP Morgan spokesman was quoted by Reu-
ters as saying that the bank is “confident that it
acted appropriately in making the payments,”
which both came at the request of the Nigerian
government and were authorised by senior rep-
resentatives, adding that the bank “will robustly
defend against this claim.”
The London case dates back to 1998, when
Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha awarded
the offshore oilfield licence OPL 245 to Malabu
Oil and Gas for $20mn, far less than the still
undeveloped block was worth, as it should have
yielded billions of dollars of crude.
Subsequent Nigerian administrations OPL 245 is offshore in the Gulf of Guinea (Image: Shell)

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Havfram wins SURF contract for Zohr field

EGYPT HAVFRAM (Norway) is slated to provide sup- of work will include the deployment of a
port for subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines high-specification laying and construction ves-
(SURF) systems at Zohr, a natural gas field off- sel (LCV), along with a construction crew, and
shore Egypt, under a new contract with Saipem underdeck carousel, vertical lay system (VLS)
(Italy). services and work-class remotely operated vehi-
The Norwegian company announced the cles (WROVs). Additionally, it covers support
signing of the contract in a press release dated for the load-out operation in Norway, as well as
February 21. Under the contract, it will install various engineering tasks necessary to support
160 km of umbilical product in 1,400-metre- this undertaking.
deep water to support the Zohr North develop- Havfram has already decided to deploy the
ment project. Viking Neptun LCV to Zohr later this year to
According to the press release, the scope begin executing the contract.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 08 23•February•2022