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It has previously been listed as one of the licence to the crisis,” he stated. negligent” in its decision to transfer funds paid
areas slated to be sold by Sonangol through a bna/February 21 2022 by Shell and Eni into an escrow account to a
limited public tender in 2025. company controlled by Dan Etete, former oil
bna/IntelliNews, February 23 2022 Nigeria will seek minister, rather than into government coffers.
“JP Morgan was on clear notice that the pay-
damages from suppliers ments put its customer, the Federal Republic of
POLICY Nigeria, at risk of being defrauded, which was
what, indeed, happened,” a spokesman for the
Tullow Oil partners Forestry of methanol-heavy petrol Nigerian government is quoted as saying.
Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC)
Damages sought include cash sent to Etete’s
Commission to develop will seek damages from suppliers of petrol with company Malabu Oil and Gas (around $875mn
unsuitably high levels of methanol that led to paid in three instalments, plus interest, taking
carbon offset projects fuel shortages at the pumps, its managing direc- the total to over $1.7bn. Neither Etete nor the
tor told a parliamentary committee meeting on energy majors are parties to the lawsuit.
The Forestry Commission of Ghana and Tullow Thursday (February 17). A JP Morgan spokesman was quoted by Reu-
Oil’s local subsidiary have signed a memoran- The normal methanol level is 2-3% while the ters as saying that the bank is “confident that it
dum of understanding (MoU) to help them off-spec fuel had levels of 20%, high enough to acted appropriately in making the payments”,
identify and co-develop carbon offset projects, damage engines. NNPC group managing direc- which both came at the request of the Nigerian
GNA reports. tor Mele Kyari said tests did not reveal the pres- government and were authorised by senior rep-
The aim is to help Tullow Oil achieve its 2030 ence of methanol in the adulterated fuel because resentatives, adding that the bank “will robustly
Net Zero plan and the commission its Nationally Nigeria’s specifications do not include methanol. defend against this claim.”
Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Kyari, who apologised to Nigerian consum- The London case dates back to 1998, when
Paris Agreement on climate change. ers for resulting shortages during an appearance Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha awarded
The MoU should facilitate collaboration before the House of Representatives Committee the offshore oilfield licence OPL 245 to Malabu
in developing projects that will enhance forest on Petroleum Downstream, said however that Oil and Gas for $20mn – far less than the still
conservation projects and increase forest stocks the situation was unavoidable. undeveloped block was worth, as it should have
in line with Ghana’s REDD+ strategy, according “We have put all our suppliers on notice that yielded billions of dollars of crude. Subsequent
to GNA. It was signed by Tullow Oil Ghana’s damages will come from this,” Kyari told the Nigerian administrations contested Etete’s rights
Deputy Managing Director Cynthia Lumor and committee while pledging that before the end to the field. This triggered years of legal wran-
Forestry Commission head John Allotey. of February, about 2.1bn litres of suitable petrol gling until a deal designed to end the battles
bna/IntelliNews, February 22 2022 will be available to consumers. “We have enough was struck in 2011, when Etete’s company Gas
supply. We will normalise the distribution. We handed OPL 245 back to Nigeria as part of a res-
Sylva says Abuja regrets will contain this development,” he said, local olution agreement involving Shell and Eni.
media reported.
To complete the deal, Shell and Eni paid a
gasoline shortages and that didn’t meet methanol-level requirements Nigerian government and then deposited $1.1bn
Five vessels destined for Nigeria with fuel signature bonus of about $200mn directly to the
acknowledges failures had been rejected by NNPC, he said, expressing in the Nigerian government’s escrow account
regret that motorists were queuing for hours with JP Morgan, according to court documents
of inspectors in major cities despite fuelling stations being seen by Reuters.
ordered to remain open 24 hours a day.
Shell, Eni and its executives were on trial from
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Although Nigeria is Africa’s biggest pro- 2018 to 2021 in a related Italian case in Milan,
Resources Timipre Sylva has expressed regret ducer of crude oil, it relies on imports to meet its in which Italian prosecutors alleged the energy
for the gasoline shortages that have been grip- domestic petrol needs, largely because its own majors paid $1.1bn in bribes to Nigerian officials
ping the country, acknowledging that the sup- refineries have produced little or no fuel over the and others through the OPL 245 deal. They were
ply shortages are the result of government past decade due to maintenance issues. acquitted in March 2022, but prosecutors have
inspectors’ failure to detect contaminated fuel bna/IntelliNews, February 18 2022 appealed against the ruling.
shipments. bna/IntelliNews, February 23 2022
In a statement read on February 20 by Hor- London court to hear
atius Egua, his senior advisor for media and South African court
communications, Sylva said: “In the last weeks, Nigeria’s $1.7bn lawsuit
Nigerians have grappled with fuel scarcity – not dismisses Shell’s
because of the absence of supply of products but against JP Morgan Chase
due to inspection failure, which allowed adul- request to appeal hold
terated products into the country. This is regret- over OPL 245 purchase
table, and the federal government sympathises on seismic exploration
with the citizenry over the unforeseen hardship, A London court is due on February 23 to begin
occasioned by the inevitable scarcity.” hearing Nigeria’s $1.7bn lawsuit against US bank Shell (UK) will have to keep its plans for collect-
He also sought the forbearance of Nigerian JP Morgan Chase for its role in the disputed ing seismic data from acreage off the coast of
consumers, stressing that Abuja was working 2011 purchase of offshore oilfield OPL 245 by South Africa’s Eastern Cape province on hold,
to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. “Let energy majors Shell (UK) and Eni (Italy), Reu- as the High Court in Makhanda has denied its
me once again appeal to Nigerians to be patient ters reports. attempt to appeal the interim interdict imposed
with the government in finding lasting solutions Nigeria alleges that JP Morgan was “grossly on its exploration programme in late December.

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