Page 13 - AfrOil Week 28 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Abuja’s complaint had centred on the fact that up his claim and surrendering the asset to the
JPMorgan Chase & Co. had allowed funds from Nigerian government so that the IOCs could
Shell and Eni to be deposited into an escrow buy it in 2011.
account controlled by Dan Etete, who served as The Nigerian side had complained in its
Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources from suit that the US bank had acted with gross neg-
1995 to 1998, during the presidency of General ligence in depositing funds in Etete’s escrow
Sani Abacha. accounts and did not conduct sufficient due
Etete has a well-deserved reputation for cor- diligence when investigating the OPL 245 deal,
ruption and was found guilty of money-laun- which was negotiated in 2011, two years before
dering by the French court system in 2007. He the payments were made. However, Sarah Cock-
allegedly acquired title to OPL 245 in 1998, erill, the presiding judge in the commercial
while serving as minister, and agreed to accept court, ruled that Abuja had not shown sufficient
funds from Shell and Eni in exchange for giving proof of having been defrauded. ™

Namibian energy minister lashes out at

foreign critics of Kavango oil exploration

NAMIBIA NAMIBIA’S Energy Minister Tom Alweendo Alweendo was visiting Kavango East to dis-
has expressed frustration with critics of the cuss ongoing exploration activities by ReconA-
country’s plans to move forward with oil and gas frica, a Canadian firm that is looking for oil and
exploration, asserting that much of the opposi- gas within the PEL 73 licence area in north-east-
tion to these plans came from foreign countries ern Namibia.
that had already benefited from hydrocarbon ReconAfrica said last year that it had found
development. evidence of working conventional petroleum
“They did drill just like we are drilling, and systems at the block but has not announced any
when their economy grew where it has grown, discoveries yet.
where they created the wealth they needed to The project has drawn no small amount of
have and have developed their people, now sud- criticism from environmental activists, who
denly they are telling us: ‘Stop doing that,’” he have expressed concern about the harm that
remarked during an Energy Ministry informa- exploration and production operations might
tion session in Kavango East. pose to flora and fauna in the Kavango basin.
“Mind you, oil is being drilled in European Some residents of the area have also complained,
countries as we speak,” Alweendo was quoted alleging that ReconAfrica did not consult with
as saying by New Era. “The Americans are busy the local population before starting work.
drilling for oil as we speak. Why is it that we can- The minister acknowledged that projects
not do that, as long as we have the environmen- such as PEL 73 did entail a certain amount of
tal management plan in place?” risk to the environment.

ReconAfrica is developing adjacent Kavango basin blocks in Namibia and Botswana (Image: ReconAfrica)

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