By JAMES HERRON in London and WILL CONNORS in Lagos, Nigeria
Royal Dutch Shell PLC feared it could lose the bulk of its oil-license acreage in Nigeria after the country’s new Petroleum Industry Bill is passed, according to one in a series of diplomatic cables that offer glimpses into the intersection between business and politics in Africa’s biggest oil producer.
“The PIB will redefine how a company can hold on to its exploration and production blocks, limiting what can be kept to two kilometers around each well,” said the cable from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to government officials in Washington. The message followed an Oct. 13, 2009, meeting between Dundas McCullough, the U.S. deputy chief of mission in Abuja, Nigeria, and Ann Pickard (right), who then was Shell’s vice president for sub-Saharan Africa. “We could lose 80% of our acreage” under rules that would redistribute undrilled areas, she was quoted as saying.