MarketWatch: Justice Dept. expands probe into Halliburton’s Nigerian operations
By Benoit Faucon
Last update: 9:56 a.m. EDT April 27, 2008
LONDON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. Department of Justice is looking at allegations of corruption by a Halliburton Co. unit in relation to the management of Nigeria’s EA oil platform project, a regulatory filing says.
The probe into Kellogg Brown & Root, which was spun off last year from Halliburton, was known to target its contract to build the Nigeria LNG Ltd. project. But in a quarterly report filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. contracting giant Halliburton says the government “has evidence of payments to Nigerian officials by another agent in connection with a separate KBR-managed project in Nigeria called the Shell EA project.”
The project is controlled by Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) through a Nigerian joint-venture. It is unclear if Shell has received inquiries on this matter.
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Headline by John Donovan of www.royaldutchshellplc.com