Although Shell and ENI initially claimed they did not know the money would end up with Mr Etete and his cronies, evidence has shown that claim to be false.
A major witness in the long-running Malabu oil scandal on Wednesday told an Italian court that Eni officials knew that the controversial payment made in the deal would go to Malabu oil company, controlled by Nigeria’s former oil minister, Dan Etete.
Vincenzo Armanna, former Eni manager and defendant in the corruption trial, said in his testimony that it was clear to everyone involved in the deal that Mr Etete would get over $1 billion, adding that there was no doubt the money was going to Malabu.read more
April 25, 2019: An analysis by oil consultancy firm, Resources for Development, says oil giants Shell/Eni’s deal for the controversial OPL 245 included “unprecedented terms” which funded an alleged bribery scheme.
The analysis was commissioned by four non-governmental groups — Global Witness, HEDA, Re:Common and The Corner House — based on publicly available documents.
This included Shell and Eni’s valuations of the oil block, according to a statement released by the NGOs on Thursday.read more
A consultant who stood as witness before an Italian court in Milan on Thursday faulted the valuation of the controversial Oil Prospecting License 245 by oil giants Eni and Shell.
Stephen Rogers appeared before an Italian court Thursday morning as expert witness for Nigeria and presented testimony on the economic cost of the 2011 deal for OPL 245.
Mr Rogers is a partner at the oil consultancy group Arthur D Little with over 30 years experience at Hess, BP and TXU/EON.read more
The investigation into corruption by Shell in Nigeria has not yet been completed, but according to the current investigation, according to the Public Prosecution Service, there are already prosecutable offences.
Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad.
Public Prosecution Service is taking Shell’s attention
The Dutch State will prosecute Shell in two separate cases. The oil and gas multinational is under fire from the Public Prosecution Service (OM) because of possible bribery in Nigeria in 2011 and because of an explosion in June 2014 at Shell Moerdijk. The Public Prosecution Service has announced this on Friday.
Shell has already been summoned for the explosion in Moerdijk. Shell is also being taken to court for a leak of the toxic substance ethylene oxide.
Corruption in Nigeria
The investigation into corruption by Shell in Nigeria has not yet been completed, but according to the current investigation, according to the Public Prosecution Service, there are already prosecutable offences.read more
Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo sentenced to four years in prison as judge orders seizure of more than $120m: …this judgment will send shivers down the corporate spines of the oil industry — and will surely alarm Shell and Eni employees and shareholders who have been repeatedly told that there was nothing amiss with the OPL 245 deal.
Italian prosecutors allege that hundreds of millions of dollars from the 2011 sale of a field was distributed as bribes ( Reuters )
Two middlemen have each been sentenced to four years in prison for corruption offences in the first ruling of a huge bribery trial involving oil giants Shell and Eni. A judge also ordered the seizure of more than $120m from the pair.
Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo were convicted of international corruption by a Milan court for their role in a $1.1bn deal for rights to one of Nigeria’s most promising oil blocks.read more
Thursday, September 20, 2018 19.36PM / By Global Witness
Conviction in middlemen’s fast-tracked OPL 245 trial a poor omen for Shell and Eni’s defence just days before major bribery trial hears first prosecution witnesses.
Today two middlemen have been found guilty of corruption offences relating to Shell and Eni’s 2011 deal for one of Nigeria’s most promising oil licenses. The judgement was first reported by Reuters who cited a legal source.
The two middlemen Emeka Obi and Gianluca Di Nardo have been sentenced to four years jail time and confiscations of over €100 million. The pair had opted for a fast tracked trial for their role in the deal. The fast track process in Italian law offers a possible reduction in any sentence. A larger trial including Shell, Eni and 13 other defendants is ongoing. The prosecution will start presenting their evidence next Wednesday.read more
…this judgment will send shivers down the corporate spines of the oil industry – and will surely alarm Shell and Eni employees and shareholders who have been repeatedly told that there was nothing amiss with the OPL 245 deal.”
A Nigerian man and his accomplice in Italy were on Thursday sentenced to four years each for their roles in the controversial Malabu oil deal, marking the first victory for Italian prosecutors in the complex corruption case.
The deal, struck in 2011 under President Goodluck Jonathan, saw the Nigerian government stand as a negotiator in the controversial sale of OPL 245 oil block in offshore Nigerian waters.
Two international oil and gas giants, Royal Dutch Shell and Italian Agip-Eni, paid out about $1.1 billion to Dan Etete, a former Nigerian petroleum minister who had previously been convicted of money laundering in France.read more
Giant oil companies, offshore accounts, ex-MI6 agents, champagne lunches, a former Nigerian president and allegations of one of the biggest bribes ever paid – the corruption case against Shell and Italy’s Eni filed by prosecutors in Milan over a shady $1.3bn deal for a vast African oil field has could have been lifted from the pages of an espionage thriller.
The latest developments thicken the plot further with a cache of documents seized in a raid on a Swiss financier’s apartment that could be crucial to the case, leaving prosecutors in a race against time to get them to Milan as trial hearings get underway this week.
The Geneva raid uncovered a briefcase belonging to Emeka Obi, a middleman who received millions of dollars from the deal and is in the dock along with several senior Shell and Eni executives.
Inside the briefcase, Swiss prosecutors found a laptop, two Nigerian passports, five sim cards and a hard drive containing 41,000 documents that prosecutors believe could be crucial to the trial playing out on the other side of the Alps.read more
CASTELBUONO, Sicily (CN) – Nigeria could learn Friday at a court in Milan whether it can pursue damages against oil giants Shell and Eni in a sprawling international corruption case.
The trial centers on a $1.3 billion bribery deal Royal Dutch Shell Plc. and Italy-based Eni S.p.A. executives allegedly entered into in 2011 with Nigerian officials, including then-President Goodluck Jonathan, to purchase a much-coveted oil field off the coast of Nigeria.
In December 2017, Italian judges in Milan ordered the companies and a number of individuals, including top executives at Shell and Eni, to stand trial. The trial has been slow to unfold and remains in preliminary hearings.read more
A leak of private property data in Dubai has shed new light on how the proceeds of a notorious $1.3 billion oil deal involving Shell may have been spent on luxury villas in the secretive Arab Emirate.
PREMIUM TIMES’ UK partner, Finance Uncovered, has discovered the name of former Nigerian oil minister Daniel Etete among thousands of property and residency records compiled by assorted real estate professionals in Dubai. The leak was obtained by the U.S. non-profit C4ADS, passed to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and seen by Finance Uncovered.
Mr Etete was the suspected mastermind behind a 2011 deal known as OPL245 that is alleged to be one of the most corrupt in the history of the oil industry.read more
The general thrust seems to be that a current OPL 245 contract tender has been rigged for corrupt purposes benefitting Shell, ENI and certain Nigerian parties. Shell has past expertise in such matters
OPL 245 is the notorious Nigerian oil deal involving the fraudster Dan Etete and more recently, his equally charming nephew, Ken Etete.
From what I know thus far, the leaked documents I am receiving now on an almost daily basis are authentic and were not previously known to OPL 245 investigators. I now have multiple insider anonymous contributors whose identity is known only to me. Frankly, I don’t know what it all means, but the information is apparently valuable to OPL 245 investigators who are trying to unravel what is going on.read more
A high level insider source is alleging current major corruption in the continuing OPL 245 Zabazaba Shell/Eni JV project.
The source has supplied documents/emails from 2014 to 2018 containing references to various parties, including Shell and Eni, relating to OPL 245. Links to the relevant leaked information/evidence are published below.
It may assist investigators from anti-corruption organisations (such as Global Witness and Finance Uncovered) more familiar with the overall situation, who are trying to put all of the pieces together in a web of continuing financial machination and complexity. read more
By Hugo Miller , Kelly Gilblom , and Sergio Di Pasquale: 24 May 2018, 08:40 BST Updated on 24 May 2018, 10:23 BST
A briefcase seized from a Geneva apartment two years ago could be the key to an Italian bribery case against Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA — if it makes it to Milan in time.
The bag held SIM cards, Nigerian passports, a laptop and a hard drive containing more than 40,000 documents, and belonged to Emeka Obi, according to a spokesman for the Geneva Prosecutor’s Office. Swiss prosecutors found it during a raid for an unrelated investigation and are trying to get it to their Italian colleagues, who are prosecuting Obi as an alleged middle man in a $1.1 billion kickback scheme involving the energy companies vying for a Nigerian oil license.
Obi’s lawyers persuaded a Geneva judge to put the contents of his briefcase under seal, citing his rights to privacy. Now a decision by Geneva’s Measures of Constraint Court on whether to lift that seal is expected as soon as this month.
While officials in Milan have moved forward with charges against the oil companies without the briefcase, the evidence could strengthen the graft case. The trial, which centers around events in 2011, begins on June 20. Milanese Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale said he has “sent more reminders” to the Swiss saying he wants the briefcase, underscoring its importance.read more
A corruption trial against oil giants Shell and Eni and Nigeria’s ex-oil minister Dan Etete is getting started in Milan. The case deals with alleged bribes valuing millions, and the Italian trial is not the only one.
The Milan public prosecutor’s office accuses the Italian oil firm Eni and the British-Dutch oil company Shell of having paid millions of dollars in bribes in order to acquire a lucrative oil exploration and drilling license in Nigeria.
Now 15 defendants are facing trial. Most of them employees of the two companies but Nigeria’s ex-Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete, will also be tried.read more
Royal Dutch Shell, Italian oil giant Eni and a number of senior executives at the two firms face trial in Milan on Monday over corruption charges relating to a $1.1bn (£800m) deal for a Nigerian oil block.
The Milan public prosecutor alleges that $520m from a 2011 deal to buy rights to a vast oil block off Nigeria’s coast was converted into cash and intended to be paid to the then Nigerian resident Goodluck Jonathan, members of the government and other Nigerian government officials. read more
Shell and Italian oil giant, Eni, are also defendants in the charge of ‘Aggravated international corruption,’ leveled against the oil executives in the trial which began in Milan, Italy on Monday.
BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK: MAY 11, 2018
Two retired secret agents of British Mi6 identified as Collegate Guy Jonathan and John Coplestone De Carteret, are among the executives of Royal Dutch Shell under prosecution in the ongoing trial of bribery allegation in the purchase of lucrative Nigerian Malabu oil block.
Shell and Italian oil giant, Eni, are also defendants in the charge of ‘Aggravated international corruption,’ leveled against the oil executives in the trial which began in Milan, Italy on Monday.read more
NAZI OBSESSION: What makes you think that anyone is interested in Shell's business dealings with the Germans several decades ago?
REPLY BY JOHN DONOVAN
Shell's historians must have thought someone would be interested or they would not have included dozens of pages filled with supporting evidence in "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 & 2 published in 2007. Understandably, they spun the evidence in favour of their paying client, Shell. Another indication of interest is the many thousands of visitors to our new sister website shellnazihistory.com. Likewise, 17,918 blocked malicious login attempts on the new site with 1,696 blocked spam comments (by Akismet). All stats as of today, 13 July 2019. In addition to the public interest, clearly, there is evil intent towards the website. Wonder who that might be?
Bonus Group: In answer to uscitizen's post proclaiming the wonders of the acquisition of BG Group by Shell, it should be remembered that Shell had a 'fire sale' of a plethora of BG 'dross' assets in order to raise $30Bn to disguise the amount by which they had overpaid for BG Group. Sooner or later there must be another reserves recategorisation. The Brasil Asset is a prime candidate for this given that it is still staffed by ex-BG sycophants propping up the illusion. As highlighted by Bogus Group, it would seem that Knarr is the latest posthumous failure of BG Group. They were always over stating the value to the shareholders.
Bogus Group: In 2015 this prospect was given a production life of "at least 10 years"Did Shell expect such an early exit, or was this another BG Group recoverable miscalculation?https://www.upstreamonline.com/hardcopy/1805800/shell-to-pull-plug-at-knarr
uscitizen: Shell, the world’s second-largest listed oil and gas company after Exxon, cut costs heavily following its 2016 acquisition of BG Group for $53 billion and the 2014 oil crash.
Despite a slow and bumpy recovery in oil prices, it reported the largest profit among its peers last year and a jump in revenue from previous years.
Shell said its free cash flow - cash available for dividends and share buybacks - was set to rise to around $35 billion per year by 2025 based on a Brent crude oil price of $60 per barrel.
That compares with $28-33 billion in free cash flow it expects to deliver by the end of next year. Brent is currently trading just under $61 per barrel.
Shell, the world’s biggest dividend payer at $16 billion in 2018, expects to increase its dividend payouts to shareholders once it completes the $25 billion share buyback by the end of 2020 that it promised following the BG acquisition.
Shell last increased its quarterly dividend in the first quarter of 2014 to $0.47 per share.
uscitizen: All of the folks bashing Shell for the BG merger, I think we can now say this has been a very good financial move. Shell has overtaken Exxon and Integrated Gas is a big reason why. I am sure there are examples where some good people got pushed out, and I hate to hear that. However, lets not pull the wool over folks eyes and say this business decision was not sound.
Bonus Group: Further to yesterday's post.
Sound Energy plc
("Sound Energy" or the "Company")
Director/PDMR Shareholding
Sound Energy, the Moroccan focused upstream gas company, announces that it has been notified that Brian Mitchener, Executive Director, has today purchased 150,000 ordinary shares in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 12.04 pence per Ordinary Share. As a result of this purchase, Mr Mitchener is interested in 150,000 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.0142% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital.
Bonus Group: UnSound Energy?
Readers may wonder why the darling of the AIM Market is now preparing itself for a sale of its Eastern Morocco acreage.
Perhaps, the answer may be found in the Annual Report 2018 available to download as a .PDF from the Sound Energy Website:
Page 49
Loss of Office and Change of Control Provisions
In the event of a change of control of the Company, the CEO, CFO and Exploration Director have the option to give notice and receive a lump sum equivalent to 18 months’ salary for the CEO, 12 months’ salary for the CFO and 8 months’ salary for the Exploration Director.All of the Company’s current share plans contain provisions relating to a change of control.
On a change of control, outstanding awards would normally vest and become exercisable, subject to the satisfaction of any performance conditions at that time.
Page 50
Summary Of Actual Remuneration (including Benefits in Kind and Performance Awards) Of Directors
Executive Directors
James Parsons £995,000
Brian Mitchener £323,000 (RSU Awards No. of Shares 862,682, Granted 26.04.18 Settlement date 01.01.21)
JJ Traynor £168,000 (RSU Awards No. of Shares 961,194, Granted 26.04.18 Settlement Date 01.01.21)
It should be remembered that Brian Mitchener is of the failed BG Group stable. It would seem that Bonus Group habits are hard to let g0!
Bogus Group: I concur with Bonus Group recollection of the tin pot, lacklustre, parvenu outfit. There was no place in BG Group for experienced professionals if they didn’t possess the sycophant tendencies required to stoke the egos of those deluded by corporate grandeur.
Large remuneration packages were not uncommon then too, the chief executive received circa £13mm (published) in bonuses throughout his 12 year tenure. During that period there were 26 fatalities, roughly £500k for each. That was more than distasteful.
Bonus Group: Today is the anniversary date of the agreement on terms of the takeover of BG Group (a tin pot, lacklustre, parvenu outfit) by Royal Dutch Shell plc in 2015. In consequence of BG Group's consistent failures to meet targets and the engineered predatory takeover by Royal Dutch Shell plc the careers and professional lives of many experienced Geoscientists and Engineers were brutally butchered, terminated, and cast aside like so much offal, so it is rather distasteful to see the size of Ben van Beurden's remuneration package being flaunted in the press by Royal Dutch Shell plc.
CEP Problems: It seems to be impossible right now to get any chance of landing a job inside Shell these days. Everytime people apply for jobs unless they have high potential or a diversity point they get rejections. I got told recently that the hiring manager was looking for someone with high potential. Don't these people realise that they also need QUALIFIED people to actually do the work. Ridiculous but it almost getting to age discrimination these days. Rant over.
Shell Canada Insider: SHELL CANADA
...they are wanting to sell their Alberta operations..... because there is no money left in it...they have syphoned it all off.....
I think also on 2010-2011 they had multiple explosions at their Caroline facility supposedly an employee during an explosion at the south compressor station had to be airlifted to hospital and was seriously injured.
The aer/ govt shut it down. it was closed for 6 months and half of the plant was decommissioned when it restarted.
That must have cost them millions of dollars.....there should be government records of this stuff....
This is not a Shell website. Click on Disclaimer link at top of page for more information.
OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL: LATEST NEWS
$1.3bn Malabu Oil Scandal: Italy Protests Swiss Delay in Releasing Evidence against Shell, Eni 22 Jun 2019 04:10 This Day Chika Amanze-Nwachuku with agency report
Italian prosecutors have expressed dissatisfaction about lengthy delays in obtaining evidence they have requested from Switzerland in the criminal charges against Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni with regard to …
FG names Shell, Eni executives in $1bn bribery case – The Punch 08 May 2019 11:43 Google ’Femi Asu with agency report
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA face additional corruption allegations over a Nigerian oil deal, after the Federal Government said in a London lawsuit that it believed a handful of executives, including Chief Executive …
FG files fresh charges against Shell executives, JPMorgan over Malabu Oil scandal 08 May 2019 10:01 Herald Sequel to the lawsuit filed last year against Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni and JP Morgan for being involved in a $1bn oil block bribery case, the Federal Government has submitted new case documents that indict their top executives.
FG said in the court files …
FG names Shell, Eni executives in $1bn bribery case 08 May 2019 08:09 Punch Newspapers ’Femi Asu with agency report
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA face additional corruption allegations over a Nigerian oil deal, after the Federal Government said in a London lawsuit that it believed a handful of executives, including Chief Executive …
Dutch Prosecutors to Arraign Shell over $1.3 billion Acquisition of OPL 245 02 Mar 2019 10:19 Biz Watch Nigeria Dutch Prosecutors to Arraign Shell over $1.3 billion Acquisition of OPL 245
Dutch prosecutors are preparing criminal charges against Royal Dutch Shell over its $1.3 billion acquisition of Nigerian offshore oilfield OPL 245 in 2011.
Shell said in a …
John Donovan’s ebooks
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
April 25, 2019: An analysis by oil consultancy firm, Resources for Development, says oil giants Shell/Eni’s deal for the controversial OPL 245 included “unprecedented terms” which funded an alleged bribery scheme.
Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, 
Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo sentenced to four years in prison as judge orders seizure of more than $120m: …this judgment will send shivers down the corporate spines of the oil industry — and will surely alarm Shell and Eni employees and shareholders who have been repeatedly told that there was nothing amiss with the OPL 245 deal.
Thursday, September 20, 2018 19.36PM / By Global Witness 
CAIN BURDEAU
The general thrust seems to be that a current OPL 245 contract tender has been rigged for corrupt purposes benefitting Shell, ENI and certain Nigerian parties. Shell has past expertise in such matters
By John Donovan
By Hugo Miller , Kelly Gilblom , and Sergio Di Pasquale: 24 May 2018, 08:40 BST Updated on 24 May 2018, 10:23 BST
A corruption trial against oil giants Shell and Eni and Nigeria’s ex-oil minister Dan Etete is getting started in Milan. The case deals with alleged bribes valuing millions, and the Italian trial is not the only one.
Ben Chapman
Shell and Italian oil giant, Eni, are also defendants in the charge of ‘Aggravated international corruption,’ leveled against the oil executives in the trial which began in Milan, Italy on Monday.
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