12 November 2012
New information suggests that the US$1.1 billion paid by Shell and the Italian energy company ENI for a Nigerian oil block could fall foul of anti-corruption legislation and highlights the urgent need for strong disclosure laws across the EU. A directive being discussed by the EU Council and Parliament must require full “project-by-project” disclosure to ensure such payments are publicly reported.
The payments made by Shell and ENI in 2011 relate to a disputed Nigerian oil block, OPL-245.[i] Though Shell and ENI paid the Nigerian government, funds were then transferred shortly after to a company controlled by ex-Oil Minister, Dan Etete, who in 2007 was convicted in France of money laundering. According to the current Nigerian Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, Shell and ENI were fully aware and in agreement that the money would then be transferred to Etete’s company, Malabu Oil & Gas. Earlier this year he stated, “SNUD [a subsidiary of Shell] and ENI agreed to pay Malabu through the Federal Government acting as an obligor the sum of US$1,092,040,000…”[ii] Malabu first obtained the oil block in 1998, in controversial circumstances when Etete himself was the Nigerian Oil Minister under the country’s then-leader General Abacha.
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