Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
The Nigerian government has requested a court sitting in Milan, Italy to order oil supermajors, Shell and Eni, to pay the sum of $1.092 billion as an immediate advance payment for damages in the Malabu oil scandal regarded as one of the oil industry\u2019s biggest-ever corruption scandals, Reuters reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
During a hearing on Wednesday into alleged corruption involving Shell and Eni\u2019s 2011 acquisition of the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245 field, lawyer for the Nigerian government, Lucio Lucia, demanded a guilty verdict and an advance payment, ahead of any larger damages package set by a court at a later date.<\/p>\n
The lawyer did not disclose the amount Nigeria was generally seeking as damages but mentioned the deal, which has been the subject of a prolonged litigation, had denied Nigeria of \u201cprofit oil,\u201d going further to say \u201cthese are massive amounts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucia said that when calculated under two different scenarios, the profit that had been lost amounted to $4.5 billion and $5.9 billion respectively.<\/p>\n
The long-standing bribery lawsuit involves the purchase of the OPL 245 offshore field, situated about 150 kilometres off the Niger-Delta, for around $1.3 billion from Malabu, a firm owned by Nigeria\u2019s one-time minister of oil, Dan Etete.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors claim roughly $1.1 billion of that sum was transferred to middlemen and politicians and half of it Mr Etete himself.<\/p>\n
According to Shell, the 2011 pact was a settlement of an enduring case after the block was previously allocated to Malabu and Shell by the Nigerian government.<\/p>\n
Etete, Shell, Eni and the managers accused in the Milan court case including Eni\u2019s chief, Claudio Descalzi, have all claimed innocence of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Wednesday, Eni said the acquisition price for OPL 245 was \u201ccongruous and reasonable\u201d given the field\u2019s worth and investment required to bring it into production.<\/p>\n