The Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, told the gathering of oil and gas stakeholders at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and exhibition taking place in Abuja that the issues surrounding the controversial OPL245 have been resolved.
He said President Bola Tinubu, a few weeks ago directed him and the Minister of Justice and Attorney – General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi to resolve the issues with OPL 245.
“All the parties involved met at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPCL including the managing director of Eni. I am happy to inform you that the matters have now been resolved”
Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 covers a defined deep-water offshore area (over 1,000 m bsl), approximately 150 km off the Niger Delta.
According to Eni, OPL 245 does not grant the right to exploit any acreage, but provides an opportunity to explore the area. This activity required significant investments – amounting to several hundred million euros – and will require further investments worth billions over a number of years to come before having any chance to proceed with full-scale oil production activities. To date, not a single oil barrel has been drilled.
In July 22– Eni had said the “unmotivated and disconcerting Nigeria judicial case ended” Eni is pleased to learn the Prosecutor-General’s Office dropped its appeal before the Second Section of the Court of Appeal of Milan on the OPL 245 matter, waiving the case.”
“The Court acknowledged the waiver that ends the unmotivated and disconcerting criminal court case related to the OPL 245 concession in Nigeria. The waiver means that the acquittals of Eni and its managers of March 2021 have now become full and final. After more than 8 years of investigations and court proceedings, resulting in high costs and serious and unfair reputational damages for the company and its management, Justice definitively run its course, as the Court wrote, “there is no case to answer”. Eni and its people are finally recognized for their correctness and lawfulness of their work and will continue to devote themselves with ever greater effectiveness to the historic challenges that characterize the international scenario today pertaining to the security of supply, access to energy and the path towards a just energy transition.
It stated that the acquisition of OPL 245 Block by Shell and Eni has been the subject of incorrect and speculative interpretations since 2011. In particular, there are at least seven incorrect aspects dealt with both by NGOs – which filed petitions with the Court and the Supervisory Authorities, and by certain news media. These interpretations are intended to contest Eni’s probity and transparency.
Here below, we will demonstrate, through objective and documentary evidence, that Eni acted in full compliance with the law and the company procedures.
From a judicial point of view, we must immediately highlight how the rightness of Eni’s behaviour has been confirmed by the Court of Milan, which on 17 March 2021 acquitted Eni, its chief executive Claudio Descalzi and the management team involved in procedures relating to the OPL 245 affair on every count, stating that was unfounded. At this link you can read the legal grounds behind the decision.
On 19 July 2022, before the second division of the Milan Appeal Court, the Assistant Attorney General – Celestina Gravina – waived the appeal against the Court’s decision, thus concluding the criminal legal proceedings relating to OPL 245.
The Assistant Attorney General’s decision to waive the possibility to appeal means that the not guilty verdicts for Eni and its managers already given in March 2021 have become definitive judgments under the Italian legal system.
Lastly, on 11 November 2022, the Court of Appeal of Milan has rejected the action requested by Nigeria’s plaintiff, who aimed at obtaining compensation within the OPL 245 proceedings, thus confirming the first-instance ruling and condemning Nigeria to bear all court fees.
After more than eight years of investigations and legal proceedings, leading to very high costs and serious and unjust reputational consequences for the company and its management, justice eventually took its course, confirming with a definitive sentence the complete acquittal, because “there is no case to answer”.