The Courtroom of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed Malabu Oil and Fuel Ltd’s go well with over the disputed $1.3 billion oilfield in Nigeria, Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245, in favor of Nigerian Agip Oil Firm.
The Appeal Courtroom put aside a 2020 Federal Excessive Courtroom ruling which had dismissed Agip’s preliminary objection towards Malabu’s declare that its rights and pursuits in OPL 245 remained legitimate and subsisting, and had not been revoked by the federal authorities of Nigeria.
Justice H. A. Barka of the Appeal Courtroom dismissed Malabu Oil’s go well with for being an “abuse of courtroom course of” on Might 23, 2025.
This represents the most recent improvement within the much-discussed oil discipline, which covers an outlined deep-water offshore space roughly 150 km off the Niger Delta.
Following the execution of a “Block 245 Decision Settlement” on 29 April 2011, Malabu Oil was mentioned to have relinquished its rights and pursuits in OPL 245.
Agip’s authorized workforce claims that OPL 245 was then allotted to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Manufacturing Firm Ltd and Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd (the Appellant), by the Federal Authorities of Nigeria through a letter of award dated 11 Might 2011, pursuant to Part 2 of the Petroleum Act, Cap P10, LFN 2004.
Malabu thereafter commenced a go well with on the Federal Excessive Courtroom, contending that its curiosity in OPL 245 through an earlier allocation by the federal authorities was subsisting, requiring the nullification of the allocation and/or reallocation of OPL 245 to Agip and Shell.
Agip’s authorized workforce, led by Babatunde Fagbohunlu SAN, filed a preliminary objection, difficult the jurisdiction of the decrease courtroom on the next bases:
“The declare as constituted is statute-barred, being a go well with towards the actions of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, a public officer, for the allocation of an oil prospecting licence, over 5 years after the mentioned allocation;
“ The motion constitutes an abuse of courtroom course of, having been commenced by the Malabu (an organization) throughout the pendency of Swimsuit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/206/2017 Malabu Oil & Fuel Restricted & 2 Ors v Mr Kweku Amafagha & 9 Ors, one other motion the place the Plaintiff contends that the individuals who presently seem on its data as shareholders and administrators are usually not entitled to occupy these positions.”
On December 22, 2020, the trial courtroom dismissed Agip’s preliminary objection towards Malabu Oil’s case.
Events then approached the Appeal Courtroom for redress.
The appellant sued Malabu, the federal authorities, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Shell Nigeria Extremely-Deep Ltd, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Manufacturing Firm Ltd, and Chief Dan Etete.
Within the Appeal Courtroom filings seen by Nairametrics, Agip urged the appellate courtroom to carry that the decrease courtroom’s failure to make a willpower on the problems raised within the Appellant’s Preliminary Objection amounted to a breach of the Appellant’s proper to a good listening to and an abuse of courtroom course of.
Malabu’s authorized workforce, led by Dr. Reuben Atabo SAN, advised the Appeal Courtroom that there was no denial of truthful listening to as alleged by the appellant.
Atabo argued that every one the judicial choices cited and relied upon by the appellant on denial of truthful listening to had been inapplicable to the case.
“I humbly draw my Lords’ consideration to the undeniable fact that the defendants on the trial filed their respective notices of preliminary objection which had been all heard collectively and decided in a composite ruling,” Malabu’s workforce prayed.
“As soon as a stipulated interval has elapsed, the case is statute barred,” the choose held.
In 1998, Malabu Oil and Fuel Ltd was awarded OPL 245 by the federal army authorities.
Nonetheless, in 2001, former President Olusegun Obasanjo revoked Malabu’s license and reassigned the oil block to Shell with no public bidding course of.
After a protracted authorized dispute, Malabu regained possession of the block in 2006 via an out-of-court settlement with the federal authorities.
In response to those actions, Shell initiated arbitration towards Nigeria.
But, when President Goodluck Jonathan got here into workplace in 2010, he upheld the consent judgment, seemingly resolving the battle.
This led to Shell and Eni reaching an settlement to buy the oil block from Malabu for $1.1 billion.
Moreover, the oil firms paid $210 million as a signature bonus to the Nigerian federal authorities.
Nonetheless, the deal quickly confronted scrutiny from a global marketing campaign, which alleged that the OPL 245 transaction was tainted by corruption, with accusations that the settlement concerned bribes to Nigerian authorities officers.
In October 2024, an Italian courtroom sentenced two Milan prosecutors, Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro, to eight months in jail for failing to file paperwork that would have supported Eni’s protection in an alleged corruption case involving the $1.3 billion oilfield in Nigeria.
