The firm said it “did not sell its onshore assets and facilities in Nigeria to anyone”.
By Johnson Atoukudu
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has refuted allegations of selling more than $1.3 billion worth of onshore oil assets to Renaissance Consortium.
Mr. Kingsley Osuh, a member of SPDC’s Global Litigation (Sub-Saharan Africa) legal team, revealed this in an affidavit for a suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/413/2024, dated May 24, 2024.
The firm said it “did not sell its onshore assets and facilities in Nigeria to anyone”.
SPDC’s counter application challenges a case filed by Global Gas and Refining Limited against it and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the first and second respondents, respectively.
Meanwhile, Global Gas and Refining Limited’s legal team has approached the court with a suit seeking an order to restrain NUPRC from “approving, authorizing, consenting to, or otherwise granting permission for the sale/divestment of the assets of the (SPDC) 1st Respondent.”
Global Gas’s Executive Chairman, Mr. Kenneth Yelowe, stated in court that his company had initiated arbitral proceedings against Shell, alleging that it failed to supply wet gas in accordance with the terms of a Gas Processing Agreement dated March 15, 2002.
Yelowe, through his lawyer, Patrick Ikweato, SAN, argued that unless the court issues an order to temporarily safeguard the disputed assets from being sold, its 2002 business deal with Shell might be jeopardized.
However, in a counter-affidavit, Osuh informed the court that the dispute between his company and Global Gas is already before the Supreme Court for final determination.
“The share sale transaction did not and will not affect the 1st Respondent’s 30 percent participating interest in eighteen (18) Oil Mining Leases (“OML”) that are currently part of the 1st Respondent’s Joint Venture, with the 1st Respondent as Operator of the unincorporated Joint venture with Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Total Energies EP Nigeria Limited and Nigerian Agip Oil Company.
“The sale of the shares held by the shareholder of the 1st Respondent’s neither impacts the 1st Respondent’s continued corporate existence as a Nigerian registered company nor its assets,” Osuh said.
Recall that in January of last year, Shell agreed to sell its onshore subsidiary, SPDC, to Renaissance Consortium for up to $2.4 billion.
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