The Federal Government said it had filed a 1.1 billion dollar lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell and Eni in a commercial court in London in relation to a 2011 oilfield deal in Nigeria.
The two oil majors are embroiled in a long-running corruption case revolving around the purchase of Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL)245.
OPL 245, which is one of the biggest sources of untapped oil reserves on the African continent with reserves estimated at nine billion barrels, is also at the heart of an ongoing corruption trial in Milan, Italy, in which former and current Shell and Eni officials are on the bench.
Milan prosecutors alleged bribes totalling around $1.1bn were paid to win the licence to explore the field which, because of disputes, had never entered into production.
The new London case also related to payments made by the companies to get the OPL 245 oilfield licence in 2011, Reuters reported on Thursday.
“It is alleged that purchase monies purportedly paid to the Federal Republic of…
