LONDON— Oil giants, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni, have voluntarily filed to US authorities internal probes into how they acquired a giant field in Nigeria as the companies seek to fight corruption allegations in Europe and Africa.
According to Reuters, the filings, to the US Department of Justice, DOJ, and Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, do not mean US authorities are investigating Shell or Eni.
But the move shows the companies are trying to preempt questions from the United States as they face one of the oil industry’s biggest-ever graft trials in Italy, to begin in May in Milan, a pending trial in Nigeria and an investigation in the Netherlands.
The case revolves around the purchase of a huge block off oil-rich Nigeria, known as OPL 245, which holds an estimated 9 billion barrels in reserves.
Italian prosecutors alleged that bribes were paid in an effort to secure…
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