When Royal Dutch Shell was awarded sole control of a prized Nigerian offshore oil exploration licence called OPL 245 in 2002, there were hopes of a fresh start for international energy companies in Africa’s most crude-rich nation.
According to an oil industry journal at the time, the deal was designed to revive stalled exploration and production activity and “convince foreign industry players that the government is a reliable partner”. Fifteen years later, OPL 245 and its estimated 9bn barrels of oil are still undeveloped and it would be surprising if Shell was not bitterly regretting its involvement with an asset that has become a byword for opaque business practices in Nigeria.
A stash of Shell emails seized by Dutch investigators and leaked to news organisations, including the Financial Times, last week shed unflattering light on the company’s efforts to fend off a rival claim to OPL 245. The leaked documents forced the Anglo-Dutch energy group to admit that it had “engaged” with Dan Etete, a Nigerian politician and businessman behind a company called Malabu, which was awarded the rights to OPL 245 in 1998, when he was serving as oil minister.
Andrew Ward and Maggie Fick, FT
