Nigeria Loses $6 Billion Due to “Corrupt” Oil Agreement Fraud

A court in Milan is investigating allegations of corruption against Eni and Shell in a controversial oil deal that has resulted in the loss of about $ 6 billion from Nigeria.

The Global Witness campaign group calculated that the 2011 OPL 245 agreement deprived Nigeria of twice its annual budget for education and health.

Eni and Shell are accused of knowing that the money paid to Nigeria would be used for bribes.

The Italian and Anglo-Dutch energy giants deny any wrongdoing.

The ongoing scandal, which is taking place in an Italian court, has involved former MI6 officers, the FBI, a former president of Nigeria, as well as current and former senior executives of the two oil companies.

Global Witness has spent years investigating the deal that gave Shell and Eni the right to explore OPL 245, an offshore oil field in the Niger Delta.

It commissioned a new analysis of the contract amendment for energy companies and concluded that Nigeria’s losses over the life of the project would be $ 5.86 billion, compared to the prevailing term and conditions before 2011.

The analysis was conducted by Resources for Development Consulting on behalf of Global Witness, as well as by NGOs HEDA, RE: Common and The Corner. The estimated losses were calculated using an oil price of $ 70 per barrel.

Eni criticized the way it was calculated because it ignores the possibility that Nigeria has the right to revise the agreement to claim a 50% share of the production revenue.