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The subsidiaries affected by the injunction granted on January 25, 2021, are Royal Dutch Shell; Shell Western Supply and Trading; Shell International Trading and Shipping Company; and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company.
The
injunction was granted to recover the cash value of 16 million barrels of crude oil allegedly diverted from AITEO Eastern E & P Company Limited.
AITEO and some other indigenous oil producers including Belemaoil, Eroton and Newcross had raised a dispute with Shell over allegations of the unapproved methodology used in calculating the volume of crude it lifts on their behalf from the terminal.
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The companies argued that Shell deploys underhand practices including using unapproved meters to facilitate crude theft.
Alleged Oil Diversion: Nigerian court declines to unfreeze Shell s bank accounts premiumtimesng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from premiumtimesng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Shell Petroleum Development Company
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has said it is working to secure expeditious discharge of court order freezing its accounts, which was obtained by AITEO Eastern (E&P) Company Limited.
AITEO had sought an ex-parte order from a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos for an injunction directing 20 commercial banks to block accounts of SPDC and affiliates of the Royal Dutch Shell company operating in Nigeria in a bid to recover cash value of more than 16 million barrels of crude allegedly diverted by the oil giant.
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo gave the order in suit no FHC/L/CS/52/2021, directing the 20 banks where Shell companies operate accounts in Nigeria to “ring-fence any cash, bonds, deposits and all forms of negotiable instruments.”
The introduction of technology in the nation’s oil and gas industry will enhance transparency and accountability, writes Jackson Onyukwu
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), is the statutory regulatory agency for petroleum in Nigeria. Oil is the main foreign exchange earner for the nation. Therefore oil is the fiscal breath of Nigeria.
This explains why all eyes are on crude oil. Government officials are watching. Nigerians can’t stop talking crude and its value chain. This places a huge burden on DPR. It must be alert and alive to its duties otherwise the nation loses. From its journey in 1971 functioning with different names under different ministries through 1988 when it was renamed DPR and given full autonomy to regulate the petroleum industry till late 2019, DPR has discharged its responsibility to the best of its ability. But question marks still persisted on its ability and courage to stop the haemorrhage in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the industr