Shell was aware of Nigeria oil payments would go to Malabu

LONDON / REUTERS

Royal Dutch Shell was aware that some of the payments it made to Nigeria for rights to an oilfield under a 2011 deal would go to a company associated with former Nigerian oil minister and convicted money launderer Dan Etete, it said in a statement to Reuters. Shell spokesman Andy Norman said the group “always knew” the Nigerian government would compensate the company, Malabu Oil and Gas, “to settle its claim on the block”. The admission came as the deal and what Shell and its partner on the block, Eni, knew about the payments made to secure it, are being investigated by courts in Milan and Nigeria.
The licence had been awarded to Malabu in 1998 under then-President Sani Abacha, though a successive government revoked the licence. Malabu appealed that decision, and the status of the licence was uncertain at the time Shell finalised the deal with the Nigerian government in 2011.