Timeline: Nigeria’s OPL 245 oilfield licence bribery cases
LONDON (Reuters) – An Italian court acquitted Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni on Wednesday of corruption in one of the oil industry’s biggest court cases centred around the acquisition of a Nigerian oilfield in 2011.
Italian prosecutors alleged that most of the $1.3 billion purchase price for the licence for the offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen.
Shell and Eni and the managers accused in the Milan court case, including Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi, have all denied wrongdoing.
Below are some of the main events that led to the trial and other legal actions that have arisen from the award of OPL 245:
April 1998: The Nigerian government awards OPL 245 for $20 million to Malabu Oil and Gas. Court documents later show Malabu is owned by Dan Etete, who was oil minister at the time, and people close to former military ruler Sani Abacha.
May 1999: Etete, on behalf of Malabu, pays $2.04 million for the OPL 245 licence out of the $20 million the company had agreed to pay.
March 2001: Shell signs an agreement to acquire a 40% stake in OPL 245 from Malabu.
July 2001: The Nigerian government under new President Olusegun Obasanjo revokes Malabu’s OPL 245 licence, triggering legal disputes over its ownership that drag on for years.
May 2002: Shell informs Malabu that its contracts have been frustrated by the revocation of the licence.
May 2002: Shell is awarded 40% OPL 245. It starts exploration and appraisal work and later signs a production sharing deal with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Under the deal, Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep (SNUD) agrees to pay a $209 million signature bonus, which is placed in an escrow account pending a resolution to the Malabu dispute.
August 2002: Shell commences arbitration at the International Court of Arbitration (ICC) against Malabu under the terms of the March 2001 agreement.
November 2004: ICC tribunal rules in favour of Shell.
November 2006: Malabu reaches a settlement with the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). Malabu agrees to pay $218 million to FGN in return for the licence being fully reinstated to Malabu. Malabu subsequently fails to pay.
April 2007: Shell launches arbitration against the Nigerian government for “wrongful expropriation” of its rights.
August 2007: The FGN promises compensation to Shell in the form of a new prospecting licence in other blocks, worth the equivalent of 50% of OPL 245. Shell rejects the offer.
December 2010: Mohammed Abacha, son of the former ruler, launches a legal challenge arguing that Etete pushed him out of his partial ownership of Malabu.
2010: Eni enters talks with Malabu and Shell to buy a stake in OPL 245. Malabu turns down the Eni and Shell offers. Nigeria’s attorney general, petroleum and finance ministers and NNPC officials work to negotiate a settlement.
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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