Bloomberg UK
Shell Permits Probed Over Loss of $200 Million in Nigeria
- Motion argues state lost revenue through 30-year licenses
- Investigation targets joint venture operated by Shell
By William Clowes: 23 June 2022, 13:04 BST
Nigeria’s Senate will investigate Shell Plc’s historic license renewals in the West African state to determine whether they were extended unlawfully and cost the government up to $200 million.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan formed a committee on Wednesday to probe the oil major’s permits that expired in 1989 and 2019, according to a statement emailed by his spokesman. The decision followed a motion submitted by Senator George Sekibo who said the duration of the licenses should have been 20 years rather than 30 years under Nigerian law.
A spokesman for Shell didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The first extra decade of oil rights to 1989 caused the Nigerian government to lose $120 million in fees, taxes and royalties, while the second to 2019 cost another $80 million, according to Sekibo’s motion. The committee may urge the country’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to compel a joint venture headed by Shell to refund $200 million to the state “or any amount short of what was paid under the said lease agreements,” it said.
Shell operates an onshore and shallow water joint venture in Nigeria with TotalEnergies SE, Eni SpA and the state-owned energy company that obtained its production rights in the late 1950s and early 1960s. While the international partners have been selling oil block permits to local firms for more than a decade, Shell is currently discussing the divestment of the entirety of its 30% stake in the remaining 19 licenses.
Permits awarded to other joint ventures operated by TotalEnergies, Eni, Chevron Corp. and ExxonMobil Corp. may also have been “non-compliant,” the motion said. The companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
