Shell has writes down Nigerian licence at heart of Italian bribery trial

 

Regal Dutch Shell said on Thursday its second-quarter writedowns incorporate the OPL 245 permit for a seaward oilfield in Nigeria which it holds close by Eni and which is at the focal point of a progressing debasement legal dispute in Italy.

Italian examiners have requested oil majors Eni and Shell to be fined and a portion of their present and previous administrators, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, to be imprisoned in a long-running preliminary over supposed debasement in Nigeria. All the litigants have denied any bad behavior.

Shell said a post-charge weakness charge of $4.658 billion was “basically identified with unpredictable resources in North America, resources seaward in Brazil and Europe, a venture in Nigeria (OPL245), and a benefit in the U.S. Bay of Mexico.”