Confusion seems to have enveloped Shell’s planned sale of assets in Nigeria. Despite the decision on June 16 by Nigeria’s Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling that Shell Plc must put on hold its planned sale of assets until a dispute between the oil major and a set of Niger Delta communities is resolves, Shell is insisting the Supreme Court judgement will not affect the sale.
The litigation was a 2019 oil spill which affected a number of Niger Delta communities
Shell argues that the said June 16 Supreme Court ruling was in response to an appeal launched by Shell against a contempt ruling linked to the dispute with the Niger Delta community.
“The Supreme Court ruling on 16 June was with respect to the contempt proceedings and not related to (the) onshore portfolio review,” Shell Nigeria spokesman Odugbesan said.
A Nigerian High Court in March barred Shell from any asset sale in Nigeria until a decision is reached on the dispute. Eighty-eight communities in Rivers state were reportedly awarded $1.95billion compensation for an oil spill they blamed on Shell and which damaged their farms and waterways.
Shell, which denied causing the spill, appealed the compensation verdict and the ruling blocking the sale of its assets. The company then went on to advertise for bids for the assets after filing an appeal.
But the Supreme Court, in a ruling dated June 16, said the parties should maintain the status quo until a hearing of all applications from Shell and the communities later this year.
Lawyers to the communities, Mohammed Ndarani told Reuters that status quo means that there should be no bids, no sales until the hearing of the applications, which has been fixed for November 3, 2022.
The lawyer said the ruling, which was made public last Monday, barred Shell from disposing its assets as ordered by a lower court in March.
The lawyer stressed that the community sought and was granted a court order blocking Shell from disposing its assets. According to him, shell was also mandated by the court to put the $1.95 billion into an account nominated by the court until the legal dispute was settled.
Odugbesan said Shell appealed both rulings and is waiting for a hearing. He said the sale of the listed Shell assets is on course. The spokesman did not disclose how many bids had been received.
The company, the most significant international oil major operating in Nigeria, has faced a string of court cases in the past over oil spills.
Shell wants to sell its stake in Nigeria’s onshore fields, where it has been active since the 1930s, as part of a global drive to reduce its carbon emissions.
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