On December 20, 2017, the Judge of the Preliminary Hearing of the Tribunal of Milan in Italy remanded the Company and four of its former employees for trial for alleged offences related to Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 in Nigeria. The Company has defended these charges, maintaining that there is no basis to convict the Company or its former employees. This was the conclusion of a detailed investigation led by the international law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell today made the following statement after the Milan Tribunal acquitted the company of charges related to Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 in Nigeria:

“We welcome today’s decision by the Milan Tribunal. We have always maintained that the 2011 settlement was legal, designed to resolve a decade-long legal dispute and unlock development of the OPL 245 block. At the same time, this has been a difficult learning experience for us. Shell is a company that operates with integrity and we work hard every day to ensure our actions not only follow the letter and spirit of the law, but also live up to society’s wider expectations of us.”

Background on the 2011 OPL 245 settlement (the Resolution Agreement)

In 2011, Shell reached an agreement with the Federal Government of Nigeria and Eni to settle litigation and arbitration dating back nearly a decade related to OPL 245. This was an unprecedented situation, where the Federal Government of Nigeria had separately allocated the same block to two different parties: Shell and Malabu.

The 2011 Resolution Agreement, which was negotiated at the highest levels of the relevant government departments, aimed to resolve the long-standing disputes over the block and enable its development, generating economic activity and revenues that all parties would benefit from. Unfortunately, the block remains undeveloped.

KeyFacts Energy: Shell Nigeria country profile