Nigeria would no longer be required to pay $1.5 billion in damages as the nation has won a long-running arbitration battle over an oil field.
The family of a deceased Italian businessman, Vittorio Fabbri, alleged that Nigeria‘s government helped their father’s employee illegally seize control of his company after his death in 1998.
The claims were dismissed by a tribunal at the Washington D.C.-based International Center for Settlement on Wednesday.
Reacting to the ruling, Nigeria’s Attorney General Abubakar Malami said it “absolves the federal government of Nigeria from any liability.”
It would be recalled that Interocean Oil Development Co. and Interocean Oil Exploration Co., two Delaware-registered entities controlled by the Fabbri family, filed their case against Africa’s largest crude producer in 2013.
The company at the heart of the conflict, Pan Ocean Oil Corp., was the operator of an onshore oil block from the 1970s until last year when the Ministry of Petroleum Resources revoked the permit due to unpaid taxes.
When the Nigerian government took over all assets belonging to tycoon Festus Fadeyi for owing 240 billion naira ($625 million) in debts, it took over Pan Ocean which is owned by the Fabbri family through the Interocean companies.
Although the tribunal accepted that Fabbri’s family was deprived of its ownership of Pan Ocean when Fadeyi took over the company, it didn’t conclude, as was alleged, that the Nigerian government was complicit in achieving that outcome or responsible for any losses they suffered.
It also ordered the Interocean companies to pay costs of $660,000 to Nigeria.
Government data reveals that Pan Ocean produces an average of 3,400 barrels of crude per day from its license, known as Oil Mining Lease 98, in 2018.
