Ogoni Community Drags Shell to London Court

Following a disagreement on the amount to be paid as compensation over the 2009 major oil spill that devastated their environment, the people of Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State have again dragged Shell Petroleum Development Company  (SPDC) Limited before a London Court.

The action was as a result of the failure of an out-of-court settlement between the community and Shell.

Former Secretary of Bodo Council of Chiefs and Elders, Chief Saint Pii, told journalists in Port Harcourt  that the community decided to return to court because Shell refused to pay the 500 million pounds they demanded as compensation as part of the out-of-court settlement. He accused Shell of trying to pay peanuts as compensation to the over 10,000 indigenes of Bodo community as well as organisations that were affected by the oil spill, which occurred as a result of equipment failure in the oil giant’s facilities located in the community.

Oando hires Tony Blair's wife

Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is believed to have been hired to defend Oando Plc in the case involving former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, who is currently serving a jail term in the United Kingdom. Blair, an attorney, was said to have been paid 200,000 pounds deposit for the case. Ibori allegedly told a Swiss private bank in 2004 that he owned 30 percent of Oando, which paid $1.2 million into his account that year, a prosecutor told a British court.

However, the Group Managing Director of Oando, Mr. Wale Tinubu, denied that Ibori owned 30 per cent shares in the company, explaining that Oando’s has over 6.8 billion shares,  with over 300,000 shareholders, while Ibori’s equity interest remained insignificant.

Investors reacted to the stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday as Oando led on the losers’ table with N1.15 or 10 per cent depreciation. From its opening value of N11.50, it closed trading at N10.35 per share.

Details of Ibori’s assets and how he kept them hidden from the public gaze through a web of shell companies and foreign bank accounts were being disclosed as part of a three-week confiscation hearing, which began in London. Prosecutor Sasha Wass told Southwark Crown Court that in 2004, Ibori had opened an account at Lugano-based PKB in the name of a shell company called Stanhope Investments.

Quoting from internal PKB documents, Wass told the court that Ibori had presented himself to the bank as the owner of an insurance company, half of a bank and 30 percent of Oando. She said that a total of $1.2 million flowed into the PKB account from Oando in three payments that year which had later been channelled to other accounts and were part of funds intended for the purchase of a $20 million private jet.

Seven Energy & Frontier Oil set to unleash $500 million gas-to-power project

The multi-billion naira gas processing facility, built by  Seven Energy and Frontier Oil Limited Joint Venture (JV), is estimated at about $500 million (about N80 billion), with capacity to ease-off about 10 per cent of gas-to-power challenges in the country is set for commissioning. The Project Director, Uquo Gas Processing Plant, Alhaji Abdullah Bukar said that the gas facility was built at the best international standards, and has product quality of up to 98 per cent methane and lower than 2 per cent CO2 (carbon dioxide). According to him, the plant has 200 million cubic feet per day (mmcfpd) processing capacity with two modules operating at 100 (mmcfpd) each, and also 2,000 barrels per day of oil. The plant, according to Bukar, is ready for commissioning, while plans are also in top gear to establish additional $100 million (about N16 billion) pipeline network from Uquo to Oron. He said Acugas, its downstream subsidiary has built a 62 kilometers pipeline from Uquo to Ikot Abasi, which will deliver gas to the 190Mega Watts (MW) Ibom Power station, adding that another 37 kilometers pipeline from Uquo to Oron is under construction to supply gas to the 560MW Calabar National Integrated Power Plant (NIPP).

 Seven Energy Group is an indigenous oil and gas exploration, development and production company that comprises, Seven Energy, Septa Energy and Acugas).