Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has rejected assertions by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that the long-running dispute over the valuable OPL 245 oil block remains unresolved.
Fagbemi stated that the matter was conclusively settled through a 2011 resolution agreement, calling continued opposition a misrepresentation that serves hidden interests rather than the national good.
The disagreement centres on the status of OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s most significant deepwater oil assets, located about 150 kilometres offshore. The block’s history is marked by争议 spanning nearly three decades. Originally licensed to Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd in 1998, it was revoked in 2001 and subsequently allocated to Shell Nigeria Ultra-Deep Limited (SNUD) in 2002, leading to extensive litigation and parliamentary reviews.
The 2011 agreement resolved claims between the Federal Government, Malabu, SNUD (now Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited – SNEPCo), and Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE)/Eni. Malabu relinquished its claims for compensation, while the block was re-allocated to SNEPCo and NAE as joint licence holders, with a plan to convert the licence to an Oil Mining Lease (OML).
Fagbemi noted that all related transactions underwent judicial review in the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy, with no wrongdoing found. However, delays in the OML conversion prompted NAE and Eni entities to initiate arbitration against Nigeria at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in 2020, alleging a breach of the Nigeria-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Treaty. Nigeria faced a potential liability exceeding $2 billion.
The Attorney General clarified that the ICSID arbitration strictly concerned Nigeria’s alleged treaty breach over the conversion delay and did not adjudicate the original ownership dispute involving Malabu. He stated that individuals now claiming an interest in Malabu had no legal standing in that proceedings.
Citing a recent 2025 Court of Appeal judgment in Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited v. Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd, Fagbemi highlighted that the court dismissed Malabu’s challenge to the allocation as statute-barred and an abuse of process. He argued this definitively settles the legal question.
Fagbemi maintained that the current administration’s intervention resolved an impasse, averted massive financial exposure, and aims to unlock the block’s development. The project is projected to add approximately 150,000 barrels per day to Nigeria’s production capacity and includes integrated gas export infrastructure linked to Nigeria LNG.
He urged Nigerians to disregard criticisms, describing them as attempts to frustrate a lawful and strategic resolution that promises substantial economic value for the country. The successful development of OPL 245 is now positioned as a critical step in Nigeria’s efforts to boost oil output and revenue.
