Exxon, Shell Face Uphill Legal Battle Over Soured Nigerian Deal

March 6, 2020, 4:00 AM UTC

Oil majors including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are facing uphill battles to convince U.S. courts to enforce multi-billion dollar arbitration awards they secured against Nigeria’s state oil company.

The companies accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. of taking more crude than it was entitled to under four deals that were signed in 1993 to incentivise them to develop deep offshore blocks. Those projects today account for about 30% of the country’s 2 million barrels of daily output.

Independent arbitration tribunals seated in Nigeria sided with the companies and awarded them damages. But the NNPC successfully challenged ...

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