AfrOil: Shell suspends SPDC stake sale

Shell (UK) has put plans for selling its 30% stake in the Shell Petroleum Development Corp. (SPDC) joint venture on hold pending the Nigerian Supreme Court’s resolution of a lawsuit related to an oil spill in 2018.

The company’s Nigerian arm confirmed that the deal was on hold in a statement dated June 30. Following media reports on Supreme Court proceedings in an appeal filed by residents of the part of Bayelsa State affected by the spill, SPDC’s managing director Osagie Okunbor said that Shell and its local subsidiaries would abide by the Supreme Court’s recent order to maintain the status quo until October.

That order, issued on June 16, will have the effect of suspending Shell’s asset sale until the Supreme Court decides whether to uphold or overturn a lower court’s decision on the spill. The lower court had ruled that the multi-national was obligated to pay the community NGN700bn ($1.69bn) in compensation for a spill from its Trans Ramos Pipeline that occurred in May 2018.