Shell shortchanged us of 1.02 million barrels of crude says Aiteo

Aiteo Exploration and Production Company, has claimed that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) shortchanged it of 1,022,029 barrels of crude while using the Bonny Crude Export Terminal operated by SPDC.

According to court records sighted on Thursday, Aiteo, an indigenous oil firm which acquired OML 29 following SPDC’s divestment from the asset approached a Federal High Court in Lagos to seek redress and refund.

OML 29, includes the 97 kilometer NCTL which has capacity to lift up to 180,000 barrels per day of crude from oilfields in Bayelsa and Rivers to the Bonny terminal.

Aiteo wants the court to resolve the disputed 2 million barrels crude deficit reported at the Bonny Oil Export terminal operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) among several oil firms that use the Bonny Terminal.

It was learnt that the 2 million barrels of crude shortfall came from the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) operated by SPDC and Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL) operated by Aiteo which feed the Bonny terminal between 2016 and 2018.

Mr Bamidele Odugbesan , Media Relations Manager of SPDC had in a statement clarified that the shortfall was attributable to the activities of oil thieves who compromised the pipeline netwok before the export terminal.

He explained that SPDC also incurred the loss as it also injects its crude through the pipelines.

The Federal High Court in Lagos had on Wednesday granted an interim mareva injunction directing some 20 commercial banks to freeze SPDC’s accounts.

A mareva injunction is a court order freezing a party’s assets, until the determination of a case they are involved in, pending the response of the other party.