The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has invalidated arbitration proceedings initiated at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), London, against Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited by lenders involved in financing its purchase of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29.
Justice S.B. Belgore, ruling on Tuesday, declared the arbitration null, stating it violated existing Nigerian court injunctions and amounted to a “brazen affront” to judicial authority.
The legal battle centers on Aiteo’s $3.01 billion acquisition of OML 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line from Shell in 2014, with founder Benedict Peters reportedly injecting nearly $1 billion in equity to reboot oil output.
