The Nigerian subsidiaries of majors Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell have high hopes of obtaining the $2.5 billion Nigeria National Petroleum Company. (NNPC) was sentenced to pay them in 2014. At the time, Nigeria’s supreme court ruled that the state-owned firm had taken too much crude oil from OML 133.
The same year, majors took the case to Southern District of New York court to file for arbitration. On October 12, the court accepted the plaintiffs’ request to summon the powerful head of crude oil trade at NNPC, Mele Kyari, who is close to President Buhari, to take a deposition.
Kyari was appointed as Nigeria’s representative to OPEC in June. NNPC will also need to send over two other senior staff members, whose names have not yet been announced, to bear witness and explain certain emails included in the case.
The judges feel NNPC’s defence, handled by Chaffetz Lindsey, have not provided enough documentation.So far, the defence team has refused to have Kyari appear before the court. They feel that the case seeking to depose Mele Kyari is untimely and unwarranted and argue that there has already been a hearing of NNPC representatives.
