KEY POINTS
- The Federal High Court in Yenagoa dismissed Aiteo Group’s preliminary objection, allowing the Opu Nembe Kingdom’s N122 billion oil spill lawsuit to continue.
- The objection focused on a technicality in the company’s name, which the court ruled should not undermine the case’s substance.
- The case now moves to April 16 for a ruling on correcting the company name, amid broader ongoing concerns about oil spill impacts in Nigeria.
A Federal High Court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has dismissed a preliminary objection filed by Aiteo Group in a N122 billion lawsuit brought by the Opu Nembe Kingdom over environmental damage allegedly caused by the company’s oil operations.
Justice Emmanuel Ayo ruled on Tuesday that the objection, which focused on a technicality in the way the company’s name was written in the suit, could not prevent the case from moving forward.
Aiteo Group had asked the court to dismiss the suit, arguing it was wrongly named as “Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Ltd” instead of “Aiteo Eastern E & P Company Ltd.”
Justice Ayo rejected this argument, noting that plaintiffs had filed a motion to correct the company’s name and that technicalities should not undermine the substance of the claims. The case was adjourned to April 16 for a decision on the motion to amend the company’s name.
Background of the Nembe oil spill
The oil spill central to the dispute occurred in November 2021 in the Nembe area of Bayelsa State, where Aiteo Eastern E & P Company Ltd operates.
The Nigerian Senate estimated that over two million barrels of hydrocarbon may have leaked, though Aiteo disputed the figure, calling it exaggerated. Operations at the affected facility were suspended following the spill, and the leaking well at Oil Mining Lease 29 was later successfully shut.
Aiteo Group acquired the disputed asset from Shell Plc, winning the bid for OML 29 and an associated pipeline in December 2014 in a deal valued at $2.7 billion, about N434 billion at the time.
Disputes between oil companies and host communities over environmental damage are common in Nigeria.
In 2024, Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited reported 20 operational oil spills involving more than 100 kilograms of crude oil. National data from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency recorded at least 589 oil spill incidents in the country that year.
