OML 128: Chevron and Equinor target Oditah to sink NNPC

摘要

A new development in the NNPC vs. Chevron and Equinor dispute over the distribution of profit from OML 128 has taken the wind out of the Nigerian national firm’s push to have the case heard in Nigeria and not the United States. In early March, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer Nathan Hembree sent the court of the Southern District of New York several interviews that seriously challenge the view of one of NNPC’s strongest supporters, Fidelis Oditah, chairman of the Nigerian branch of the influential International Law Association. In an interview submitted by Hembree, Oditah was quoted in the Nigerian press as saying, “some judges have surrendered their independence to politicians”. This plays directly into Chevron and Equinor’s hands. The two majors have been trying for months to prove to the American courts that the Nigerian courts are biased and the case should not be tried there ( AEI 859). Only in February, Oditah had criticised the “patronising” views of Matthew T. Page, an advisor to the oil and gas duo who had claimed “in Nigeria, judicial appointments are viewed as a way to ensure support for political elites".