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A Milan court is examining allegations of corruption against Eni and Shell as part of a controversial oil deal that has resulted in the loss of about $ 6 billion from Nigeria.
The Global Witness campaign group calculated that the 2011 OPL 245 agreement deprived Nigeria of twice its annual budget for education and health.
Eni and Shell are accused of knowing that the money paid to Nigeria would be used for bribes.
The Italian and Anglo-Dutch energy giants deny any wrongdoing.
This ongoing scandal, which is taking place in an Italian court, has involved former MI6 officers, the FBI, a former president of Nigeria, as well as current and former senior executives of both oil companies.
Former Nigerian Oil Minister Dan Etete has been found guilty of money laundering by a French court. It appeared that he had used illicit funds to buy fast boat and a castle. It is also claimed that he had so much money in $ 100 bills that he weighed five tons.
Global Witness has spent years investigating the deal that gave Shell and Eni the right to explore OPL 245, an offshore oil field in the Niger Delta.
He commanded New an badysis of how the contract was modified in favor of energy companies and concluded that Nigeria's losses over the life of the project could rise to $ 5.86 billion, compared to conditions in effect before 2011.
The badysis was conducted by Resources for Development Consulting on behalf of Global Witness, as well as by NGOs HEDA, RE:Common and the corner. The estimated losses were calculated using an oil price of $ 70 per barrel.
Eni criticized the way it was calculated because it ignores the possibility that Nigeria has the right to revise the agreement to claim a 50% share of the production revenue.
Deal or No Deal
Activists say the deal should be canceled.
"We discovered that Shell had an agreement that excluded Nigeria from profits," said Ava Lee, a Global Witness activist at the BBC World Business Report.
"This sum would be sufficient to train six million teachers in Nigeria.We can not really underestimate the magnitude of the agreement that could be reached for a country that is currently experiencing the extreme poverty rate. the highest in the world. "
Nigeria is Africa's richest economy, but despite significant oil and gas resources, millions of people are poor.
Lucrative OPL 245
We understand why Eni and Shell wanted to acquire the rights to develop OPL 245, because it is estimated that it contains nine billion barrels of oil.
But the way they got the contract is hindered by accusations of corruption.
The Milan court is examining evidence of how a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete, attributed the ownership of PLO 245 to Malabu, a company he secretly controlled.
He is accused of paying bribes to other members of the government, such as former President Goodluck Jonathan, to make sure that process it's gone well.
Shell and Eni are accused of knowing that the $ 1.1 billion paid to Nigeria would be used for bribes, claims based on the content of emails that have emerged since.
"According to the emails, Shell knew that the agreement reached was misleading, but they nevertheless did so despite the fact that a number of Nigerian officials had expressed concerns to about this outrageous deal, "says Ava Lee of Global Witness.
No wrongdoing
The Anglo-Dutch and Italian energy giants insist that they did nothing wrong because they paid the money to guarantee the exploration rights directly to the Nigerian government.
Shell made a statement to the BBC World Business Report in which it stated: "Since this case is before the Milan court, it would not be appropriate for us to discuss in detail the issues under consideration. a trial must be tried by a court and we do not wish to interfere with this process.
"We argue that the settlement was a fully legal transaction and we believe that the trial judges in Italy will conclude that there is no lawsuit against Shell or its former employees. . "
Eni also denied any wrongdoing and told the BBC that it was questioning the competence of the experts mandated by Global Witness and its "partners", as well as the possibility that the campaign group's report was defamatory.
The Italian oil and gas company m said "as this case is currently before the court of Milan, we can not comment in detail".
In one declaration "Global Witness and its partners Corner House, HEDA Resource Center and Re: Common have twice asked to be admitted as aggrieved parties in the Milan proceedings and on both occasions the claim was firmly rejected by the Milan court. "
Eni also stated that she "continues to reject any allegation of irregularity or irregularity related to this transaction".
The biggest corruption case of all time
Activists believe that it is a historical case and that the outcome of the trial in Milan will cause an earthquake that will affect the oil and gas industry.
Nick Hildyard of Corner House wonders if investors are comfortable. "Fund managers should be alarmed by this shameless dishonesty," he said.
Olanrewaju Suraju of HEDA urges Nigeria's chief to intervene. "President Buhari should reject any agreement," he said.
The contrast between the way Italy treats migrants and the actions of one of the country's largest companies was evoked by Antonio Tricarico de Re;Common.
"The Italian government discourages Nigerian migrants trying to reach Italy by saying that it will help them in their home country, but the largest multinational group in Italy, part owned by the state, is accused of having cheated billions of the Nigerian people ".
The unprecedented case in Milan could force the oil sector to change the way it conducts business, especially in countries where corruption is rampant, as greater transparency of contracts and payments would discourage fraud.
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