A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has rejected an application by Allied Energy Plc and Camac International (Nigeria) Limited for a mandatory injunction against Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE) to stop the execution of an order to stop the seizure of assets under a court process initiated by NAE at the Lagos and Port Harcourt Divisions of the Federal High Court.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has rejected an application by Allied Energy Plc and Camac International (Nigeria) Limited for a mandatory injunction against Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE) to stop the execution of an order to stop the seizure of assets under a court process initiated by NAE at the Lagos and Port Harcourt Divisions of the Federal High Court.
Allied Energy and Camacho, both Nigerian-owned companies, filed an application at the Lagos State High Court, requesting the court to compel NAE to undo the process initiated at the Federal High Court. The request by the two companies includes a formal letter addressed to the Deputy Chief Registrar (Sheriff) of the Lagos and Port Harcourt Divisions of Federal to immediately discontinue the execution carried out at NAE’s instance 31 January.
The action taken by Allied Energy and Camac is a sequel to the writ of attachments issued by the Federal High Court 31 January and executed against the companies' assets at Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 120 and 121, including seizure of the crude oil produced from OYO oilfields. This followed an earlier enforcement order (in Suit No.
FHC/L/CS/625/2017) granted by Justice Hadiza R. Shagari of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on 11 May 2017 and upheld by the court on 16 January.
The Federal High Court stated that the order was for the recognition and enforcement of a final award rendered at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) on 14 February 2017 in favour of NAE against Allied Energy Plc, Camac International (Nigeria) Limited and their parent company, Camac International Limited (CIL) in respect of a contractual debt of over $200 million they owe NAE.
But in the case filed against NAE, Allied Energy and Camac International Limited applied for a mandatory injunction to remove all restraints on the export valves aboard the Vessel FPSO Armada Perdana located offshore within Nigeria territorial waters, off Onne Port, Rivers State, on OML120 and 121, including all crude oil produced from OYO fields and discharged into the vessel.
In his ruling, after hearing oral and documentary addresses, Justice T. A. O. Oyekan-Abdullai of the Lagos High Court, on 8 March, rejected the requests of made in the application by Allied Energy and Camac International Limited.
The dispute between NAE and the two Nigerian companies arose from the decision of the LCIA, which is being enforced by NAE over the disputatious June 2012 Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) between NAE as a seller and Allied Energy as a purchaser. NAE had transferred to Allied Energy Plc the entirety of NAE’s interests and rights in the two OMLs.
According to NAE, part of the payment for the transferred interests and rights was deferred by Allied Energy to it.
And consequent upon non-payment by Allied Energy Plc, the NAE headed to the LCIA in accordance with the arbitration terms provided in the SPA. The arbitration was concluded on 14 February 2017, when the LCIA issued a final award of a sum in excess of $200 million in favor of NAE.
In a related development, a US federal court in Texas also ruled this month in favor of two drilling firms, Transocean Offshore Gulf of Guinea VII and Indigo Drilling, for a claim of $14 million against Erin Energy.
The claim arose from unpaid bills in respect of work carried out on OML 120 and 121. This was a sequel to Erin Energy’s failure to pay an arbitral award issued in favor of the drilling firms by an arbitration court supervised by the LCIA.
