NNPC’s Legal team bags Africa arbitration award

The Litigation Team of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has won the Leading Case Counsel Team of the 2020 Africa Arbitration Awards.

The corporation disclosed this in a statement by its spokesman, Dr Kennie Obateru, in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said that the award was given to the team in recognition of its stellar performance at the 8th Edition of the East African International Arbitration Conference (EAIC), held in Nairobi, Kenya, recently with participants joining virtually.

“At the conference, which was aimed at promoting commercial arbitration and showcasing African lawyers and law firms, which have performed well in arbitration practice, the NNPC Legal Team gave a presentation on the challenges and lessons learnt from arbitration and the successes recorded.

“Among the successful arbitration cases showcased by the team at the conference were the IPCO (Nigeria) Vs. NNPC in respect of the dispute over the Bonny Export Terminal Project in which 367.5 million dollars was saved after 13 years of litigation.

“Also, the ESSO E&P Nigeria Ltd. Vs. NNPC in respect of the dispute over the interpretation of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) covering Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 209/Oil Mining Lease (OML) 133 in which the enforcement of 2.7 billion dollars’ claim was dismissed,” he said.

He said that other recent arbitration cases presented at the conference include ESSO & Others vs. NNPC in respect of alleged breaches in interpretation and implementation of the PSC covering OPL 222/OML 138 with over 380.141million dollars saved.

Also, the Atlantic Energy Group vs NPDC in respect of allegation of wrongful termination of Strategic Alliance Agreements over eight OMLs resulting in the award of 1.6 billion dollars in favour of NPDC was also presented.

“Besides the presentation, the NNPC Legal Team’s entry for the Leading Case Counsel Team category of the Africa Arbitration Award was adjudged the best among entries from 100 other institutions across Africa resulting in the award.

“The award is a testimony to the commitment of the Legal Division and indeed the staff of the corporation to the Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda of the Malam Mele Kyari-led management of NNPC,” he said.