Recording Puts Shell’s Nigerian Oil Deal Under a Harsh Light -
By STANLEY REEDAPRIL 10, 2017
LONDON — Just hours after the Dutch police raided the offices of Royal Dutch Shell last year as part of an investigation into a controversial
$1.3 billion Nigerian oil deal, Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of the oil giant, placed a worried call to its chief financial officer.
In what he called “loose chatter,” Mr. van Beurden told Mr. Henry — who had been on leave —
that the emails among employees contained language like, “I wonder who gets a payoff here.”
“I haven’t seen them,” Mr. van Beurden told Mr. Henry, “but apparently they were judged to
be, y’know, just pub talk in emails, which was stupid, but nevertheless, it’s there.”
The call was recorded and has now been made public, offering a rare window into the murky and intrigue-filled business of international oil dealing.
“Over time, it became clear to us that Etete was involved in Malabu and
that the only way to resolve the impasse through a negotiated settlement was to engage with Etete and Malabu, whether we liked it or not,” he wrote, adding that Shell knew that the Nigerian government “would compensate Malabu to settle its claim on the block.”
Still, Mr. Norman said, “we believe that the settlement was a fully legal transaction” with the government of Nigeria.
In a statement on Sunday, Shell said that if it turned out improper payments were made by Malabu or others, “it is Shell’s position
that none of those payments were made with its knowledge.” Shell also said it believed that there was no basis to prosecute the company or any current or former employees.