FCT High Court Nullifies ICC Arbitration Against Aiteo Over OML 29 Dispute

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Abuja has nullified international arbitration proceedings filed against Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in London, ruling that the process violated its existing injunctive orders.

Justice S.B. Belgore delivered the judgment on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in a long-running legal dispute tied to the landmark \$3.01 billion acquisition of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) from Shell in 2014. The deal, largely backed by Aiteo’s billionaire founder, Benedict Peters, also involved a complex financing arrangement among several Nigerian and international lenders.

The nullified arbitration had been initiated by the lender consortium—which includes Zenith Bank, First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Fidelity Bank, African Finance Corporation (AFC), Shell Western Supply & Trading, and Citibank Europe (UK Branch), among others—over alleged breaches in the financing agreements that supported Aiteo’s purchase of the assets.

However, minority equity investor Tempo Energy Nigeria Ltd. had filed suit FCT/HC/CV/079/2021 in January 2021, seeking an injunction to halt the arbitration and related proceedings in the UK High Court. The FCT High Court granted interim orders restraining all parties from pursuing the foreign litigation pending resolution of the domestic case.

Despite those orders, the defendants went ahead with arbitration proceedings at the ICC between 2021 and 2024. They also filed an appeal challenging the injunctions, but on April 25, 2025, the Court of Appeal in Abuja dismissed the appeal as an abuse of process and upheld the validity of the High Court’s injunctions—imposing N1.5 million in costs and warning against any further disobedience of court directives.

At the resumed hearing in May 2025, Tempo’s legal team, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Kehinde Ogunwumiju, applied for a restorative order to void the ICC arbitration. Defense counsel representing Ecobank Nigeria and others challenged the court’s jurisdiction to block foreign arbitration. Justice Belgore dismissed those objections as “incompetent and an abuse of process,” ruling the ICC proceedings void for having been conducted in defiance of valid court orders.

The judge reaffirmed that the January 2021 injunctions remained binding and warned the defendants against further violations. He also awarded Tempo Energy an additional N500,000 in costs. The matter has been adjourned to September 29, 2025, for continued hearing on related interlocutory applications.

In a related matter, Aiteo is also pursuing a separate \$2.5 billion lawsuit against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, alleging fraud and misrepresentation in the original 2014 sale. The company claims Shell failed to fully disclose the deteriorated condition of the oil wells, contributing to production challenges and its inability to meet repayment obligations.

According to court filings, Aiteo’s acquisition was backed by over \$2 billion in financing from a consortium of banks, with Peters personally contributing nearly \$900 million in equity and an additional \$257 million to restart operations. Smaller equity investors, including Tempo Energy, added a combined \$136 million.

The court’s ruling marks a significant development in a case that intertwines high-stakes finance, oil industry disputes, and questions of legal jurisdiction across borders.