BUSINESSMAN DRAGS NNPC TO COURT OVER N90BILLION OIL BLOCK DEAL TURNED SOUR

A Canadian investor is about to lose his money in an Oil Block sale deal in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. According to report Mr. Stephen Shefsky is presently doing all in his capacity to recover his money estimated at over N90billion ($453 million) trapped in the deal about to turn sour. He is said to have engaged the services of a reputable lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, to pursue his case.

Shefsky who has two decades of experience in the Oil and Gas industry had carefully prepared every step of his Nigerian acquisition. He found experienced local partners, studied his target asset, did his due diligence with the help of the Canadian government.

Despite winning a competitive bid and paying the full $453million, he and his Nigerian partners have seen their new asset subjected to a takeover by Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). “I feel absolutely sick about it,” Shefsky, president and chief executive of James Bay Resources Limited, the Toronto based company that spearheaded the Nigerian oil acquisition and owns 45 per cent of the company that won the bid reportedly lamented. “I went in with my eyes open and I thought we were doing the right thing. Somewhere in the system, something happened,” he added

His Lawyer Robert Amsterdam said that there is the possible role of corruption in the Nigerian case, along with another factor, the March 28 presidential election that now preoccupies every Nigerian politician, including the oil minister who holds ultimate authority over the state oil company.

Details of the deal has it that Shefsky and his Nigerian partner won the bid in June 2014 to acquire a lucrative oilfield assets from the Nigerian subsidiaries of Shell, Total and Agip which together owned 45 per cent of the oilfield. But in October, as he was preparing to hire Shell’s former employees at the site, the NNPC suddenly announced that it was using its preemptive rights to take over the asset.

The letter from the NNPC, dated October 27, did not give any reason for the decision. It simply ordered Shell and the other two companies to “assign” and “transfer” their interest to the corporation. Shefsky said that he was mystified by the decision, he suspects that there are more than just business factors at play.

“I believe it involves politics,” he said in an interview. The report described Nigerian elections as often revolving around huge sums of money, which greases the wheels of the election machinery for the leading parties and some insiders believe that the Canadian asset was seen as an easy way for the ruling party to raise money quickly. To recover the investment, Shefsky and his Nigerian partners have gone to court to block the takeover of their asset. Last Friday, they obtained an interim injunction in a court in Lagos.

New Telegraph