Nigeria Resolves Three-Decade Malabu Ownership Crisis as Eni and Shell Mobilize for Massive OPL 245 Production

Nigeria resolves the 30-year Malabu OPL 245 dispute. Eni and Shell mobilize to add 200,000 bpd to production, boosting the economy by billions.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 23, 2026, 4:15 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Business Hallmark

The Final Resolution of a Multidecade Ownership Impasse

The protracted legal shadow over OPL 245, popularly known as the Malabu block, has finally been lifted following a comprehensive settlement brokered by the current administration. According to President Bola Tinubu, the agreement serves as a strategic milestone in the nation's economic reform agenda, designed to signal to global investors that Nigeria is capable of resolving legacy disputes with transparency. The resolution brings an end to a saga that began in 1998, involving various international arbitrations and domestic legal battles that had successfully paralyzed exploration activities for nearly thirty years.

A Strategic Reconfiguration of Licensing and Governance

Under the newly established framework, the OPL 245 block has been structurally divided to facilitate immediate development and future exploration. According to the Presidential Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen, the settlement has converted the single block into four distinct licenses, including two Petroleum Mining Leases, PML 102 and 103, and two exploration licenses. This revised structure operates under the governance of the Petroleum Industry Act, ensuring that the partnership between Eni, Shell, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is governed by predictable and commercially viable fiscal terms.

Mobilization of Technical Resources for Deep Water Production

With the legal hurdles removed, technical teams have begun the urgent process of moving human and material resources to the offshore site located 150 kilometers off the Niger Delta. According to an Eni source, the company is preparing to announce a Final Investment Decision for the Zabazaba and Etan fields, which hold estimated reserves of approximately 500 million barrels. The development plan centers on the deployment of a floating production system with a capacity of 200,000 barrels of oil per day, utilizing the expertise of over 80 specialists who had previously mapped the geological landscape of the field.