The long-running controversy surrounding the OPL 245 oil block deal has entered a new phase after Non-Governmental Organizations involved in monitoring the case announced that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has undertaken to investigate allegations of political interference by the Italian state in the prosecution of oil giants Eni and Shell.
The development follows a landmark ruling by Italy’s Supreme Court on June 18, 2026, which overturned the convictions of two lead Milan prosecutors, Fabio de Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro, who had spearheaded the corruption case against Eni, Shell and other defendants over the controversial Nigerian oil block.
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, Corner House (United Kingdom), Hawkmoth (Netherlands), Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) (Nigeria), and ReCommon (Italy) said the Supreme Court’s decision had opened “a new chapter” in the OPL 245 saga rather than bringing the matter to an end.
According to the organizations, the OECD Working Group on Bribery had previously assured Civil Society Groups that it would examine concerns about political interference in the handling of the OPL 245 case once legal proceedings against the two prosecutors were concluded.
“Far from bringing an end to the OPL 245 case, as some news reports have suggested, the Supreme Court ruling now opens a new chapter,” the groups stated.
“In response to a dossier documenting 60 red flags in Italy’s handling of the OPL 245 case, the OECD Working Group on Bribery has given an undertaking to non-governmental organizations that it would investigate concerns over political interference in the OPL 245 case once the case against de Pasquale and Spadaro had reached its conclusion.”
Italian Supreme Court Clears Prosecutors
The NGOs welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to completely overturn the convictions of de Pasquale and Spadaro, describing the ruling as a total vindication of the prosecutors.
The two prosecutors had been convicted by lower Courts over allegations that they failed to file certain documents within a stipulated deadline during the OPL 245 proceedings.
However, the groups said the documents in question were never actually in the prosecutors’ possession.
“The Court wholly rejected the allegations, ruling that ‘the facts do not exist’. In effect, the Supreme Court found that the prosecutors had no case whatsoever to answer and the convictions were wholly unlawful,” the statement said.
The organizations argued that the ruling undermines claims by former Nigerian Attorney-General, Mohammed Adoke, and others who had cited the prosecutors’ convictions as evidence that no bribes were paid in the OPL 245 transaction.
“The ruling vindicates the prosecutors who had always defended their innocence; and shames those, such as former Nigerian Attorney General Mohamed Adoke and associates of Shell and Eni, who have sought to argue that the prosecutors’ convictions bolstered their case that no bribes were paid in the OPL 245 deal,” the groups said.
They called on those who made such claims to issue “an immediate apology and retraction.”
NGOs Allege Political Witch Hunt
The organisations further described the prosecution of de Pasquale and Spadaro as having “all the hallmarks of a politically-motivated witch hunt.”
According to them, the disciplinary and criminal proceedings against the prosecutors weakened anti-corruption enforcement efforts in Italy and made future corruption prosecutions more difficult.
“The disciplining and criminal conviction of the prosecutors effectively dismantled prosecutorial discretion in anti-corruption cases, making their prosecution harder,” the statement said.
The groups also pointed to previous convictions involving individuals linked to Eni, alleging attempts to interfere with investigations into the OPL 245 transaction.
They noted that associates of Eni had already been convicted for conspiring with state officials to “pollute” the prosecutors’ investigation and alleged that the objective of the scheme was to derail the OPL 245 prosecutions, discredit the prosecutors and weaken Milan’s specialist anti-corruption unit.
“One of those convicted has alleged that the aim of the ‘pollution’ scheme was explicitly intended to terminate the OPL 245 prosecutions; to discredit and discipline the trial prosecutors; and to reduce the effectiveness of the specialist anti-corruption unit within the Milan Prosecutors’ Office,” the groups said.
OECD Probe Could Put Italy Under Scrutiny
The NGOs said any finding by the OECD Working Group that political interference occurred in the handling of the OPL 245 proceedings could place Italy in violation of Article 5 of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
They noted that the OECD Working Group had previously concluded that the acquittal of Eni, Shell and other defendants in the OPL 245 trial did not comply with the standards of the anti-bribery convention.
“The Working Group has already ruled that the acquittal of Eni, Shell and other defendants in the OPL 245 trial did not accord with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention,” the statement said.
The groups further alleged that Italy’s handling of the case was characterised by procedural irregularities, politically influenced decisions, obstacles to appeals, and actions that weakened anti-corruption institutions within the Milan Prosecutors’ Office.
‘The OPL 245 Saga Is Far From Over’
Reaffirming their commitment to pursuing the matter, the organisations said they would ensure that the OECD follows through on its commitment to investigate the allegations.
“We will now hold the Working Group to its undertaking. The OPL 245 saga is far from over,” the statement concluded.
The OPL 245 oil block deal, one of the most controversial corruption cases linked to Nigeria’s oil sector, has for years attracted international scrutiny over allegations that hundreds of millions of Dollars paid during the acquisition of the oil licence were diverted as bribes to public officials and intermediaries.
Eni, Shell and several defendants were acquitted by an Italian Court in 2021, a verdict that has remained the subject of intense debate among anti-corruption advocates and legal observers.
Background
OPL 245 stands for Oil Prospecting Licence 245. It is a massive, highly lucrative deep-water offshore oil block located in the southern Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
The block is estimated to hold around 9 billion barrels of crude oil, which represents roughly one-quarter of Nigeria’s total proven oil reserves, along with substantial natural gas reserves.
Despite its immense commercial value, it is primarily famous for being at the centre of one of the global oil industry’s biggest and most prolonged corporate corruption and legal scandals, often referred to as the “Malabu Oil Deal.”
The block was originally awarded by the military regime of General Sani Abacha to a briefcase company called Malabu Oil & Gas. It was later revealed that Nigeria’s then-Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete, secretly owned a major stake in Malabu, effectively awarding the massive asset to himself.
Over the next decade, successive Nigerian Governments revoked and re-awarded the license between Malabu and oil giant Shell, triggering fierce international legal and arbitration battles.
The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan brokered a three-way deal. Shell and Italy’s Eni paid $1.3 billion to the Nigerian Government to acquire full rights to the block. However, prosecutors and anti-corruption activists later exposed that roughly $1.1 billion of that money was immediately diverted away from the State Treasury into private accounts to serve as kickbacks and bribes for middlemen, politicians, and officials, including Dan Etete.
Because of the multi-jurisdictional corruption investigations spanning Nigeria, Italy, the UK, and the US, the block sat completely idle for nearly three decades. No oil was ever produced. In March 2021, an Italian Court ultimately acquitted Eni, Shell, and their executives of the corruption charges, a ruling later cemented when appeals were dropped.
In March 2026, the administration of President Bola Tinubu finalized a “historic settlement” with Eni and Shell, officially bringing the 15+ year legal dispute to an end. Under the new agreement, OPL 245 was split into smaller development and exploration assets to finally bring the block into commercial production, a move expected to add up to 150,000 barrels of crude per day to Nigeria’s output.