Nigeria, May 26 -- The licence for the controversial Nigerian offshore OPL 245 oil block has expired, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

According to civil society campaigners Global Witness, Eni confirmed the development in response to questions at their 2021 annual general meeting.

The organisation added on Wednesday that the expiry of the licence returns control of the oil field to the Nigerian government.

The OPL 245, estimated to hold 482 million barrels of economically recoverable oil, expired on May 11th, ten years after Shell and Eni paid $1.3 billion for the license in a deal trailed by criminal investigations and trials.

The Malabu scandal involved the transfer of about $1.1 billion by Shell and ENI through the Nigerian government to...