Nigeria, Feb. 17 -- The Federal High Court in Lagos has granted an interim mareva injunction directing commercial banks to block Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd accounts.

A mareva injunction is a court order freezing a party's assets, until the determination of a case they are invloved in, to stop them from taking it abroad.

The order was in a bid to recover the cash equivalent of more than 16 million barrels of crude oil allegedly diverted by the oil giant from AITEO Eastern E & P Company Ltd.

Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, the judge, gave the order Wednesday following an ex parte application where AITEO Eastern E & P Company Ltd is the plaintiff/applicants and SPDC Ltd is the first defendant.

Joined in the suit are Royal Du...