UK court overturns $11 billion damages bill for collapsed gas deal against Nigeria

A court in the United Kingdom has ruled in favour of Nigeria and overturned an $11 billion damages bill involving the controversial Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) deal.
Reuters reports that the court agreed with Nigeria’s argument that the deal was for a collapsed gas processing contract, which was said to have been fraudulently procured through bribery.
In 2010, the P&ID was awarded a 20-year contract to construct and operate a gas processing plant in Southern Nigeria to exploit the country’s abundant gas reserves.
When the deal failed, the British Virgin Islands-based company dragged Nigeria to court in London in 2017 and was awarded $6.6 billion for profits losses.
Due to interest, the damages bill has increased to over $11 billion, which, according to the news outlet, represented around a third of Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves.
Counsel for Nigeria, however, insisted the country was a victim of “a campaign of bribery and deception” by P&ID, adding that the company paid bribes to Nigerian officials to win the contract and corrupted the country’s lawyers to obtain confidential documents during the arbitration.
The company denied the allegation of bribery and corruption against them and blamed the failure of the gas deal and the country’s arbitration defeat on institutional incompetence.
“I have not accepted all of Nigeria’s allegations,” Judge Robin Knowles said in the ruling on Monday, adding that the arbitration awards “were obtained by fraud and the awards were, and the way in which they were procured was, contrary to public policy.”
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

States
Independence: NBA urges Nigerians to expect better future
The NBA said that ordinary Nigerians should be deriving benefit from the subsidy removal rather than hardship.

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

States
Bauchi govt clears N5.2 billion gratuity backlog
The government also plans to begin payment of gratuities on Monday to workers who retired in 2015.

Lagos
Opebi-Mende Link Bridge ready by December, says Sanwo-Olu
Mr Sanwo-Olu said that the project comprised four major components.

States
Fasoranti: Deputy leader pledges preservation of Afenifere’s ideals, Yoruba values
The deputy leader described the late Fasoranti as a man of uncommon character.

Faith
Cleric urges Christians to seek goodness, mercy in life’s journey
The Anglican bishop urged the congregation not to underestimate anyone.

Hot news Home top
Elon Musk accuses Ukraine of using Starlink’s drone strikes to kill people
Mr Musk said if Starlink was turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse.

States
Reps speaker distributes sewing machines, freezers, others to constituents
Mr Abbas urged his constituents to support Messrs Tinubu, Sani and APC candidates in the January 16, 2027 elections.





