In 2015, Shell sold $ 2.4 billion in oil assets to Aiteo, including a pipeline system. Six years later, Aiteo says the oil line is leaking and has cost it several million barrels. Shell disagrees and refuses to give in to Aiteo's demands.

In Nigeria, local oil company Aiteo has alerted the general public to the existence of a media campaign financed and carried out by Shell to damage its image and that of its owner, billionaire Benedict Peters (pictured).

An accusation that comes in a context where Aiteo has sued the Anglo-Dutch giant who allegedly ceded poor quality assets in 2015 and where Nigerian justice is putting pressure on Shell, so that a compromise can be found. Aiteo is claiming a total of more than $ 9 billion in damages.

Last week, several civil society organizations, including the African Center for Human Rights, alleged that Shell is inciting public figures, media and civil society entities to carry out a global smear campaign against Aiteo. The outcome of this campaign would create unnecessary digressions and distractions from the current issues that encapsulate the company's demands, they said.

Following the press release, Aiteo said: “Participants only confirmed that Shell has committed substantial resources to undermine its corporate integrity, presumably to punish us for our recklessness in insisting on our rights. matters of contractual and commercial relations. ".

Aiteo added that according to information it has, the campaign will be largely based on the anonymous dissemination and deployment by paid agents of deliberately false information and incorrect reporting, aimed at discrediting and tarnishing its reputation, at the level local and international.

The first step taken by Aiteo is to alert the government, its shareholders, host communities, investors, the international community and the general public of the existence of this media campaign. So far, neither the Nigerian authorities nor Shell have reacted to this information.

Source: Ecofin Agency