Court dismisses Chinese oil company's bid to void $100 million judgement over OPL 471 dispute

A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has dismissed an application by China National Petroleum Corporation seeking to set aside a $100 million judgement awarded to Cutra International Limited over the disputed ownership of Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 471.

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OPL 471 is located in the shallow offshore, western Niger Delta of Nigeria

In a ruling delivered on 24 April, Justice Adamu Mohammed held that the Chinese oil firm failed to show sufficient grounds for the court to vacate its earlier judgement delivered on 23 May 2025.

The judge dismissed the application entirely, ruling that the court had become “functus officio” after delivering its judgement and finding that the originating summons and hearing notices had been properly served on the company.

The dispute arose from the award of OPL 471 by Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources to both companies in June 2006.

In the substantive judgement delivered last year, the court held that Cutra International was entitled to a 10 per cent equity participation in the oil block as the local content vehicle in the deal.

Mr Mohammed said the Chinese firm did not controvert the facts presented by the plaintiff regarding the award of the oil block and the company’s stake in it.

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“By that letter, the plaintiff was the local content vehicle for OPL 471, and the equity participation for the plaintiff is 10 per cent,” the judge held.

Although the court declined to grant Cutra International the full amount of its claims due to insufficient evidence supporting certain claimed expenses and damages, it awarded the company $100 million in damages against CNPC.

In its application to set aside the judgement, CNPC argued that the suit was statute-barred, the originating summons had expired, and that the substituted service ordered by the court was defective because it involved a foreign company.

However, Mr Mohammed rejected the arguments, noting that the court had earlier renewed the originating summons in May 2024.

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The judge also held that CNPC failed to establish any convention between Nigeria and its home country that would render Order 6, Rule 20, of the Federal High Court Rules applicable in the matter.

“Based on the foregoing decisions of this court, I am of the view that it will not be in the interest of justice to grant any of the reliefs sought in the instant application, and it is accordingly dismissed,” the judge ruled.