(Adds comments from Shell statement)
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell andItaly's Eni have asked a Nigerian court to lift atemporary forfeiture of a long-disputed oilfield, the firms saidon Tuesday.
A Nigerian court last month ordered the temporary forfeitureof assets and the transfer of operations of the OPL 245 fieldowned by Shell and Eni, among others, to the federal government.
The Nigerian court case is the latest of several inquiries,following those by Dutch and Italian authorities, into the 2011purchase of the OPL 245 block which could hold up to 9.23billion barrels of oil, according to industry figures.
In a court filing, Shell said Nigeria's Economic andFinancial Crimes Commission had conducted "a gross abuse ofprocess and an abuse of power" to get a court order asking forthe forfeiture, according to a document obtained by Reuters.
The commission "misrepresented material facts in obtainingthe ex-parte order" and it was "in the interest of justice thatthe ex-parte order be discharged," the document said.
According to court papers seen last month, the inquiry isinvestigating whether the $1.3 billion purchase of OPL 245involved "acts of conspiracy, bribery, official corruption andmoney laundering."
Spokesmen for Eni and Shell confirmed both companies hadfiled motions to lift the court order, but declined furthercomment.
The Nigerian court will hear the case on Feb. 27, judicialsources said.
In a statement issued later on Tuesday, Shell said itreceived notice of a request for indictment related to thesettlement of disputes over the OPL 245 block.
A tribunal in Milan has fixed the preliminary hearing forApril 20, the company said.
"We don't believe a request for indictment is justified andwe are confident that this will be determined in the next stagesof the proceedings. We continue to take this matter seriouslyand co-operate with the authorities," Shell added.
The oilfield's licence was initially awarded in 1998 byformer Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete to Malabu Oil and Gas, acompany in which he held shares.
It was then sold for $1.3 billion in 2011 to Eni and Shell.According to documents from a British court, Malabu received$1.09 billion from the sale, while the rest went to the Nigeriangovernment.
Earlier this month, Eni backed CEO Claudio Descalzi afterjudicial sources said prosecutors had asked for him to be triedover alleged corruption in Nigeria.
Italian prosecutors in December wrapped up a probe into thehead of Eni, its former CEO, the company itself and Shell overalleged corruption surrounding the licence's acquisition,sources told Reuters at the time. (Reporting by Camilus Eboh, additional reporting by LibbyGeorge in London and Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru, writing byUlf Laessing; editing by Ruth Pitchford, G Crosse)