(Adds Eni comment)
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A Nigerian court has ordered thetemporary forfeiture of assets and the transfer of operations ofa long-disputed oilfield owned by Shell and Eni, among others, to the federal government, court papersshowed.
The court orders will last until Nigeria's anti-corruptionagency concludes an investigation into how the current ownersacquired oil prospecting licence (OPL) 245, according to thepapers released on Thursday.
This is the latest of many inquiries, including by Dutch andItalian authorities, into the 2011 purchase of the OPL 245 blockwhich could hold up to 9.23 billion barrels of oil, according toindustry figures.
"We are aware of media reports but we have not received anynotification," a spokesman for Italian oil major Eni said in anemail to Reuters.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria declinedto comment.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),Nigeria's anti-corruption agency, filed the papers to the courtin the capital Abuja on Jan. 11.
The other parties were not present in court for the rulingand can challenge the decision.
The inquiry will investigate whether the $1.3 billionpurchase of OPL 245 involved "acts of conspiracy, bribery,official corruption and money laundering," the court paperssaid.
Nigeria's EFCC "can't put a timeline on when theinvestigations would be concluded," the watchdog's spokesmanWilson Uwujaren told Reuters by phone.
The oil field'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.
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 Camillus Eboh; Additional reporting by LibbyGeorge in London; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by AlexanderSmith/Elaine Hardcastle)
