Royal Dutch Shell is “not aware” of any evidence to support a corruption case that has seen a number of people indicted for trial in Italy.
The supermajor received a notice of request for indictment last month.
It relates to a “long standing” dispute over the $1.3 billion purchase of an oilfield in Nigerian waters back in 2011.
Shell has now confirmed that the Tribunal of Milan has fixed the preliminary hearing for 20 April 2017.
Chief executive of Italian oil and gas group Eni, Claudio Descalzi, is also understood to have been named by prosecutors.
Among others said to be indicted is Malcolm Brinded, who was formerly the Shell’s head of international exploration and production and also headed up offices in Aberdeen.
Shell did not confirm that Brinded was among those set for trial.
But a spokeswoman for the energy giant did say that there were confident that indictment was not necessary and that there was no evidence of any Shell employees, past or present, doing any wrongdoing in connection with the allegations.
The spokeswoman said: “Based on our review of the Prosecutor’s file and our understanding of the facts, we don’t believe a request for indictment against Royal Dutch Shell is justified and we are confident that this will be determined in the next stages of the proceedings.
“Furthermore, we are not aware of any evidence to support a case against any former or current Shell employee. We continue to take this matter seriously and co-operate with the authorities.”
The case is the latest of several inquiries, following those by Dutch and Italian authorities, into the 2011 purchase of Nigerian oil prospecting licence OPL 245 block, which could hold up to 9.23 billion barrels of oil, according to industry figures.
A Nigerian court ordered in January the seizure of the oilfield assets and transfer of operations to the federal government.
On March 13 a court will rule on a request by Shell and Italy’s Eni to lift the temporary seizure.
Nigeria’s watchdog Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought new charges against a number of individuals alleged to have been involved in illegal activity.
The targets of EFCC’s new charges include Shell’s local subsidiary, Eni and its local subsidiary, directors of those companies, a Nigerian former oil minister and a former justice minister.
The court filing alleges those involved conspired to commit a felony and violated corruption laws by paying $801 million to Nigerian officials for OPL 245 in 2011.
The oilfield’s licence was initially awarded in 1998 by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which he held shares and which is also named in the new charges.
The licence was then sold for $1.3 billion in 2011 to Eni and Shell. A British court document has shown that Malabu received $1.09 billion from the sale, while the rest went to the Nigerian government.
Last month Eni backed CEO Claudio Descalzi after judicial sources said that prosecutors had asked for him to be tried over alleged corruption in the OPL 245 case. Descalzi has denied any wrongdoing.
Eni referred a request for comment to a dossier of information on the Italian’s firm’s website.
It refers to several previous investigations into the acquisition of Opl 245 that showed no “illegal conduct”.
The Board of Directors has also publicly backed Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi.
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