Abimbola Atitebi is a Managing Counsel in the Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group at Templars.
He holds a Master of Laws Degree with a certificate of specialization in Business Law from the University of California Berkeley, School of Law and is licensed to practice in Nigeria and the State of California, USA.
He possesses significant experience in the Petroleum sector and advises clients involved in various streams of operations within the sector and routinely advises on some of the major transactions in the Nigerian petroleum sector. His experience encompasses regulatory compliance, corporate structures, white collar (financial crime and anti-bribery) advisory and defence, antitrust and government relations.
Abimbola also possesses significant energy dispute experience advising and representing clients in bet-the-company disputes. He possesses substantial experience having played an active role on some of the largest and most significant energy arbitrations in Nigeria as well as advising clients on potential disputes in corporate restructuring and transfer of assets, as well as government investigations.
A Selection Of Relevant Experiences
- Advised ExxonMobil in respect of a proposed divestment of its onshore and shallow offshore businesses in Nigeria.
- Advising the major International Oil Companies in respect of the impact of the Petroleum Industry Act on their businesses in Nigeria.
- Advising the major International Oil Companies in respect of the renegotiation of their Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in respect of their deep-offshore operations in Nigeria.
- Advised Sojitz Corporation in connection with its acquisition of a 25% interest in the holding company of Axxela.
- Advised and represented ExxonMobil and Shell against the NNPC in a US$2.042 billion crude entitlement and stabilisation claim.
- Advised and represented ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and Nexen in a first of its kind cost-recovery arbitration in Nigeria, resulting in recovery of over US$1billion in contested costs.
- Advised Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), Japan Gas Corporation (JGC) and other Halliburton Executives and in the negotiation of a non-prosecutorial agreement with the FGN over bribery charges in respect of a US$6 billion LNG train construction contract.
- An International Oil Company (IOC) in respect of Nigerian law issues relating to criminal charges of bribery and corruption preferred against it in Europe.
- Various multinationals operating in Nigeria on compliance with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) directive of the FGN as well as possible anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) impact of any payments made outside the TSA structure.
