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The Abuja Federal High Court of Nigeria has overturned the temporary order of forfeiture of OPL 245 oilfield previously obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against international oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Eni. The decision was announced on Friday according to court documents obtained by Reuters.

In January, a Nigerian court had ordered both companies to temporarily hand over the licence of the oil block and transfer operations to the federal government, pending the determination of a criminal suit filed by the EFCC against the oil companies.

The EFCC is investigating the circumstances under which OPL 245, considered to hold up to 9.23 billion barrels of crude, was sold in 2011. According to court papers, the agency seeks to determine whether "acts of conspiracy, bribery, official corruption and money laundering" were committed in the sale of the oil block.

"The chairman of the EFCC failed to meet the precondition for making an application for interim attachment of properties. So the application as such was irregular and the order granted on its basis ought to be discharged," said Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court.

The acreage was initially awarded by the Nigerian government in 1998 to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company in which former Nigerian petroleum minister, Dan Etete was a shareholder. The Nigerian government later cancelled the licence in 2001 and awarded the block to Shell.

In 2010, former President Goodluck Jonathan reportedly directed the block to be awarded to Malabu. However, reports suggest the Anglo-Dutch firm and the Italian oil giant paid $1.3 billion to the Nigerian government to retain the oil block. The tranfer of the funds by the oil companies has led to court cases in several countries, bordering on money laundering charges. British court documents suggest Malabu received $1.09 billion from the sale, while the rest went to the Nigerian government.