The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, ordered the Federal Government to renew the operating licence of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

Justice Taiwo Taiwo, who delivered the judgment, said that though the company had applied for a term of 30-year period for the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11, the judge however granted a 20-year period in accordance with Petroleum Act.

Shell, which is the plaintiff in the case, had approached the court in a suit number: CS/524/19 to seek its intervention over the controversy surrounding the OML 11.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, who is also President Muhammadu Buhari, is the 1st defendant while the 2nd defendant is the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.

The Federal Government had, recently, told the court that its decision not to renew the operating license of the company was in the interest of the nation’s security.NAN