The Federal High Court in Lagos has granted Petrolex Oil & Gas Limited the green light to advertise its winding-up petition against Energy Link Infrastructure Limited (ELI) over an alleged unpaid debt of $13,837,235.98, arising from two charter party agreements.
Justice Akintayo Aluko granted the order on May 23, 2025, after ruling that Petrolex had established sufficient grounds for the petition in accordance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, 2020.
According to court documents, the dispute stems from two charter party agreements (CPA 1 and CPA 2) between the parties for the transportation of crude oil.
Petrolex provided eight barges to ELI—a subsidiary of Eroton Exploration & Production involved in the OML 18 joint venture—but claims that ELI failed to honour its financial obligations under the contracts.
Petrolex stated that under the agreements, ELI was required to settle invoices within seven days, with interest accruing at LIBOR plus 2% on late payments. After repeated defaults, Petrolex terminated the contracts in October 2022.
The oil firm said it had issued several statutory demands to ELI, including a notice of default dated October 11, 2022; a termination notice dated October 18, 2022; and a statutory demand on November 11, 2022. However, ELI allegedly failed to respond or make payments, prompting the winding-up action.
In his ruling, Justice Aluko observed that ELI’s counter-affidavit partially admitted owing a reduced amount, which the court regarded as an admission of indebtedness.
The court also held that ELI’s failure to respond to Petrolex’s statutory demands amounted to an implied admission of liability.
The judge struck out ELI’s counter-affidavit and written address on the grounds that they were deposed to by its legal counsel, rather than someone with direct knowledge of the facts.
Consequently, the court granted Petrolex leave to advertise the winding-up petition in national newspapers, in line with the Companies Winding-Up Rules.
Petrolex’s solicitors were directed to file an affidavit confirming publication costs before the substantive hearing, which has been fixed for September 25, 2025.
In reaction, ELI has filed a motion seeking a stay of execution of the court’s order and an injunction to prevent Petrolex from proceeding further with the winding-up process.
A notice of appeal has also been lodged at the Court of Appeal.
Meanwhile, Petrolex is also pursuing a separate but related case against ELI in Suit No. FHC/L/CP/1083/2023, seeking an additional $4.59 million in outstanding vessel hire charges, ₦20 million in general damages, and ₦2 million in legal costs.
In the fresh suit, Petrolex alleges that ELI failed to pay the agreed daily rate of $3,000 per vessel for eight vessels and has continued to detain four of them, thereby inflicting further financial loss and disrupting business operations.
ELI had applied for a stay of proceedings and an order to compel arbitration, citing the arbitration clause in the charter party agreements.
However, the court dismissed the application, ruling that no dispute requiring arbitration existed since ELI had admitted the debt and ignored statutory demands.
The trial began on March 10, 2025, with Petrolex presenting its case through its sole witness, Mr. Olufemi Fadina, and tendering four exhibits.
The matter was adjourned to July 8, 2025, for ELI to open its defence, after its counsel failed to appear at the last hearing on May 21, 2025.
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