Court permits Petrolex to advertise petition against Energy Link over $13.8m debt

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has granted Petrolex Oil & Gas Limited permission to advertise its petition to wind up Energy Link Infrastructure Limited (ELI) over an alleged unpaid debt of $13,837,235.98 arising from charter party agreements.

The presiding judge, Justice Akintayo Aluko, granted the order on May 23, 2025, after finding that Petrolex had established sufficient grounds for the winding-up petition under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

Petrolex’s claim stems from two charter party agreements (CPA 1 and CPA 2) for the transportation of crude oil, under which it provided barges to ELI, a subsidiary of Eroton Exploration & Production in the OML 18 joint venture.

Petrolex alleged that despite fulfilling its contractual obligations, ELI defaulted on payments, leading to the outstanding debt.

Petrolex terminated the agreements in October 2022 following repeated defaults, citing the contracts’ payment terms, which required settlement within seven days of invoice issuance, with interest accruing at LIBOR plus 2 percent for delays.

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The company stated that despite issuing several statutory demands – including a default notice (October 11, 2022), a termination notice (October 18, 2022), and a statutory demand notice (November 11, 2022) – ELI failed to pay, prompting the winding-up petition.

In his ruling, Justice Aluko held that ELI’s counter-affidavit partially admitted owing a reduced sum, which the court treated as an admission of debt.

The judge also held that ELI’s failure to respond to Petrolex’s statutory demands was deemed an implied admission of liability.

ELI’s counter-affidavit and written address were struck out because they were deposed by the company’s counsel, not a person with direct knowledge of the facts – contravening professional conduct rules.

Justice Aluko, therefore, ordered Petrolex to advertise the winding-up petition in national newspapers per the Companies Winding-Up Rules, with Petrolex’s solicitors to notify the court of publication costs.

The judge adjourned until September 25, 2025, for substantive hearing.

The Star