The tribunal of Milan has fixed the preliminary hearing for 20 April 2017, the company said in a statement. "We don't believe a request for indictment is justified and we are confident that this will be determined in the next stages of the proceedings. We continue to take this matter seriously and co-operate with the authorities," Shell added. Shell and Eni on Tuesday said they have asked a Nigerian court to lift a temporary forfeiture of assets and the transfer of operations of the OPL 245 field owned by Shell and Italy's Eni, among others, to the federal government.

(Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala and Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)