President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that restored Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 123, 124, 126 And 137 to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (the concessionaire), was necessary to save the country from international embarrassment, Checkout Magazine learnt.
The NNPC is in a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with its contractor, Addax Petroleum Exploration Nigeria Limited (a Chinese company)
Checkout Magazine gathered that the decision of the Director/Chief Executive Officer, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Sarki Auwalu to revoke the four OMLs belonging to Addax Petroleum due to the poor development of the assets by the petroleum company for many years elicited trouble.
He specifically noted that over 50 per cent of the assets had remained underdeveloped, a development he said robbed the Nigerian government the needed revenue to run a country in dire straits.
Auwalu, however, explained that the revocation was not an arbitrary action but drew its strength from Nigeria’s Petroleum Act.
It is alleged that the NNPC’s decision contradicts the dictates of the Petroleum Act which notes that the revocation of an oil mining lease is the exclusive preserve of the Minister of Petroleum Resources as enshrined in Paragraph 25 (1) of the First schedule of the Act.
Based on the Act’s provisions, the Minister of Petroleum Resources through the regulator (DPR) is to inform the Licensee of the infractions and give the Licensee time to respond or rectify the situation prior to such revocation.
The above provisions state that revocation of a lease is against the Lessee and not on the Contractor. Clearly, DPR clearly by processing the revocation against Addax (PSC Contractor).
It was gathered that President Buhari’s intervention saved the nation from another embarrassment after the 2017 KNOCs case where the Supreme Court ruled that the decision of the Federal Government under President Yar’adua to void the allocation of Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPLs) 321 and 323 to the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and re-award the oil blocks to ONGC/Owel Petroleum Consortium as illegal, procedurally unfair, unreasonable, and against the legitimate expectation of KNOC.
