The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has said that it has reached an accord with its Partners, to settle all outstanding issues surrounding the development of Oil Mining Lease, OML, 130, with a prospect of raking in $510 million revenue for Nigeria, under the Minister of Petroleum Resources, President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch, .
A Press statement by the NPPC Spokesman, Dr. Kennie Obateru, disclosed that the Partners are China National Offshore Oil Company, CNOOC, and South Atlantic Petroleum, SAPETROL
The NNPC stated that it is part of its drive to meet the target of revving up Oil production to 3 million barrels per day, and unlock gas revenues to $225 million, in the short term.
Speaking at the signing of the Head of Terms, HoT, agreement in Abuja, the Group Managing Director, GMD, of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, said that the deal was part of the Corporation’s Production Sharing Contracts, PSC, Dispute Resolution and Renewal Strategy of 2017, aimed at securing out of court settlement of all disputes around the 1993 PSC, and agreeing on terms for their renewal.
He said: “We are doing this with every other Partner in the PSC dispute; we believe that we can close this engagement and conversation with all of you. The HoT will clearly enable us to proceed and have a full settlement, and this will benefit all of us.”
The Managing Director, MD, of CNOOC, Mr. Xie Vincent Wensheng, revealed that the agreement has opened a new chapter in his company’s relationship with the NNPC, stressing that, it has provided a win-win situation for all parties.
The MD of SAPETROL, Mr. Toyin Adenuga, said that the resolution of the dispute is a very important step towards the further development of OML 130 and other new fields, as the terms are now clearly spelt out.
The execution of the HoT signals the resolution of a tax dispute that arose from the $2.3 billion acquisition of a 45 percent stake in OML 130, by CNNOC, from SAPETRO, in 2006.
The OML 130 consists of the Akpo and Egina Fields, which have been producing since 2009 and 2018, respectively.
It is operated by Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd., which holds 24 percent stake, while Petrobras Oil and Gas BV and SAPETRO hold 16 percent and 15 percent stakes, respectively.
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