The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) last weekend firmed up agreement with the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to end all litigations, which had over the years rocked Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 60, 61, 62 and 63 and inhibited growth of the assets.
The corporation, which declared this in a document obtained by New Telegraph, maintained that the step was taken to expeditiously grow Federal Government’s revenue and in turn boost the nation’s reserve base.
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, who confirmed this, also said that the agreement marked a significant milestone, with the promise to bring about an amicable end to all litigations, and arbitrations that have over the years inhibited the growth of those assets.
A release by NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Samson Makoji, said Mallam Kyari explained that the agreement signified the transfer of NNPC’s interest in those assets to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), which will open up the company to contributing to cash calls and further progress to the growth of the partnership.
“The federation divested its interest in the NNPC, NAOC joint ventures and that means we have transferred those interest to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) in order to grow NPDC to become a medium size upstream company that the federation and the NNPC would be proud of,” Kyari informed.
He added that the novation agreement offered NNPC partners the comfort that the NPDC would deliver on its responsibilities, stressing that the agreement would open a new chapter of business for NPDC and the entire partnership, and also create a new frontier for revenue for the companies as well as the nation at large.
Mallam Kyari said the agreement would create more activities in the upstream, in addition to the concomitant employment opportunities therefrom for the people, saying the partnership held a lot of promise for all.
He said: “This is the beginning of greater things to come in the oil and gas industry. We are ready to make sure that NPDC delivers on her mandate of exploration as this is a milestone in our quest to grow reserves.”
Similarly, the NNPC and the Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited (NAE) signed the Abo OML 125 Head of Terms Agreement, which marks a significant advancement towards resolving issues which have lingered in most deep offshore production sharing contracts.
With the development, the parties can now look forward to the renewal of OML 125 and further investment in exploring and developing Abo field resources.
In his response, the Managing Director of NAOC, Lorenzo Fiorillo, said they were glad to partner with NNPC in its drive to increase crude oil production in Nigeria.
“ENI, through its Affiliate, NAOC, is on record as the first company to produce from the deep offshore in Nigeria,” he added.
