President Buhari Restores Ownership Of OML 123, Others To NNPC

By Daniel Dafe, Abraka

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of the leases on OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137 to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), disclosed this in a statement on Friday, saying that this was “in line with the current administration’s commitment to the rule of law, fairness and enabling a stable business climate for investment.”

Adding that this arrangement involves “a production sharing contract with Addax Petroleum, a company wholly owned by Government of the People’s Republic of China on the blocks,” saying that “the leases belonging to the Federation were revoked on March 30, 2021.”

According to the statement, “this development reaffirms the commitment of President Buhari to the rule of law and sanctity of contracts.”

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While directing the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR to retract the letter of revocation of the leases, the President also directed NNPC to utilize contractual provisions to resolve issues in line with the extant provisions of the Production Sharing Contract arrangement between NNPC and Addax.

“The restoration of the blocks to NNPC will boost the organisation’s portfolio, thereby making the Corporation to, in the long run, boost its crude oil production and in turn increase the revenue it generates to the Federation Account,” She hu said.