Appeal Court affirms Halkin E&P’s ownership of Atala marginal field

The Federal Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt has upheld a 2025 ruling by the Federal High Court in Yenagoa, cementing Halkin Exploration and Production Limited’s standing as the legal owner and operator of the Atala Marginal Oil Field, designated OML 46, in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region.

A three-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Sirajo, who delivered the lead judgment, dismissed an appeal brought by Bayelsa Oil Company Limited, describing it as unmeritorious. Justices I.M. Sanni and Elejo Eneche sat alongside Justice Sirajo on the panel.

The court awarded costs of N1 million against the appellant and in favour of the four defendants named in the suit.

The ruling brings to a close, at least for now, a protracted legal dispute over control of the marginal field. Bayelsa Oil Company had gone to court to contest the re-awarding of OML 46 to Halkin E&P, but Justice Ayo Emmanuel of the Federal High Court in Yenagoa dismissed the suit last year.

Bayelsa Oil Company then appealed, seeking to overturn that judgment.

In its decision, the appellate panel found that the case was statute-barred and that Bayelsa Oil Company lacked the legal standing to challenge Halkin E&P’s ownership and operational rights over the field. The finding effectively closes off the avenue Bayelsa Oil Company had pursued to reclaim the asset through the courts.

The case is being closely watched in Nigeria’s upstream oil sector, where disputes over marginal field licenses have periodically drawn scrutiny of the bidding and reallocation processes overseen by regulators.

Reacting to the judgment, Chikaosolu Ojukwu, a senior advocate of Nigeria representing the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, said the ruling, coming a year after the high court’s original decision, “remains a victory for the upstream oil and gas sector.”

Ojukwu said the outcome reaffirmed what he described as the seriousness and integrity of the bidding and re-awarding process that led to Halkin E&P’s acquisition of OML 46, which was overseen by the NUPRC.

The Atala field has been a focal point of competing claims in the marginal field space, an area of Nigeria’s oil industry that the government has sought to open up to smaller, often indigenous, operators through licensing rounds and reallocation exercises.

Marginal fields, smaller deposits typically bypassed by major international oil companies, have become an increasingly important segment of Nigeria’s production base as large multinational operators divest onshore assets.

Neither Halkin E&P nor Bayelsa Oil Company issued immediate public statements following the ruling. It remains unclear whether Bayelsa Oil Company intends to pursue a further appeal to the Supreme Court.

The NUPRC has overseen a series of marginal field licensing rounds in recent years as part of a broader push to boost domestic participation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.