House of Representatives on Monday aligned itself with Supreme Court judgement that all the Oil Prospecting Licences (OPLs) and Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) not paid for should be revoked and returned to chest.
The Lower Chamber also held that all the companies which fail to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) on the execution of downstream projects signed with Federal Government on the OPLs and OMLs and fail to pay the signature bonuses stand the risk of losing the assets forthwith.
Gideon Gwani, chairman, Adhoc Committee on OPLs and OMLs at the verification of the status of downstream projects disclosed this while addressing representatives of some oil companies, at the National Assembly complex, Abuja.
He alleged that “preliminary analysis carried out on some if not most of the submissions and the testimonies made during the various verification exercises are misleading and have revealed a lot of discrepancies, distortions and incomplete records.
“It is unfortunate that after signing agreements for the execution of projects which are aimed at bringing development to the country, such projects are abandoned in contravention to the agreement.
“Hence it was resolved that the affected companies should be given the opportunity to update their records and resubmit to the Committee in order to compare notes with our documents. Let me at this juncture z place on record that we are not aware of the concern expressed by some oil companies that there may be no need for them to come for this exercise,” he said.
The committee was also mandated by the House to investigate and ascertain the payments of signature bonuses by oil companies.
“The Supreme Court has ruled that OPLs and OMLs can be revoked on assets which signature bonuses have not been paid,” Gwani informed the stakeholders at the opening of the investigative hearing.
While responding to inquiries by the Committee, Edu Inyang, DPR representative at the hearing, disclosed that the transfer of the blocs from OMEL to EMO was done by the Ministerial Committee without the knowledge of DPR.
According to him, DPR was merely informed of the transfer which had the signature of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Worried by the Chairman’s statement, Hassan Ozigi and Babatunde Osho, who represented Korean National Oil Corporation which acquired OPL 231 and 232, argued that the judgement didn’t mean outright revocation of the asset.
Namson Jacob, who represented EMO Exploration/Total Exploration which owned OPL 279 and 285, admitted that the MoU stipulated the details of the projects to be executed.
Jacob who read the MoU which include 2,000MW of Independent Power Project (IPP), construction of 180,000 barrels refinery and others attached to the downstream project, however argued that the company could not commence the implementation of the MoU since it has not commenced exploration of oil.
According to him, as contained in the agreements, the exploration of the second phase elapsed in February this year but EMO has asked for extension, having lost about 20 months of the period due to circumstances beyond its control.
While reacting, members of the committee however ruled that Department of Petroleum Resources should not grant extension for the renewal of the asset which expired in February, 2017.
The lawmakers who queried non-involvement in the license/asset transfer, expressed disgust over the level of impunity being perpetuated in the transactions.
In a swift reaction to the presentation, Diri Douye (PDP-Bayelsa), who moved a motion, urged that DPR should not grant the extension sought by EMO based on the submission made by the company and members observations.
While ruling, Gwani noted that “since the blocs have expired, the matter is closed.
He maintained that the interpretation of the “Supreme Court judgement is totally out of the purview of the Committee, hence resolved that no further discussion should be entertained.”
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