Buhari overrules DPR, restores ownership of four oil blocks to NNPC

Olalekan Adetayo The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Friday, approved the restoration of the leases on four Oil Mining Licences to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The oil licences affected are OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137. The Department of Petroleum Resources had on March 30, 2021, revoked the licences belonging to the federation. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘President Buhari restores ownership of OML 123, others to NNPC.’ Shehu said the President had directed the DPR to retract the letter of revocation of the leases. Petrol queues, black marketers surface in Abuja, Niger According to the presidential aide, Buhari also directed the NNPC to utilise contractual provisions to resolve issues in line with the extant provisions of the Production Sharing Contract arrangement between the corporation and Addax. The statement read, “In line with the current administration’s commitment to the rule of law, fairness and enabling a stable business climate for investment, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of the leases on OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137 to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, which is in production sharing contract with Addax Petroleum, a company wholly owned by Government of the People’s Republic of China on the blocks. The leases belonging to the Federation were revoked on March 30, 2021. “This development reaffirms the commitment of President Buhari to the rule of law and sanctity of contracts. “While directing the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR to retract the letter of revocation of the leases, the President also directed NNPC to utilise 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.”