The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed a preliminary agreement to end the dispute with two energy firms, China’s CNOOC Ltd. and Lagos-based South Atlantic Petroleum Co. The NNPC did not however give details of the deal.
The deal Orient Energy Review learnt was signed to settle all disputes regarding the OML 130 Production Sharing Contract.
The national oil corporation said by the signing deal, it is intervening in all disputes relating oil exports involving oil majors on revenue from several offshore oil fields.
In a twitter last weekend, NNPC confirmed the signing of a deal with the firms to “settle disagreements over the production-sharing contract signed on Oil Mining Lease 130.
Both the NNPC and the Department of Petroleum Resources had previously raised cases of “under-declarations” of crude exports against the companies between 2011 and 2014. The NNPC said the deal is “a major milestone towards the resolution of all disputes,” with energy companies operating in Nigeria.
The offshore license holds the Akpo field that started production in March 2009 and the Egina field that started production in December 2018. CNOOC holds 45% interest of OML 130 and SAPETRO holds 15% stake in the block.
Other partners are French Major, Total and Brazil’s Petrobas.
Nigeria also has differences with oil majors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, Eni SpA and Chevron on the quantity of crude exported from their fields.
The Nigerian officials claimed five years ago that the companies either failed to declare or under-declared more than 57 million barrels of oil exports.
But the oil majors, who pump about 80 per cent of Nigeria’s oil output, always denied the allegation. The disputes are currently before a Federal High Court in Lagos, where NNPC is seeking at least $12.7 billion in payments.
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
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