Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it has reached an accord with its partners, to settle all outstanding issues surrounding the development of Oil Mining Lease, (OML) 130 with a prospect of raking in $510 million revenue.

A press statement by NPPC spokesman, Mr Kennie Obateru, said the partners are China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETROL).

NNPC said it was part of its drive to meet the target of revving up oil production to 3m barrels per day and unlock gas revenues to $225m in the short term.

Speaking at the signing of Head of Terms (HoT) agreement in Abuja, Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, said the deal was part of the Corporation’s PSC Dispute Resolution and Renewal Strategy of 2017 aimed at securing out of court settlement of all disputes around the 1993 Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) and agreeing on terms for their renewal.

“We are doing this with every other partner in the PSC dispute, we believe that we can close this engagement and conversation with all of you. The HoT will clearly enable us to proceed and have a full settlement, and this will benefit all of us.”

Managing Director of CNOOC, Mr Xie Wensheng, said the agreement has opened a new chapter in his company’s relationship with NNPC, stressing that it has provided a win-win situation for all parties.

MD of SAPETROL, Mr Toyin Adenuga, said the resolution of the dispute was a very important step towards further development of OML 130 and other new fields as the terms are now clearly spelt out.

The execution of the HoT signals the resolution of a tax dispute that arose from $2.3bn acquisition of a 45% stake in OML 130 by CNNOC from SAPETRO in 2006. The OML 130 consists of the Akpo and Egina Fields which have been producing since 2009 and 2018 respectively.

It is operated by Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd which holds 24% stake, while Petrobras Oil and Gas BV and SAPETRO hold 16% and 15% stakes respectively.

Daily Trust