Article summary
- The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has signed OML 130 agreements with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation and others.
- The suite included a Production Sharing Contract, Heads of Agreement Amendment, Settlement Repayment Agreement, Concession Contracts for 1 PPL and 3 PMLs, and Lease & License Instruments.
- OML 130 is a deepwater block located 130 kilometers offshore Niger Delta at water depths of over 1000 meters.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has revealed the signing of a series of agreements concerning Oil Mining License (OML) 130.
The announcement was made by the company on Thursday, May 25, through its official Twitter account. The signing of these agreements took place earlier today in Abuja.
OML 130 is a significant oil mining license in Nigeria, and the signing of these agreements marks a crucial development in the country’s petroleum sector. The NNPC’s involvement in OML 130 highlights its commitment to the exploration and production of oil resources, further solidifying its position as a key player in the Nigerian energy industry.
According to the NNPCL, the agreement on OML 130 was signed with five partners including the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). The NNPCL statement read:
- “Today marked a significant milestone as we executed the OML 130 Suite of Agreements with our valued partners: CNOOC, SAPETRO, TUPNI, PRIME 130, and NUPRC.
- “The suite included a Production Sharing Contract, Heads of Agreement Amendment, Settlement Repayment Agreement, Concession Contracts for 1 PPL and 3 PMLs, and Lease & License Instruments.”
The agreements include:
- A Production Sharing Contract (PSC) between NNPCL and its Contractors; China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) & South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) with Total Upstream Nigeria (TUPNI) as the operator.
- A Heads of Agreement (HoA) Amendment between NNPCL, TUPNI, SAPETRO, PRIME 130, & CNOOC
- A Settlement Repayment Agreement (SRA) Addendum between NNPCL and its Contractors (CNOOC & SAPETRO)
- Concession Contracts for one Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) and three (3) Petroleum Mining Leases (PML)
- Lease & License Instruments between NNPC, TUPNI, SAPETRO, PRIME 130, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
OML 130 is a deepwater block located 130 kilometers offshore Niger Delta at water depths of over 1000 meters. The block contains the producing Akpo and Egina fields and the Preowei discovery.
OML 130 was formerly known as oil prospecting license (OPL) 246, the asset was awarded in 1998 to SAPETRO and was later converted to OML 130 in February 2005 after the commercial discovery of oil in Akpo and Egina in 2000 and 2003 respectively
In August 2020, Nairametrics reported that the NNPC signed a Head of terms agreement with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and indigenous oil production firm -South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO). The agreement was a part of the efforts that were taken toward resolving all the disputes arising from the OML 130 Production Sharing Contract.
What you should know
The agreements will help in firming up the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Preowei field project which was suspended by Total in 2020 as a result of market forces and the Covid-19 pandemic.