During an investigative hearing on Thursday, October 6, the chairman of, senate committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure told the Nigerian upstream petroleum regulatory commission (NUPRC) to restore the Atala marginal oilfield (OML 46) to its former owners.
According to him, Buhari had asked the commission to reallocate the oilfield to its original owners in 2020, but the commission has refused to comply.
Both the NUPRC and the current owner, Halkin Oil, were absent from the hearing.
Senator Akinyelure said: “We have invited them severally and again; they have not been able to come before Nigerians and prove that the allocation of Atala oilfield to Halkin Oil is justified before the law and before humans.
Resolution
Senator Akinyelure declared that the investigative committee has decided that NUPRC must comply with Buhari’s order or prove that he has rescinded such order, to justify their refusal to return the oilfield to the original owners.
He said: “The position of this particular committee in the last sitting was that we want the NUPRC to provide evidence before this committee today, to inform our decision on whether to support the position of NUPRC or not.
“It has not been heard anywhere all over the world that, when the President gives a presidential order, a civil servant would go ahead and reverse it without written permission from the President.
“So, we are not convinced by the report of the NUPRC and we make bold to say the NUPRC has been misinformed to allocate Atala oilfield to a private limited liability company when Mr. President had given a presidential Order that they should give consideration to former owners of 10 Oil fields,” he said.
“This committee, therefore, resolved as follows: that the revocation and allocation of Atala oilfield are hereby declared void; that Atala oilfield should be returned to its original owners, in line with the Presidential Order; that the NUPRC should carry out the Presidential Order immediately.
Backstory
In 2003, the Bayelsa state government acquired the marginal field through Bayelsa Oil Company Limited (BOCL). However, in April 2020, the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) revoked the license.
In 2020, the original owners of the oilfield, BOCL, Hardy Oil Nigeria Limited, and Century Exploration and Production Limited (CEPL), protested against the revocation carried out by the defunct DPR. After this, Buhari directed the immediate reinstatement of the revoked licenses on a discretionary basis to qualified companies.
However, in February 2021, Auwalu Sarki, purportedly on behalf of the minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva, awarded the oil field to Halkin Exploration and Production Limited.
During a recent visit to Buhari on the Atala oilfield, the governor of Bayelsa state, Douye Diri said the oilfield was reallocated to Halkin Oil, a private company, based on wrong information supplied to the relevant authorities.
