The Nation Newspaper

Tag: oil block

  • Sahara Group advances activity on oil block OPL 274

    Sahara Group advances activity on oil block OPL 274

    Sahara Group’s Up stream Company said it is making good progress with its activities in oil prospecting lease (OPL) 274, an asset it has a 100 per cent working interest. It is also pressing forward to optimise opportunities in the block where it has achieved first oil.

    The firm last year doubled its certified Proved plus Probable (2P) reserves in the Oki-Oziengbe South field in Edo State, making a new commercial discovery with the Oluegi-1 exploration well.

    Sahara Group is a privately owned power, energy, gas and infrastructure conglomerate with footprints in Africa, Europe, Asia and the United Arab Emirate (UAE).

    The Managing Director of Enageed, Sahara Upstream company operating OPL 274, Segun Ogunwumi said the company has continued to witness steady positive outcomes in its activities in OPL 274 preparatory to moving on to the phase of commercial production from the field.

    “We are doing very well with our timelines and remain focused on the target ahead. We have an amazing collection of staff who are working alongside our regulators and key stakeholders and we remain confident that we will achieve our timelines and ultimately extract maximum value from what has been a historic success so far in OPL 274,” he said.

    Ogunwumi noted that while the focus on OPL 274 has since taken precedence over other assets where it has interests, the company remains  resolute in its commitment to activities in other fields, adding that it would review its position on others following strategic consultations. “We are working closely with the regulatory body and all stakeholders on this,” he stated.

    Its Chief Operating Officer, Cohen Curtis Cohen had at the point of discovery of oil in OPL 274 described the feat as representing a number of firsts for the firm. “We shot our first onshore 3D seismic, drilled and operated our first onshore wells, made our first oil discovery and first appraisal, and tested first oil at rates in excess of 5,600 barrels of oil per day. We drilled the three wells back-to-back in just ten months, from a common location and a minimal environmental footprint, and all three wells found commercial hydrocarbons,” he said.

  • Undeveloped oil block owners get March 2015 deadline

    Undeveloped oil block owners get March 2015 deadline

    OWNERS of marginal fields or oil blocks that are not yet fully operational risk takeover by the Federal Government, it was learnt by The Nation.

    They have until March 2015 to make them operational or forfeit them.

    Some of these affected oil blocks located along the Niger Delta creeks and environs have been lying idle for years since they were awarded as a result of lack of funds to commence operation.

    A document obtained exclusively by The Nation from the Public Affairs Unit of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) showed that operators of the oil blocks have delayed take-off due to their inability to access funds, difficulty in agreeing to operational synergies with International Oil Companies (IOCs), the increasing cost of labour, goods and service, technology limitations and community problems.

    The DPR however noted that “At present, there is no marginal field that is yet to be developed. Apart from the producing fields, all other marginal fields are at various stages of field development aimed at bringing the fields to production. These fields have witnessed one form of field developmental activity or the other since the time of award, so they are still being developed.”

    The developing marginal fields and their owners include: Atala, being managed by the Bayelsa Oil & Gas Ltd; Ogedeh, owned by Bicta Energy System; Ke, by Del Sigma Ltd; Dawes Island owned by Euroafric Energy Ltd; Ororo owned by Guarantee Petroleum & Owena and Gas Ltd.

    Others are Omerelu, being managed by Niger Delta Pet. Resources; Ofa, owned by Independent Energy Ltd; Eremor, by Excel Expl. & Prod. Ltd; Amoji/Matsogo/Igbolo, by Chorus Energy; Assaramatoru, by Prime Energy; Tom Shot Bank, jointly owned by Associated Oil & Gas and Dansaki Pet. Ltd; Tsekelewu, both owned by Sahara Energy Ltd and African Oil & Gas and Qua Ibo, owned by Network E & P.

    Marginal fields still nearing production operation are: Akepo, owned by Sogenal Ltd; Stubb Creek, by Universal Energy Res. Ltd; Oza, by Millennium Oil & Gas and Ekeh, being managed by Movido E & P respectively.

    The DPR is however optimistic that the March 2015 deadline is enough time for those companies yet to bring their marginal oil fields into production to do so.

    Spokesperson for the DPR, Mrs Selema Osibodun said: “The deadline for the companies to bring the fields to production is March 2015. There is still enough time within this period for the companies to bring the fields to production.”

    As to whether the DPR will grant further extension to the deadline, Osibodu said that could only be decided by the Federal Government.

    “Extension of marginal field period is done by the Federal Government of Nigeria and not DPR. Therefore the DPR is not in a position to comment on extension at this time,” she stressed.

    Investigation by The Nation revealed that there are 200 marginal oil fields in the Niger Delta Basin with a maximum reserve base of about five billion barrels of oil.

    There were 26 companies involved in marginal oil fields, many of which partnered international companies to provide technical expertise and finance. They are Associated Oil & Gas Limited; Bayelsa Oil Company Limited; Bicta Energy Management Services Limited; Brittania U-Nig Chorus Energy Dansaki Petroleum; Unlimited Del Sigma Energie Eurafric Energy Limited; Excel Frontier Oil Limited and Goland Petroleum Development Co. Limited.

    Others are Guarantee Petroleum Limited; Independent Energy Limited; Midwestern Oil & Gas; Millenium Oil & Gas Limited; Movido Exploration & Production Limited; Network Exploration & Production Limited; Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited; Pillar Oil Limited; Platform Petroleum Limited; Prime Exploration & Production; Sahara Sogenal Limited; Universal Energy Resources Limited and Waltersmith Petroman.

    Besides, only a few of the 77 oil blocks awarded to oil firms in 2005 have even started production.

    It is estimated that a marginal field in the Niger Delta Basin will cost about $50 to $80 million as development cost for a few years. Foreign technical or financial partners will in most cases contribute 40 per cent of this amount.

    Already, the Federal Government has extended the farm-out date of the non-producing marginal fields by four years with effect from 2011 to enable the companies to address their challenges and bring the fields into production.

     

  • Unveil oil block owners, Falana urges Fed Govt

    Unveil oil block owners, Falana urges Fed Govt

    Rights activist Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday urged the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to publish an up-to-date list of all individuals who have been allocated oil blocks.

    He said after the publication, the Goodluck Jonathan administration should cancel all oil blocks allocated to a few interest groups and vest them in the Federal Government in line with Section 44 of the Constitution.

    “In other words, oil and gas should be nationalised in the interest of the Nigerian people.

    “Instead of empowering either the President or the Minister of Petroleum Resources to dole out oil blocks to serving ministers, party members, personal friends and business partners, the National Assembly should ensure that all blocks are owned by the Federal Government in trust for the Nigerian people.

    “This demand accords with section 16(1) (c ) of the Constitution which states that the State shall ‘manage and operate the major sectors of the economy,’” Falana said in a statement.

    According to the lawyer, the list published last week following a Senate debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill was outdated and grossly misleading.

    Senator Ita Enang alleged that 83 per cent of Nigeria’s oil blocks are in the hands of Northerners. He spoke during the debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    Falana said the list contained only the names of those who were allocated oil blocks under the defunct military junta but not names of the other traders who have been allocated oil blocks by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government since 1999.

    Equally missing from the list, he said, are the names of multinational companies otherwise called “Oil majors” which control the share of the oil and gas industry.

    Falana said: “For instance, I have a suit pending at the Federal High Court against the Ministry of Petroleum Resources over the renewal of the expired 40-year old licences of three oil blocks (which produce 580,000 barrels of crude oil per day) for Mobil Producing last year for the sum of $600 million notwithstanding that a Chinese oil company had offered to pay $5.8 billion for the same oil blocks !

    “Apart from Mobil, there are about 17 other foreign oil companies which are the major key players in the oil industry while Nigerians are forced to operate in the marginal fields.

    “The said foreign companies or Oil Majors own 80 per cent of the oil blocks and as such they are completely in charge of the oil and gas industry.

    “Incidentally, the disclosure in the Senate last week coincided with the death of President Hugo Rafael Chavez of Venezuela who nationalised the oil industry which enabled his government to generate enough revenue to fund a comprehensive welfare programme for the hitherto improverished people of the Latin American country.

    “But the enomous commonwealth of the Nigerian people have been cornered by a few rent collectors and other members of the parasitic ruling class.

    “A few of them who raked billions of dollars from the illegal sale of the oil blocks have openly confessed that they do not know what to do with the huge fund! Because such wealth has been privatised Nigeria cannot, like Venezuela, meet the eight Millenium Development Goals by 2015.

    “In view of the confusion caused by the partial information released by the Senate last week the Ministry of Petroleum Resources should, without any further delay, publish an up-to-date list of all local individuals and foreigners who have been allocated oil blocks by the Federal Government.”

    Niger Delta Coalition demands oil blocs scrap, re-allocation

    Meanwhile, a Niger Delta group, the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS), urged the Federal Government to scrap ownership of all oil blocs.

    It said the government should begin at zero point to re-allocate them in the spirit of fairness and equity.

    “Oil blocs should now be allocated based on federal character principle since the nation is reluctant to give us either total control or make sure the Niger Delta gets what it deserves,” the group said at a press briefing in Lagos.

    Its Secretary-General, Mr Tony Uranta said: “Whilst we talk of derivative principle of 13 per cent to the Niger Delta, we must remember that over 60 per cent of the federal allocation to councils in Nigeria goes to the North.

  • ‘Heritage Oil did not acquire oil block’

    ‘Heritage Oil did not acquire oil block’

    The involvement of Heritage Oil Plc in the acquisition of oil mining lease (OML 30), one of the onshore assets divested by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), followed due process, Chairman, Shoreline Natural Resources, Mr Kola Kari, has said.

    There were alleged reports that the founder/Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Oil Plc, Tony Buckingham, did not follow due process in the acquisition of the OML 30 oil block.

    But Karim dismissed all the reports, saying they were unverified as Heritage Oil didn’t acquire the block. He also said if Buckingham is what the reports said, he couldn’t have been sitting on a company quoted on the London and Toronto Stock Exchanges, which is also a member of the FTSE 250 Index.

    He explained that Heritage Oil only holds equity shares in Shoreline Natural Resources, the preferred bidder for the divested OML 30. He advised that foreign investors be encouraged by writing verified news stories and not the ones that would discourage them, especially now that the government wants increased indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry.

    Conoil was initially announced as the preferred bidder for the asset having offered the highest bid, but it was gathered that the company backed out of the deal because it insisted on being the operator of the field, which was not part of the transaction because Shell only divested 45 per cent, which it held in oil block with Total and Agip. Fifty-five per cent remained with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    In an interactive session with reporters in Lagos, Karim said: “Shoreline Natural Resources Limited, a special purpose private Nigerian company formed between a subsidiary of Heritage Oil and a local Nigerian partner, Shoreline Power Company Limited, which acquired a 45 per bcent participating interest in OML 30, with a 45 per cent interest in other assets under the joint operating agreement for $850 million. The remaining 55 per cent participating interest is held by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of NNPC.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Alison-Madueke hasn’t given discretionary oil block’

    ‘Alison-Madueke hasn’t given discretionary oil block’

    The Association of Good Governance and Probity in Nigeria has absolved the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, of the alleged discretionary award of oil blocks and the missing signature bonuses paid for them.

    The report of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu-led Task Force on Petroleum Revenue that was submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan last week but earlier seen by Reuters, which reported that a total of $183 million realised from signature bonuses paid by oil companies to the federation was missing.

    Reuters’ report accused the Ministers of Petroleum Resources that served between 2008 and 2011 of giving out seven discretionary oil licences and which the $183 million signature bonuses allegedly realised from them got missing, which also led to calls for resignation or sack of Alison-Madueke by some groups.

    The spokesman of Association of Good Governance and Probity in Nigeria, Mr Daniel Agada, however, said the group’s investigation at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), showed no discretionary award of oil blocks has taken place during this administration. It added that the most recent discretionary oil block award took place in 2008, while others are marginal fields.

    The group said the acreage allocation done in 2008 was to Addax and partners, which Addax Petroleum had 40 per cent equity; Express Petroleum 39 per cent; and Petroleum Prospect 21 per cent. The acreage, it noted was originally discretionally awarded in the 1990s but passed through protracted litigation until it was concluded in 2008. It added that the signature bonus paid for the allocation was $10 million.

    They also said it was important to distinguish between the issuing of oil blocks with that of marginal fields.“There were some discretionary award of marginal fields such as Okwok and Ebok which were awarded to Oriental Energy in May 2007 as compensation for losses due to boundary adjustment; Ubima was awarded to All Grace Nigeria Limited in 2010, as encouragement for commitment to small scale gas project; and Otakipko was awarded to Green Energy Limited, also in 2010 for the same reason.

    “It is pertinent to note that this is standard practice and not one that was initiated by the present government. It is clear that there is not enough understanding of the difference between exploration block (OPL) awards and marginal fields awards. The report has resulted in massive confusion. The three (Allgrace, Oriental and Green Energy) are marginal field awardees and they all paid flat signature bonuses of $150,000 per field as per pre- existing marginal fields guidelines,” the group said.

    Marginal fields areacreages considered commercially unviable by the big player such as the international oil companies and are given to small exploration and production indigenous companies.