Addax Licence: NUPRC assures stakeholders of transparency in Upstream Petroleum sector

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) Mr Gbenga Komolafe, has assured stakeholders of the Commission’s resolve to ensure transparency in all its dealings. Komolafe gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, while giving an update on the revoked Addax Petroleum licence. Komolafe had confirmed that Addax Petroleum lost Oil Mining Licences (OMLs) 123, 124, 126 and 137 and were reverted to NNPC due to its inability to meet set obligations in the licence award provision .

NUPRC, formerly known as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), in 2021 revoked four Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) licences operated by Addax Petroleum, citing production decline and non-development of assets for several years. The assets were immediately re-awarded to Kaztec Engineering Limited/Salvic Petroleum Resources Limited (KEL/Salvic) Consortium, consisting of two Nigerian owned independents, with effect from March 23, 2021, with the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari. According to Komolafe, the re-award of the Addax licence will be a test case for the effectiveness of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

He said that prior before now,  oil mining leases were issued under the defunct Petroleum Act. The PSCs consists of Oil Mining Licence (OML) 123, 124, 126 and 137, all belonging to Addax Petroleum Development Nigeria Ltd. (APDNL), and Addax Petroleum Exploration Nigeria Ltd. (APENL). Addax Petroleum was established in 1994, and since August 2009, has been a subsidiary of the Sinopec Group, one of the largest oil and gas producers in China, the biggest oil refiner in Asia and the third largest worldwide. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)