Reps stop auction of $1bn oil assets

The House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to suspend the planned auction of the Oil Mining Leases (OML) 11 assets.

This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Victor Mela at the plenary in Abuja.

In his presentation, Mela said the oil field under OML 11 was formerly operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture.

He said the field had been idle since the company was forced out of Ogoniland in 1993.

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The lawmaker noted that the Court of Appeal in its August 16, 2021, judgment declared that the SPDC joint venture had lost its right to renewal of the operating license.

He stressed that there were unresolved issues between the government and the host communities of Ogoni.

Mela expressed concern at the claim that the government was involved in an arrangement to auction OML 11 assets to Sahara Energy Limited for $250 million as against the $1 billion offered by the SPDC.

The House, therefore, mandated its Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) to investigate the planned auction among other matters, and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

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