President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of the leases on OMLs 123, 124, 126, and 137 to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which is in a production sharing contract with Addax Petroleum.
Addax Petroleum is completely owned by the Chinese Government.
The leases belonging to the federation were revoked on March 30, 2021.
Buhari’s aide, Garba Shehu, confirmed the development on Friday, April 23, 2021, in a statement in Abuja.
Shehu explained that the restoration of the OMLs was in line with the current administration’s promise to the rule of law, fairness, and enabling a steady business climate for investment.
According to him, this development reaffirms the commitment of the Buhari administration to the rule of law and sanctity of contracts.
He quoted Buhari as directing the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, to retract the letter of revocation of the leases.
Buhari also directed the NNPC to utilize contractual provisions to resolve issues in line with the extant provisions of the Production Sharing Contract arrangement between NNPC and Addax.
Shehu said,” The restoration of the blocks to NNPC will boost the organization’s portfolio, thereby making the corporation to, in the long run, boost its crude oil production and in turn increase the revenue it generates to the Federation Account.”
