Sufuyan Ojeifo
17 July 2008
Abuja — Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream Sector) has kicked against the agreement entered into by Shell and Agip over leasing of some oil fields.
The Senate position came yesterday at a meeting with Shell, Oando, Agip and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), at which it investigated operation of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 125 and 134, which are subject of disputation by Shell, Agip and Oando.
The attendance by the oil companies at the meeting followed invitations extended to them last week by the Senate Committee headed by Senator Lee Maeba, sequel to a petition by Oando complaining that Agip was preventing it from operating an OML which it acquired from Shell.
Maeba said DPR is not aware of the agreement by Shell to lease the OML to Oando. He said DPR would have been in the position, as a custodian of the Petroleum Act, which vests operational authority in oil companies, to monitor and guide them on the deal.
Director of DPR, Aliyu Sabo-Benu, said the operating agreement between Agip and Shell in respect of the oil blocks was illegal.
According to him, the DPR is legally mandated to monitor and regulate all activities in the oil industry, and therefore, should be privy to any agreement entered into by any oil company.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
