The oil field under Oil Mining Licence (OML) 11 was operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture.

The House of Representatives has asked the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to suspend its planned auction of the oil mining licence (OML) 11 asset.

This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance by Victor Mela (APC-Gombe) at plenary in Abuja on Wednesday.

Moving the motion, Mr Mela said the oil field under oil mining license 11 was 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.

Mr Mela said that a court of appeal judgement of 16 August 2021 indicated that the SPDC joint venture lost its right to the renewal of the operating licence.

He said there were unresolved issues between the government and the host communities of Ogoni, which were fueling resistance and restiveness amongst the people.

He expressed concern over a claim that the government was allegedly involved in a unity arrangement to auction OML 11 asset to Sahara Energy Ltd, for a paltry sum of $250 million against the $1 billion offered by the SPDC.

He said there was a need to clarify and resolve issues associated with the planned auction among other matters.

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.

(NAN)