Oil Blocks: TERL Urges Nigerian Content Implementation

The Managing Director of Treasure Energy Resource Limited
(TERL) Dr Eddie Wikina has said in the actualisation of Nigerian content goals,
companies that cannot demonstrate world class operating  standards and knowledge in the management of
critical social and environmental issues should not be allowed to takeover
fields divested by International Oil Companies (IOCs).

Dr Wikina told The Tide in an interview in Port Harcourt
recently that whether operatorship right was being handed to Nigerian Petroleum
Development company (NPDC) or any independent or indigenous oil company respect
should be accorded to the Nigerian content law.

According to him, “We have passed the stage where an
operating company, be it indigenous or international can be imposed on a
community without proper engagement and due consultations”.

He enjoined government to fund the growth and development of
indigenous companies to enable them acquire needed skills and operational
capabilities to become players in the risk-prone upstream sector.

Meanwhile in defence of the operatorship of shell’s divested
blocks granted NPDC, an operating arm of Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), the group managing director of NNPC, Mr Andrew Yakubu  said NPDC deserves it as the performance of
indigenous companies in the nation’s upstream sector has not been very
encouraging.

Yakubu said the combined capacity of the 26 Marginal Field
Operators (MFOs) were less than 10 per cent of the nation’s crude oil
production capacity.

“I have  always said
each time I had the opportunity of doing so that when we look at our
participation in the upstream, indigenous participants have performed very
poorly because we hardly have up to 10 per cent of total production in the
upstream”, he pointed out.

He argued that government’s action in respect of the operatorship
was fair as NPDC had the best capacity and capability among the new partners to
operate the blocks in which the NNPC retains 55 per cent working interest.

The Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production,
(NNPC) Mr Abiye Membere said it was a misconception to  say that government unilaterally handed over
the operatorship of the blocks to NPDC explaining that “If you have an asset
owned by four parties and if three parties out of the four is leaving, the only
persons standing in that asset is NNPC. That is how the operatorship issue came
about, it is not that government unilaterally, handed over to operatorship to
NPDC”.

Three document were signed between the Shell joint venture
partners and Elcrest to seal the transfer of ownership of the 45 percent
interest owned by the shell JV, which also included French oil grant, Total,
and Italy’s Eni/Agip. The first is the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) for OML
40 separated from the rest of the JV. The second agreement is also a JOA
between NPDC and Elcrest while the third is the Innovation Agreement between
the respective parties, according to reports

Vivian-Peace Nwinaene