By Adeleye Kunle
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission ( NUPRC ), came under fire and scrutiny in Senate last Friday over alleged revocation and wrongful re – allocation of the Atala Marginal Oil field ( OML 46) owned by the trio of Bayelsa Oil Company Limited, owed by Bayelsa State Government, Hardy Oil Nigeria Limited and Century Exploration and Production Limited to Halkin Exploration and Production Company Limited ( Halkin E&P) .
Consequently , Senate Committee on Ethics , Privileges and Public Petitions , on grounds of Petitions before it from Hardy Oil Nigeria Limited , directed the Management of NUPRC , to produce the written directive from President Muhammadu Buhari, being the Minister of Petroleum directing it to allocate the field to Halkin E&P.
Trouble over the oil field started on April 6, 2020 when the then regulatory agency, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), revoked the operating licence of the Atala JV Partners on the Marginal Oil Field over alleged inability to bring the Atala Field to production
But the trio of BOCL , Hardy Oil Nigeria Limited and Century Exploration and Production Limited ( CEPL) , kicked against the revocation on the grounds that as original operators of the oil field , explorations and productions have been made and royalties paid into account of the federal government of Nigeria and that as at the time the field was purportedly revoked, the JV-partners have an outstanding 20,700 barrels of crude on the site.
It is recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had, sometime in October 2020, in response to the appeal by the Marginal Field Operators Group (MFOG) , directed the immediate “reinstatement of the ten revoked Marginal Fields licences, on a discretionary basis, to qualified companies with consideration given to the previous operators of the respective fields subject to the demonstration of technical/financial capacity and payment of applicable Good and Valuable Consideration (GVC)
