The Federal Government Wednessday explained why it revoked four oil Mining Lease (OML) belonging to Addax Petroleum Nigeria Limited.
According to the government the licenses were revoked due to the non-development of the assets by the oil firm, hence their inability to comply with the work programme targets.
Sarki Auwalu, Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),stated this while speaking on some topical issues in the oil and gas industry in Lagos.
He listed the affected assets to include OML 123, 124, 126 and 137, the DPR boss said that it was discovered that over 50 percent of the assets had remained underdeveloped, and this has resulted in loss of revenue to the federal government.
Addax , he said, refused to develop the assets and the company was therefore not operating the assets.
The DPR boss pointed out that going by the country’s Petroleum Act, “The first reason for a revocation is when you discover that the asset is not being developed according to the business guidelines because it is economic sabotage.”
The DPR boss noted that the revocation and re-awarding of the OML had already been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, who also doubles as Nigeria’s Minister for Petroleum Resources.