The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is being investigated by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions for allegedly re-allocating the Atala Marginal Oil Field (OML 46) in Bayelsa to another firm.
The NUPRC was chastised in the Senate for allegedly rescinding and illegally re-allocating an oil field owned by the Bayelsa government to Halkin Exploration and Production Company Limited (Halkin E&P).
Sen. Ayo Akinyelure, chairman of the committee, announced this over the weekend in Abuja.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the problem with the oil field began on April 6, 2020, when the then-regulatory agency, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), now known as the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), revoked the operating licence of the Atala JV Partners on the Marginal Oil Field.
This was in response to the alleged inability to bring the Atala Field into production.
But the trio of BOCL, Hardy Oil Nigeria Limited, and Century Exploration and Production Limited (CEPL) fought back.
This was due to the fact that, as the original operators of the oil field, explorations and productions had been made, and royalties had been paid into the account of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and that, at the time the field was allegedly revoked, the JV-partners had an outstanding 20, 700 barrels of crude on the site.
Akinyelure specifically stated, "NUPRC, which is now the new regulatory agency that you represent here, is not expected to take sides on the disputed oil field."
"Because DPR was inherited by NUPRC, the new agency must provide this committee with a written directive from President Buhari, based on which the Atala Oil Field was awarded to Halkin E and P rather than previous operators, as clearly stated in the presidential directive quashing the revocation," he added.
"Perhaps, in order to avoid the fact and avoid the oil field award, Halkin stopped appearing before this committee after previous appearances by resorting to litigation in a court of law. What this Committee wants from NUPRC, as the heir to DPR, is a written presidential directive on the award of the oil field to Halkin E&P and nothing else," he concluded.
The various parties are expected to appear before the Senate panel again this week.