The Federal Government applauded the transfer of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11 from the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said this at the Exit Agreement Sign-Off ceremony in Abuja to signal the formal ceding of OML 11 to NPDC by SPDC.
Sylva who said the move would yield more revenue to the federation account, expressed satisfaction with the process leading to the resolution.
He said that all the issues that hindered the asset from operation in the past 20 years had been settled for the benefit of all Nigerians.
NNPC GMD, Malam Mele Kyari and Mr Gbenga Komolafe, CEO, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), vouched for the integrity of the negotiation process and commended the roles of NPDC and SPDC in driving the process to conclusion.
In his remarks, the Director, Gas and Commercial, SPDC, Mr Hans Nijkamp, stated that with the signing of the document of exit, NPDC had become the new operator of the asset.
Nijkamp said that the company was ready to commence the handover process.
On his part, the Managing Director of the NPDC, Mr Ali Zarah, described the event as a great development that would boost the nation’s reserves and production.
He stated that with the peaceful resolution of issues surrounding the asset, both parties would commence the process of withdrawing all the court cases.
He added that both parties were ready to continue in partnership to deliver more projects.
It would be recalled that OML 11 was previously a Federal Government asset under NNPC/SPDC Joint Venture (JV) which had NNPC, SPDC, TEPNG and NAOC as partners with Shell as the operator.
However, with the Exit Agreement Sign-Off, the asset has been fully transferred to NPDC, the flagship exploration and production company of the NNPC Ltd.
