Who owns oil blocks in nigeria

OPL , which was awarded to Soglas Nigeria Limited, a company controlled by the family of the late Jerome Udoji, a senior civil servant, had its first oil discovery only in , halfway into the year lease that all awardees were given. Nevertheless, some oil finds showed the inadequacy of the USD 1. This is also one of the most-cited examples of how such discretionary licensing is prone to abuse.

Famfa Oil is owned by Folorunso Alakija, a popular fashion designer who was also close to the fashion-loving wife of General Babangida. Even in this most blatant instance of abuse of power, it would have been unheard of for the minister of petroleum not to award the oil block to Alakija, given the overwhelming power of the office of the president. But in the absence of any explicit prohibition of such sale by law or policy, licensees are within their legal rights to bring in foreign technical partners.

This loophole particularly assisted smaller foreign oil companies that lacked the financial muscle to compete against the majors to gain entry into the Nigerian oil-exploration industry. The series provides a platform for experts from Africa to express their views about issues pertinent to the democratic and sustainable development agenda in the region.

It did not remove the power of the minister of petroleum to award licenses and leases discretionarily. In the same year, draft guidelines were prepared by the department for petroleum resources, which is the government agency responsible for the exploration of petroleum products.

According to the guidelines, only technically qualified Nigerian citizens who own locally incorporated companies may apply; current holders of oil prospecting or mining leases, except indigenous oil companies, are excluded from expanding into marginal fields; and indigenous companies must relinquish existing oil prospecting and mining licences to be eligible.

While the development of the guidelines was an improvement on the earlier indigenisation policy, where implementation was left to the determination of the minister of petroleum, the guidelines have yet to be approved, twenty-two years on. This effectively means that the government is not bound to follow them when approving marginal oil field operators. The practice of discretionary awards of major oil licenses also did not end with the Babangida administration.

Another prominent example is the award of OPL in to Malabu Oil, a company controlled by Dan Etete, the minister of petroleum at the time, in a clear conflict of interest. Although the two companies initially claimed they did not know the money would end up with Etete and his cronies, evidence has shown otherwise.

Shell, Eni, Etete and several others are now being prosecuted for their roles in the scandal, highlighting the role of international oil companies in the corruption. This practice has continued into the Fourth Republic. With every administration since Nigeria transitioned into democracy in , the list of oil awardees still consists of the well-connected who have taken advantage of the Petroleum Act to take control of these resources. As before, there have been awardees who struck it big and those who did not until their licenses expired.

Due to the latitude of powers given to the minister of petroleum under the Petroleum Act, particularly with regard to the awarding of oil prospecting and mining leases, the occupant of the office has always been seen as one of the most powerful cabinet members. On two occasions, the president has also doubled as the minister of petroleum Olusegun Obasanjo, —, and Muhammadu Buhari, since Although they appoint special advisers or ministers of state in the portfolio, they retain the overall legal power to award or cancel a lease with the stroke of a pen.

Appointments into the crucial positions that have oversight of the oil industry are hotly contested by the political elites, creating opportunities for entrenched crony capitalism and patronage. These political elites continue to use the rhetoric of indigenisation to justify the opaque processes of leasing.

While this seems like a noble objective, given that the oil-rich Niger Delta has for decades experienced civil unrest and violence related to longstanding political and environmental issues, the opaque nature of the process makes it prone to abuse. When the awarding of the oil blocks eventually happens, cronies and fronts will benefit at the expense of the country and region. By , there was a general admission across the political class, oil companies, civil society and the public that the structure of the petroleum industry did not allow for transparency nor did it serve to attract the best investments into the sector.

Little is known about the oil well owners in Nigeria and sometimes what is thought of as facts and truth are actually outright misinformation.

There are certain conditions to be met before being awarded an oil well. Some persons just work with these oil wells to manage them but do not own them in any way. In this article, we would be revealing the full list of oil block and oil well owners in Nigeria. There are 3 types of oil wells which are:. If you need a personal assistance on this topic, kindly contact us. Related Articles. Top 11 petroleum products and their uses October 16, Top 10 oil producing states in Nigeria April 5, Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

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