Summit Oil owned by the M.K.O. Abiola family is one of the five licences revoked by the Department of petroleum Resources

THE Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has revoked five Oil Mining Licences, OML, and one Oil Prospecting Licence, OPL, belonging to five companies in a bid to recover debts running into billions of naira.

The revocation was based on a presidential directive to “recover legacy debts” owed by the companies operating the licences.

A statement issued by DPR on Thursday listed five companies that are affected. They are Pan Ocean Oil Corporation (OML 98); Allied Energy Resources Nigeria (OML 120 and 121); Express Petroleum and Gas Company (OML 108); Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria (OML 110) and Summit Oil International (OPL 206).

Realnews reports that Summit Oil is owned by the family of late Chief M.K.O. Abiola.

Pan Ocean hopes to commence the production of oil and gas from OML-147 at Owa Aladima, according to News Agency of Nigeria. It is one of the northern most development in the Niger Delta, and also the first to be on production among the 2007 bid rounds.

The firm’s three projects which will be ready for unveiling at the technical start up taking place June 10, 2019, is expected to contribute significantly to Nigerian industrialisation and economic growth, on the highway one part and empowerment of the host and impacted communities.

Ibe Kachikwu, former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, had last February announced plans to recover the oil licenses of the companies indebted to it. He expressed worry that some of the companies failed to make statutory remittances in spite of being in Joint Venture, JV, operations with the federal government, a development he said was denying it revenue running into billions of dollars.

– June 6, 2019 @ 16:09 GMT |