The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the Exploration and Production arm of the NNPC and First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN) have signed a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) to develop, explore and produce crude oil from Oil Mining Lease (OML) 26 located in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
In a press statement made available to newsmen, the Group General Manager NNPC Group Public Affairs, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma says the block was originally owned by NNPC, SHELL, TOTAL and NAOC and operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and the International Oil Companies (IOC’s) SPDC, TOTAL NAOC are divesting their 45 per cent interest.
Dr. Levi Ajuonuma said that FHN is the winner of 45 per cent interest in the block from the IOC’s and NPDC now has now been assigned 55 per cent in the block (NNPC’s interest). The block will be jointly operated by the two companies (NPDC and FHN).
The chairman of NPDC and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Engineer Austen Oniwon as well as the Managing Director of the NPDC, Engineer Abiye Membere endorsed the deal on behalf of the NPDC, while the chairman of FHN Mr. Egbert Imomoh and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) FHN, Mr. Labi Ogunbiyi appended their signatures on the deal on behalf of FHN.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Engineer Oniwon said SHELL, TOTAL, NAOC and NNPC have worked together to ensure the divestment process comes to the desired solution without any hitch. According to him, NPDC has the necessary resources (capital and human) and working closely with FHN is poised to give quality services to the venture in the interest of both partners.
He said that with the assignment of NNPC’s 55 per cent interest in the block to NPDC, the company is on track to achieve its target of production of 250, 000 barrels per day by 2015. The company’s internal system has been significantly enhanced providing the company with a hitherto unparalleled level of autonomy and a new board of directors had been inaugurated to support the company’s growth ambitions. This will undoubtedly enable a very quick turn-around of the company. "We (NNPC) will not interfere with the business of NPDC, we will always support the company to achieve its set target of becoming an international E and P company,’’ the chairman noted.
Commenting, the Managing Director of Shell, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu expressed confidence that FHN and NPDC would work together as a team to develop the block successfully. The divestment of the IOC’s interests in the block brings to a closure a thorny issue that has been with us for sometime.
Also speaking, Mr. Imomoh said the vision of the MOU entered into with NPDC a few years ago is being realized with this partnership on OML 26 and FHN would seek for more opportunities jointly with NPDC. He said FHN would bring professionalism to bear on the venture since the deal holds great potentials for the company and community development as well as safety would take centre stage in the exploration, development and production of the block.
``We will support the growth and development of NPDC within the shortest possible time, now that we have tied the knot ’’, Mr. Imomoh stated.NPDC MD, Engineer sais he was pleased that the deal has been consummated and expressed his commitment to work in partnership with FHN to achieve the target of 50, 000 b/d from OML 26 ahead of the 2015 target date.
FHN CEO , Mr. Labi Ogunbiyi said “Every journey starts with a first step and ours began two years ago when we formed FHN with a vision to expand local upstream ownership and significantly add to Nigeria’s production base. What better way to support the government’s indigenization programme than to go into partnership with NPDC, the National Oil Company, as we have now done.”
SHELL, TOTAL and NAOC have previously divested their 45 per cent interest in OML 4, OML 38, and OML 41 to seplat and are further divesting their interest in OML 42 Neconde Energy Limited