House, DPR bicker over oil field revocation, awards

THE House of R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s Committee on Public Petitions and the Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR) are on collision course over Dawes Island marginal field lost by Eurafric for allegedly holding the national asset without production and making it unviable for seventeen years.

The Minister of Petroleum Resource through the Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR), a regulator empowered by law awarded the field to Petralon 54 Limited and its partners during the last bid round, a decision that was countered by Eurafric through a petition to the House Committee on Petition.

The DPR had revoked the licences of 11 marginal field operators for non- performance, including Dawes island marginal field located in OPL 2006, Okrika, Rivers State. DPR justified the revocation of the field licence on the ground that “Dawes Island marginal field was operated by Euroafric energy Limited for over 16 years without significant progress to attain full production and failure to submit a field development plan for the asset.

According to the DPR Director, Mr. Sarki Auwalu, the decision was taken in the nation’s best interest .

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Petitions was, however, quoted to have reversed the DPR’S award of Dawes Island marginal field to Petralon 54 Limited and its partners, arguing that the action did not comply with the principles of equity and fair principles even when available information suggests that Eurafric had no financial or material investment in the development of the assets, leading to non- performance.

According to the committee, the three companies should benefit from any re- award of the asset, which it said should be restored to pre- revocation status in the interest of equity and national interest.

It alleged that there was an ulterior motive in re- awarding the licence to Petralon 54 alone, when ab initio, Eurafric and Tako, Petralon 54 were supposed to be punished for the same offence.

The immediate past Chairman, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Joe Nwakwe, said that there is a clear distinction between regulation and governance, calling for caution in a bit not to send a wrong signal to investors because of interference with regulation.