Nigeria is not losing any earnings from the sale of OPL 245 to the Shell/ENI consortium by the NNPC/Federal Government because production is yet to commence from the oil block as the first production yield will be in 2022.
Debunking the news of the purported loss of six billion dollars by Nigeria from resale of the oil block at a press conference in Abuja yesterday by the AntiCoruption Situation Room, an international oil industry analyst Dr Alexander Richards pointed out that there is also provision for a back-in right in the sales agreement that favours the Federal government and the NNPC which enables them to earn back 50percent on oil sharing.
The analyst who was in attendance at the press conference cautioned against deliberately disparaging the transactions and contractual agreements considering the investment of over one billion dollars in the OPL 245 by the Shell/OPL consortium and the implications of pushing for cancellation including adverse impact on foreign direct investment and unavoidable international litigtions.
Dr Richards also emphasized the need to give the agreement between NNPC/FG and Shell /ENI a chance to succeed and flourish and work in the best interest of the country to end the chequered history of costly disputes and huge losses of potential earnings as a result.
The expert analysis of the economic offshoots of the sales agreement carried out by Resources for Development Consulting called for focus on strategic imperatives and goal oriented efforts towards development of our oil and gas sectors adding that past problems with OPL 245 resulted from the selfish interest of officials entrusted with such a valuable asset which had been effectively eliminated from ever happening again in the new agreement.
