The Federal Government has disclosed that it has resolved all lingering issues  around OPL 245.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, made the disclosure on Tuesday  at the ongoing NOG Energy Week holding in Abuja with the theme “Showcasing opportunities, driving investment and meeting energy demand.”

A key oil block, OPL 245 has been subject to various litigations across different jurisdictions.

It is estimated that the block holds  over 9 billion barrels of crude oil reserves,  representing about  a quarter of the nation’s total proven oil reserves of 37 billion barrels.

The main issue revolves around the transfer of rights from Malabu Oil & Gas Limited to Shell/Eni.

In July 2022, the Prosecutor-General’s Office  dropped its appeal against Eni, the parent company of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), before the Second Section of the Court of Appeal of Milan, Italy, over the transaction of the oil block.

What this means is that the case has been waived, which the court has acknowledged, ending the criminal litigation against Eni over OPL 245 deal.

The Court of Milan, had in March 2021, fully acquitted all charges against Eni, its Chief Executive Officer, Claudio Descalzi and the top managers of the company over  the transaction of OPL 245.

Eni and Shell  have been on trial for allegedly paying $1.1 billion through the back door   to buy OPL 245 offshore oilfield in 2011, one of the oil industry’s biggest graft cases, but both companies have  denied any wrongdoing.

The acquittal was a big blow to Nigeria as Shell Plc and Eni had in May 2020, won dismissal of a $1 billion UK lawsuit brought against them by the country over allegations they knew about bribes in the oil deal.

A London judge ruled  that England has no jurisdiction to try the case as it involves the same essential facts as a separate Italian (Milan) criminal case.

Lokpobiri attributed lack of investment in the country’s oil sector to erosion of the confidence of the investment community, adding that companies were leaving because the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) took longer than expected to be passed, as nobody wanted to invest in a climate where there is uncertainty.

He, however, said  that investments have started coming back into the industry.

“The President also directed that myself and the Attorney General of the Federation to resolve the issues around OML 245. I am happy to announce to you that we have resolved all the issues.

“We also have commitments by the International Oil Companies (IOCs)  to invest in Bonga North. So investments have started coming back,” the minister said.

According to him, the  first directive given to him by  President Bola Tinubu upon appointment was to go and work with stakeholders with a view to ramping up production.

“The sole mandate is to increase production that will enable us to meet our domestic demands and also have enough that we can export and get the requisite Petro-dollars to strengthen our local economy”, he stated.

“It is  when we ramp up production that we will get real value, that we would  be able to get the requisite forex inflow that will take care of our forex problems and we will be able to get the money to fund our budget and get what we need to satisfy our energy demands as a country.“

He informed that since the present administration  came in  “Our focus has been on rekindling the confidence of the investing community and I guess those of you, the Industry players who are gathered here can attest to the fact that the investment community is being  restored and that’s why you have started seeing investments coming in”.

Lokpobiri said that a few weeks ago, Golar and TotalEnergies signed separate deals with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC ( NNPC) Limited.

“These are just the smallest part of the investment we expected to flow in,” he added.