Nigeria is an oil producing country with lots of oil bloc (also called oilfield) and oil well.
Oil bloc is an area with many oil Wells. An oil well is a space or pocket of oil underneath the earth’s surface. Not all oil wells are the same. What matters the most is the oil reserve.
Presently, the government award all blocks and oil wells based on submitted bids by interested persons. The winner of a bid get license to operate for a given period. So, for that period, he/she owns the well.
Nigerian citizens own 52% of the blocs in Nigeria why foreign oil companies own 48%. There are 388 oil blocks in Nigeria, 173 are active.
Most of the individuals with oil well in Nigeria got it during the military regime. Many believed that most of the individuals with oil well in Nigeria never merited it. They got it because of their tie with the then military head of states. And the major beneficiaries of these wells are the northerners, since the military head of states then were northerners. The northerners with oil wells with large oil reserve are:
1. General Theophilus Danjuma: SAPETRO owner of OPL 246.
2. Colonel Sanni Bello in-law of Abdulsalami Abubakar, chairs the board of International Petroleum Development Company who are the owners of NOML 112 and OML 177
3. Alhaji Mohammed indimi in-law to Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari owns OML 115
4. Saleh Jambo: whose son married Abachas niece the Chairman of the North East Petroleum owns the OPL 215 oil well
5. Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero a cousin to Sanusi Lamido chairs the board of Seppat Petroleum Limited who are the owners of ASUOKPU/UMUTU oil field
6. Alhaji Aminu Dantata chairs the board of Express Petroleum Company Limited who are the owners of OML 108
7. Alhaji Sela Mohammed Gambo chairs the board of North East Petroleum Limited who are the owners of OML 215
8. Alhaji Mai Daribo a Borno monarch owns OML 110
9. Rilwan Lukman chairs the board of AMNI who are the owners of OML 112 and OML 117
10. Usman Danburran and his colleagues Alhaji Indimi operate Oriental Energy which owns OML 67.
11. Atiku Abubakar, Yar’ Adua and Bayero own Intels Petroleum which has many stakes
Some of the names mentioned are late but the family members continued.
The names above still have stakes in other oil wells.
Credit: Infoguidenigeria