By Moses Patience Chat
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has given reasons why it terminated its Joint Venture (JV) deal with Eroton Exploration and Production Limited.
In a statement signed by Garbadeen Muhammad, who is the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC Limited, the Company said it took the action to stop the jointly-owned asset from further degradation.
The statement further confirmed that the non-operating JV partners of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 18 have now appointed NNPC Eighteen Operating Limited as the new operator of OML 18, taking the place of Eroton.
“The persisting inability of Eroton to meet the fiscal obligations of the federal government led to the sealing of Eroton’s head office in Lagos by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for more than 12 months due to non-payment of outstanding taxes to the government,” the statement read in part.
“Eroton is also not able to remit to the JV parties the proceeds of gas supplied to its affiliate, Notore. A number of audits and investigations, including by the EFCC, NURPC’s work programme audit and others have been undertaken or are ongoing,” it further read.
These actions, NNPCL insisted, were meant to curtail further degradation of the asset and to revamp production of oil and gas on the field. It added that the change in operatorship has been communicated to the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and also to Eroton.
Against this backdrop, NNPC Eighteen Operating Limited has taken control of the operational and production assets in the block and is currently engaging the relevant stakeholders, including workers’ unions, and communities to restore operations to its full capability and secure value for all partners and the federation.
NNPCL has defended its actions, saying “some of these audits are regulatory steps that may lead to license revocation under the relevant laws if drastic steps are not taken by non-operating partners.”