Oil Mining License (OML) 138 is an offshore oil block located 100km south of Port Harcourt, the capital of oil Rich Rivers State.
It is owned by four (4) companies, namely ExxonMobil (30% ownership), Chevron (30% ownership), Total (20% ownership), and Nexen (20% ownership).
So what type of contract did the Nigerian government sign with the owners of this oil block?
How much did these companies pay to the Nigerian government, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for owning and operating this oil block?
Why don’t we have information on a block-by-block basis as to what has accrued to the state government as 13% oil derivation revenue?
We need to ask these questions because, despite the huge earnings accruing to government, oil-producing communities still live in abject poverty, with Rivers State having the 2nd highest rate of unemployment in Nigeria (36.4%).
Corruption in the oil and gas sub-sector has been fostered by the opaque nature of transactions.
We need to ask questions and demand more openness in the sector if we are ever going to be able to match these revenues to development in resource-rich communities.
