The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it has replaced Eroton Exploration and Production Limited, owned by billionaire, Onajite Okoloko over mismanagement of Oil Mining License 18 (OML 18).

Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC spokesperson, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

NNPC said the action was taken to curtail further degradation of the asset and revamp production of oil and gas.

OML 18 is an oil-producing block covering 1,035 square kilometers located south of Port Harcourt and contains eleven oil and gas fields with about 714 MMSTB of oil and condensate and 4.7Tcf of natural gas reserves. Eight fields have been developed, but only four are currently producing. They are Cawthorne Channel, Awoba, Akaso, and Alakiri.

In 2014, EROTON acquired the 45 per cent interest previously owned by Shell (30 per cent), Total (10 per cent), and NAOC (5 per cent) in the then OML 18 NNPC -SPDC JV.

Subsequently, in 2018, EROTON farmed-out equity to Sahara Field Production Limited (16.20 per cent) and Bilton Energy Limited (1.80 per cent). Subsequent to the equity acquisition, EROTON Exploration and Production Company became NNPC Ltd ‘s Joint Venture partner on the OML 18 NNPCL-Eroton JV, and the company was designated as the Operator in accordance with relevant provisions of the Joint Operating Agreement between the parties.

It was learnt that over the years, there have been several concerns over the way and manner the block is operated by EROTON, mostly bothering on transparency of procurement processes, confidence in reported production numbers, transparency of matching cash call payments and administration of JV partners’ funds.

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