Appeal Court asked to reverse FG's fresh allocation of 4 oil wells

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA— The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has been asked to overturn the Federal Government’s recent decision to allocate four new oil wells in the Niger Delta region.

The disputed oil wells, whose allocation the appellate court was asked to look into, are: Yorla South (PPL 2A32/OML 11) in Rivers State, Akiapiri (PPL 2A48/OML 25) and Diebu Creek East (OML 32) in Bayelsa State, and Idiok (PPL 2A41/OML 67) in Akwa Ibom State.

The appeal was lodged by two firms, Hi-Rev Oil Limited and Hi-Rev Exploration & Production Limited.

According to the appellants, the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) had, on July 21, conducted bidding and allocation of the oil wells despite the fact that they were the subject of pending litigation.