Nigeria, IOCs bury hatchet

Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources has reached a settlement with five international oil companies (IOCs) in a dispute over exploration and production costs, Minister of State for petroleum Resources Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Kachikwu said that Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total had “accepted” a USD 5-billion settlement. The dispute centred on exploration and production costs incurred by the IOCs between 2010 and 2015 that should have been split between the mentioned operators and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the respective partnerships. The IOCs have frequently accused NNPC of not carrying its share of the costs, which they claim has reached more than USD 6 billion between them.

Before President Muhammadu Buhari can sign off on the settlement, it will have to be reviewed and approved by Nigeria’s two government bodies. According to the Financial Times, the settlement might be ratified before year-end 2016. Payments are to be made in additional crude production that should become available over the next five years, the daily cited Kachikwu.