How North cornered Nigeria’s oil blocs •North, South-South in battle royale over oil

Except from:http://www.tribune.com.ng


Tension over the allocation of Nigeria’s oil wealth among the states of the federation is assuming an interesting dimension with key figures in the South-South taking on the North over its recent call for a fiscal redress. The North, through the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) appears set its goal of changing the revenue allocation formular in its favour while the South-South described such calls as idle and insulting.One of the Niger Delta leaders even said the North is ungrateful to the South.

ACF’s spokesman, Anthony Sani spoke with The Friday Edition declaring that the South cannot describe the north lasy because there is no diligence involved in having crude oil under ones soil.

Beneath the cross fire between the North and the South is the issue of who has juicy oil blocs in his kitty. The Friday Edition serves available details of owners of the multi billion naira oil blocs which insiders described as just a tip of the iceberg.

Unknown to many, more than eighty percent of ownership of the nation’s oil reserves is in the hands of some influential northerners who acquired marginal fields, Oil Mining Licenses (OML) and Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPL).

Curiously, such acquisitions were under the different military regimes of Generals Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), the late Sani Abacha as well as Nigeria’s last military leader, Abdusalami Abubakar.

This discovery is coming on the heels of the brickbat between the South-South and the North over the propriety or otherwise of the review of the revenue sharing formula which the later alleged was unduly advantageous to the former.

Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger state, had, penultimate week, called for equality in the sharing of oil revenue accruing to the oil-producing states, saying it posed a big disadvantage to those without oil.

The position of the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum had barely settled when Governors Rotimi Amaechi(Rivers), Emmanuel Uduaghan(Delta), Olusegun Mimiko(Ondo), Theodore Orji(Abia) and federal lawmakers from oil-producing states expressed their dismay at the outburst.

The debate had continued to take a new dimension in the last one week.

But Nigerian Tribune’s investigations showed that most of the oil and gas prospects had long been conceded to a particular section of the country.

According to documents exclusively obtained by the Nigerian Tribune, most of those to whom the nation’s juicy oil reserves have been conceded are individually richer than some African oil-producers such as Ghana and Sudan.

For instance, Cavendish Petroleum, the operators of OML 110 – with good yielding OBE field was awarded to Alhaji Mai Deribe – the Borno patriarch, by General Sani Abacha on the 8th of July, 1996.

OML 110 has a proven oil reserve in excess of 500 million barrels (more than the entire 300milliom barrels reserve of Sudan) with capacity to produce about 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily from its OBE 4 and OBE 5 wells.

At current production levels, the Mai Deribes net an average of N4billion monthly in crude oil sales (using oil price estimates of $100 p/b). Deribe, even in death is the richest man in the history of Borno state today.

Another major partaker in the oil and gas sector is Mallam (Prince) Sanusi Lamido, a cousin of the Central Bank Governor, who is a key shareholder and director in Seplat/Platform Petroleum, operators of the Asuokpu/Umutu Marginal Field with a capacity of 300,000 barrels monthly and 30mmfcsd gas plant capable of feeding 100MT of LPG.

But the oldest of all northern-backed oil and gas concerns is South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO). South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) is a Nigerian Oil Exploration and Production Company that was established in 1995 by General T. Y. Danjuma, who is also the Chairman of ENI Nigeria Limited. General Sani Abacha awarded the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to SAPETRO in February 1998.

The block covers a total area of 2,590km2 (1,000 sq. miles). SAPETRO partnered with Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd (TUPNI) and Brasoil Oil Services Company Nigeria Ltd to start prospecting on OPL246.

Akpo, a condensate field was discovered in April 2000 with the drilling of the first exploration well (Akpo 1) on the block. Other discoveries made on OPL 246 include the Egina Main, Egina South, Preowei and Kuro (Kuro was suspended as a dry gas/minor oil discovery).

But in June 2006, SAPETRO divested part of its contractor rights and obligations to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for $1 billion (N160bn). Akpo exports about 230,000 barrels of condensate daily.

Condensate export is not regulated by OPEC, so SAPETRO/TOTAL exports as much as possible each day. Egina exports about 75,000 barrels of oil daily.

Akpo and Egina therefore, export over 300,000 barrels of oil/condensate daily (three times what Ghana currently exports).

Out of this volume, SAPETRO gets 25 per cent which, however, excludes the gas component that is about 2.5 trillion cubic feet.

Operators of OML 112 and OML 117, AMNI International Petroleum and Development Company, is owned by Alhaji (Colonel) Sani Bello from Kontagora, Niger State. In the production-sharing contract, AMNI gets 60 per cent for owning the oil block and Total gets 40 per cent for providing technical advice.

Although OML 112 was awarded on 12 February, 1998 and OML 117 on 4 August, 1999, all by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar whose eldest daughter is married to Bello’s son, Abu, operations did not start on both blocks until 26 February, 2006.

Both licenses are due to expire on 11 February, 2018 and 5 August, 2019 respectively. AMNI produces twice as much as Cavendish Petroleum.

Nonetheless, a Former Petroleum minister, (names withheld), another Fulani multi-millionaire with fronted controlling holdings in Afren, manages AMNI oil blocks and with very key interest in the NNPC/Vitol trading deal.

Vitol is a London based oil trading company. Vitol, which lifts 350,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Nigeria is owned by the former minister.

The Okoro and Setu fields in OML 112 with about 50 million barrels in reserve, operated by Afren Energy, currently rake in below 20,000 barrels per day in exports.

Similarly, there is Oriental Energy Resources Limited, a company owned by Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, a close friend of General Ibrahim Babangida. Both, apart from being from Niger state, are in-laws (IBB’s first son, Mohammed is married to Yakolo, Indimi’s daughter). Yakolo is a director in Oriental.

Oriental Energy Resources Limited runs three oil blocks: OML 115, the Okwok field and the Ebok field. OML 115 and Okwo are OML PSC, while Ebok is an OML JV. All of them are crown offshore oil blocks.

OML 115 on its own is 228 sq Km with Oriental Energy Resources Limited controlling 60 per cent while Equity Energy Resources, has 40 per cent.

On Okwok, Addax has 40% and on the Ebok field, Oriental Energy Resources has 100%.

Alhaji Aminu Dantata’s Express Petroleum and Gas Limited floated for the purpose of winning oil block(s) on November 1, 1995, got General Abacha’s approval to operate OML 108. CAMAC Houston, a company owned by Kase Lawal bought 2.5% of Express Petroleum’s 60% holdings. The other 40% on OML 108 is owned by Sheba E&P Limited.

As the operator of OML 108, Shebah Exploration And Production Limited (SEPCOL) has an office in Lagos but the headquarters is in Minna. SEPCOL operates the Ukpokiti offshore field in Shallow water Nigeria, which was acquired from ConocoPhillips in May 2004.

The Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo-owned NorthEast Petroleum Limited, registered as NorEast Petroleum, is the holder of OPL215 license, covering an area of 2,564 square kilometres in water depths between 200 to 1600 metres.

NorEast, which is the parent company of Rayflosh Petroleum, was awarded the blocks OPLs 276 & 283 closing thereupon, a Joint Venture Agreement with Centrica Resources Nigeria Limited and CCC Oil and Gas.

The license was awarded to him by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida in 1991 and then renewed in 2004 by former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. It was learnt that, so far $50Million has been spent on the very promising Okpoi-1 and Egere -1 exploratory well.

Intels, owned by the three families of Yar’Adua , Ado Bayero and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku is another major northern concern in the oil and gas sector. The Oil and Gas Free Zone and Oil Services Centres, as well as Support Bases operated from government-owned facilities, are leased to Intels under long-term agreements.

Intels thus, runs a ‘private port’, as a counter venture to the Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt ports. At the Port Harcourt’s facility of the company for instance, there are over one hundred major companies.

Written by Donald Ojogo, Regional Editor, South-South/South-East

After a protracted and brave fight against stroke, the People’s General, Ikemba Nnewi, Dikedioranma Ndigbo, Odenigbo Ngw, Ezeigbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu died in the early hours of today in London.

We thank all those that showed concern in our period of difficulties, starting from the President of Country, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR. We thank in a special way the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi who went above and beyond the call to duty to look after him. Besides paying the hospital bills, he visited London on monthly basis to see him. He was there yesterday and only came back this morning to receive the news, whereupon he entered the next available flight back to London. He even had to fly Economy since other classes were fully booked. We thank him for the sacrifices.

We thank all Nigerians for their solidarity, especially those that continued to pray for him. May you continue to pray for the repose of his soul.

Further details shall be made available.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu

For the family

More than 100 members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) were yesterday arrested by a team of the Special Anti- Robbery Squad over an alleged plot by the group to disrupt the grand finale of the Igbo Day celebration held at the Abakaliki Township Stadium in Ebonyi State.

They were arrested by the police as they were trying to enter the venue of the programme. The police swooped on them and took them to the police headquarters in Abakaliki for interrogation.

Some of those arrested were dressed in MASSOB security uniforms. Others displayed MASSOB flags, emblem, stickers, almanacs and other items.

Police spokeman John Eluu confirmed the incident, saying the members were trying to enter the venue of the event. He added that there was a report that the group might disrupt the programme.

“Yes, some of them were arrested while trying to

enter the Abakaliki Township Stadium where all the Igbo leaders converged for the grand finale of the Igbo Day celebration,” Eluu said.

“There was fear that the group might disrupt the peace and security of the place, so the police had to arrest them to secure life and property”.

Eluu said the arrested MASSOB members were released shortly after the function, adding that the Police Commissioner Adeniyi Adeola, ordered their release.

MASSOB’s Director of Religious Affairs Bishop Chinedu Okeke said the group was at the Abakaliki Township to represent its leade, Chief Ralph Uwazurike.

He said: “We are here to represent Chief Uwazurike for the Igbo Day celebration. But to our greatest surprise, we got information that our members were arrested and we had to go to Governor Martin Elechi immediately. Thank God, he ordered that they should be released. We went to the state police commissioner and found that over 100 members of our group had been arrested.

“Although we have information that some people are still being held, we will ensure that they are released since the governor had already given the directive for their release.

“The struggle for the actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra will still continue. It is a non-violent movement. We believe that someday Biafra would be actualised. The President recognises that MASSOB is a non-violent movement.

“It is unfortunate that anytime the police see the members of MASSOB, they would want to exhibit all their powers. I don’t think it is proper.”

MASSOB Director of Information Uchenna Madu said four members of the group were rushed to the hospital following the beating they received from policemen and urged government to call the police to order.

biafra currency is now spreading all over eastern staes and been used by all massobians..

Do you think the Muslim world will agree with Gaddafi to “Divide Nigeria in two!”

Yes or No and your reasons.

Yes or No.

Include any reasons that you have for your answer.

Read it here:
JAN 2010 UK IMMIGRATION Country Report Nigeria

Read it here:
MARCH 2010-US STATE DEPT-Nigeria 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

For social scientists, it is a  conglomerate and experiment called country known as Nigeria; and their band wagon of thieves know the solution to the problem happening in a place  called Jos. I earlier forcasted or prophecy or said about a crave for dominance in the making and it is the problem.


They see Jos as an open avenue for distraction and making their statement know to the world. Sometimes they use the bloodbath game to incite fears to people, so that they do not go to the real Northern part to see or nose into the terror that is on the making. They incited such bloodbath to scare the probing “Umar the bombers” that would have pulled investigation to far North, where there is preparation as that done by usman dan fodio, during his days for domination. I said it before, the Osamas could be wearing “dansiki” in far away Niger republic and in Sokoto because he looks like them anyway, and we are witnessing it now. The best way out is a State Police for the South East. I advocate for South East because am a Biafran, let Jonathan know this fact and implement it in their Nigeria. The loose and confused country’s thieves know this fact, but their egoism and  their quest to force the loose nations called Nigeria as one, they insist it should suffer in the hand of  their federal manipulated police force. The truth is the Police is Abuja thieves business, after all it is by appointment. Nigeria leave nations that was defined as a conglomerate and are  up to 9 to 10 million people that have people with homogeneous inheritance alone and you insist it must be conglomerates as you found yourself, the answer is no development then. Yugo and Slovakia are making their contribution in the world and South and North Koreas are making their contribution that counts, which is technology. Conglomerate Nigeria, where are your records in the world: I know you will boast of your population and inflation ridden economy and your contribution in ECOMOG or so. Can we bargain on having common name with the different regions that run the map of Nigeria being on their own pace for development, with names such as the one the choose. 


Ojukwu proffered a confederation and you egoists said, No! Because of the same egoism you have sent Marwa to South Africa to continue with oneness imae making or kill the secessionists game. Because of oneness, you have invited many deadly people for your dominant quest in far away North, but it might smoke you all their, if you do not know you are seating on a gun powder. Oneness of a conglomerate  is game an it is a quest by the lazy people who think not in what they have and are hopeless! When you want international community’s support you would betray one of the terrorists you have been hiding by showing him to the world, only to gain world support: show all of them you would not, evil Nigeria. I tell you Nigeria is a conglomerate and so it is and was defined.

The young will dream dreams and the old ones should use the vision to do good works along with the young ones  in an age such as ours.  God of Elijah is wonderful

Long Live the republic of Biafra!

Full article here:


Port Harcourt – Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has condemned the attempted blowing up of a Delta airline Flight 253 by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab whom it described as an Islamist extremist. The group said it was a proof that threat to world peace would never come from the Niger Delta but from other sections of the country.
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Spokesman of the militant group, Jomo Gbomo, in a statement, insisted that all fighters within the Niger Delta region were only doing so because of the injustice which successive administrations in the country have refused to address but would rush soldiers to crush them when they complain. Gbomo therefore drew the attention of the Federal Government to the continued wastage of lives in the northern part of the country where religious extremists kill people at will and also produce the likes of the bomber whose instruments to blow up the plane failed him. Coming during the Christmas day celebration, according to Gbomo, the botched bombing was aimed at throwing hundreds of Christian families into mourning on a day that was used to mark the birth of a peacemaker who is Jesus Christ.
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“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) condemns the attempted act of terrorism on Delta Flight 253 into the United States by a misguided Islamic extremist from the Northern part of Nigeria. “Had the plan been successful, it would have left many families across the globe grieving on a day when Christians celebrate the birth of a peace maker, Jesus Christ. “It should by now be evident that the threat to world peace will not emerge from the Niger Delta, a region agitating for justice as is acknowledged by every right thinking human being, but from the Islamic extremist northern part of Nigeria covertly supported by its elite who assume leadership of Nigeria to be the birthright of this region. usafis.org”This attempted act of terrorism by this northern Islamic extremist does not come as a surprise to any Nigerian. For decades, Christians have been murdered and raped in the north of Nigeria with impunity. No northern Muslim has ever been brought to book for the thousands of Christians killed in this region. Northern Nigeria is fertile ground for international terrorism. “The Nigerian government has persistently turned a blind eye to Islamic extremists coming from Northern Nigeria, chosing instead to focus and waste its resources on military hardware and troop deployment in the Niger Delta. “The government of Nigeria which unfortunately has been dominated by the north since independence has bred such undesirable elements under false pretense with the hope of creating a reserve army to counter agitation in the south and other parts of Nigeria”, he said.