Northerners own 83% oil blocks – Senator, Reveals oil blocks and their owners

The war of words over the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) got messier in the Senate yesterday when southern Senators accused the North of dominating oil bloc allocations. For good measure, the latter is asking President Goodluck Jonathan to revoke and re-award the oil blocs, marginal fields and prospection licences in line with the principles of federal character. It was on the second of the three-day debate on the bill.
Chairman of the Senate Rules and Business Committee, Ita Enang, led the verbal war when he said 83 per cent of oil bloc allocations are presently held by northerners. Northern Senators drew the first blood on Tuesday during the first day of debate on the PIB in the Senate when the zone accused the South of frittering away over N11 trillion revenue in over 13 years. But the South replied yesterday, saying that the North dominates the oil industry with over 80 per cent ownership. Enang listed the alleged 11 big players in the oil industry.
They are Cavendish Petroleum, the operators of OML 110, awarded to Alhaji Mai Deribe of Borno State (North East), nets an average of about N4 billion monthly; Others are:
•Seplat/Platform  Petroleum, operators of the ASUOKPU/UMUTU marginal field with (Mallam) Prince Sanusi Lamido as a major shareholder and director; •South Atlantic Petroleum Lopimited (SAPETRO), established by Lt Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), who is also the Chairman of ENI Nigeria Limited. SAPETRO partnered Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI) and Brasoil Oil Services Company, Nigeria Limited to become operators of the OPL 246; •AMNI International Petroleum and Development Company is owned by Alhaji (Colonel) Sani Bello of Kotangora, Niger State.
They are operators of OML 112 and OML 117. A former petroleum minister and former Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary-General, Rilwanu Lukman, another northerner, manages AMNI oil blocs and with very key interests in the NNPC/Vitol trading deal; •Oriental Energy Resources Limited, a company owned by Alhaji Indimi runs three oil blocs: OML 15, the Oldwok field and the Ebok field; •Alhaji Aminu Dantata’s Express Petroleum and Gas Limited operates OML 108; •OML 113 allocated to Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Limited, is owned by Alhaji. W.I. Folawiyo; •OPL 291 was awarded to Starcrest Energy Nigeria Limited, owned by Emeka Offor, which was sold by Starcrest to Addax Petroleum.
Offor still has a stake in Addax operations in Nigeria; •Mike Adenuga’s Conoil is Nigeria’s oldest indigenous oil exploration industry with six oil blocs; •Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Gambo’s North East Petroleum Limited is the holder of the OPL 215 licence. NOR’EASTER Petroleum, which it is known, was awarded OPL 276 and OPL 283 bloc and closing thereupon, a Joint Venture Agreement with Centrica Resources Nigeria Limited and CCC Oil and Gas; and •INTEL, owned by (Abubakar) Atiku, Yar’Adua and Ado Bayero.
It has substantial stakes in Nigeria’s oil exploration industry, both in Nigeria and Sao  Tome and Principe. Enang told the chamber that he sourced the information from several websites including: http://africanexaminer.com/oilwells0427; http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/component/content/article/140-the-friday-edition/37298-how-north-cornered-nigerias-oil-bloc snorts-south-south-in-battle-royals-over-oil.
Daily Sun could not, however, confirm the authenticity of Sen. Enang’s claim on the ownership of the oil blocs even as Senate President David Mark stopped the closed door session.He held that it would be improper to malign people without proper evidence, even on the floor of the Senate. But Enang insisted: “These need to be looked into, revoked and re-awarded. The federal character, which is a principle applicable in every aspect of our national existence, should also be brought to bear in the application of our oil blocs, marginal fields and prospection licences.”
The North was, however, unrelenting on the huge derivation funds allegedly wasted by the South-South. Former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, took off from where Ahmad Lawan left off on Tuesday. He reiterated that having allegedly frittered away over N11 trillion over the years, “if you add appropriation, the money is in the region of N17 trillion and N18 trillion. “The issue isn’t how much derivation is given, but how it’s used…” Deputy Senate Leader Abdul Ningi wondered why the entire South had been gas-piped while the North was left untouched.
“This bill is about the interest of this country; yet, the entire country has been gas-piped, but not the North. Will the Federal Government undertake gas piping in the North… The National Frontier Exploration Services which was in the version submitted by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua has been changed.
“This time, the bill comes and makes it a sub-department under a technical bureau. How can a technical bureau take care of something as moorland as exploration activities?” Rallying for the South, Chairman of the Navy Committee, Senator Chris Anyanwu, expressed support for the host community fund (HCF), which she noted is a welcome development in the oil industry.
“The element I like most in the bill is the host community fund because it removes the motive for crime. It gives them a sense of belonging and ownership”, she said. Although former Gombe State governor Danjuma Goje advocated for a reduction in allocation to governors, he toed a conciliatory path when he urged his colleagues to pass the bill but amend contentious clauses in the PIB.
“I was one of the people completely opposed to the bill but from the trend of the debate, it looked like the Senate is ready to do a thorough job without fear or favour.  For this reason, I will join others in asking that this bill be considered while the contentious positions are addressed. “It is necessary that the powers be reduced so that whosoever is the minister is not a super minister”, he said. Chairman of the States and Local Government Administration Committee, Kabiru Gaya, also urged the Senate to concentrate on “the offshore which is divided between deep and shallow waters.
There is no good sharing formula; the essence of this bill is to ensure that there is balance”, while Finance Committee Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi said that “giving 10 per cent net profit of oil companies profit to the host communities might not curb illegal bunkering because it is not perpetrated by ordinary members of the community.” Unlike his kinsmen, but much in line with Goje and Gaya, Makarfi supported the bill as submissions on the new PIB end today.