A report by Bloomberg quoted Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources as saying on the sidelines of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' meeting in Vienna, Austria on Thursday, that "in the next four to six weeks, we will be finalising all issues about shallow water renewals."
It was gathered that the federal government was hoping to finalise the deals before the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill in the first quarter of next year.
The Federal Government has been in talks on the renewal of the permits with oil companies, including Shell and Chevron since 2009, when they expired. ExxonMobil had retained Oil Mining Leases 67, 68 and 70 at that time, but reportedly had them withdrawn in March this year.
Alison-Madueke said the Presidency and the National Assembly were working towards passing the PIB so that it could be signed into law in the first quarter of 2012. |