The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has revoked the petroleum prospecting licenses and oil mining leases of 12 oil companies, citing prolonged abandonment of awarded acreages, failure to meet minimum production obligations, and in four cases, documented environmental violations that the companies failed to remediate within court-ordered timeframes.
The revocations, announced in a gazette notice, affect a combined acreage of approximately 3,200 square kilometres spread across onshore and shallow-water areas in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Ondo states.
NUPRC Chief Executive Gbenga Komolafe said the action was consistent with the commission mandate to ensure that Nigeria petroleum resources are actively developed and that license holders meet their statutory obligations to both the state and the communities in whose land they operate.
Three of the revoked licensees have announced their intention to challenge the revocations in court, arguing that the companies were prevented from meeting their obligations by force majeure circumstances including community unrest and militant activity that the government failed to address adequately.
Environmentalists welcomed the action but noted that the revocation of licenses does not automatically trigger the cleanup of environmental damage already caused, and called on the commission to ensure that remediation bonds posted by the affected companies at the time of license award are immediately deployed for environmental restoration.
