ExxonMobil has six lawyers on the NELPI board, and its would-be partner, Anadarko Petroleum, has four, while the winners of the coveted block, ERHC Energy and Noble Energy, have none. Anadarko senior vice president for governmental affairs, Greg Pensabene of Alexandria, Va., is married to Senate Energy Committee general counsel Judy Pensabene, a recent NELPI honoree, and both are graduates of the Tulsa-based law school.
Here is Oduniyi's latest on the probe, dated Nov. 21 but not available on the ThisDay Online site yesterday:
JDZ Oil Blocks: Sao Tome President Faces Probe
By Mike Oduniyi with agency report, 11.21.2005
The President of Sao Tome and Principe, President Fradique de Menezes, said at the weekend that said he is under investigation as part of a probe into alleged corruption in the attribution of oil blocks in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) being administered by the country along with Nigeria.
Five oil blocks, 02, 03, 04, 05 and 06, were awarded last June after protracted delay since Nigeria and Sao Tome conducted the bid round for the acreage in November 2004.
Legal authorities in Sao Tome were reported to have begun last September investigations of claims that certain oil firms were illegally favoured in the process, which was delayed for months amid a dispute between President Menezes and opposition groups.
“No one escapes, not even the president. From what I have been told, they have been asking people if they have information about the involvement of the president,” de Menezes told a Portuguese daily newspaper, Diario de Noticias.
“There are many accusations, many complaints that are investigated, some go to trial, and then no wrongdoing is found,” he added.
The oil blocks, five in all, were allocated last June for a total of $283 million. The proceeds are to be shared 60-40 between Nigeria and Sao Tome.
Menezes revelation came on the heels of another high profile probe in Nigeria, involving the handling of an earlier signature bonus payment said to have been deposited with Hallmark Bank by the Joint Development Authority (JDA).
The investigation being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is on the signature bonus for block 01 allocated in 2003 to the Chevron/ExxonMobil/EER Consortium in which Nigeria’s share ought to have been paid since August 18, 2005.
Management of the JDZ in the Gulf of Guinea, under a Treaty signed by Nigeria and Sao Tome in 2001, has been through some rough weather, especially at it relates to the allocation of six oil blocks, with the archipelago country always suspicious of Nigeria’s domineering role in the treaty.
Meanwhile, indications have emerged that the signing of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) agreement for the oil blocks may have slipped into 2006 from the December 2005 target.
Centurion Energy International, a Canadian company with a 7.5% stake in Block 04, said in a statement accompanying its third-quarter results released at the weekend, that "Negotiations to finalize the production-sharing contract and the joint operating agreement are progressing. Signature of the PSC and JOA is expected during 2006."
The JDA said earlier this year that the PSCs were due to be signed before the end of next month. However, negotiations on Block 4 have been delayed by the withdrawal in October of Noble Energy (NBL) from the block's operating consortium.
Houston-based ERHC Energy (ERHE), which held a joint 60% operatorship of the Block with Noble Energy, has enlisted the Swiss company Addax Petroleum to replace Noble, and the JDA is believed to be considering that switch at present. Other partners in the block include the Nigerian firms Conoil and Godsonic.
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