Nigeria’s Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on Wednesday, the Federal Government is aware it cannot recover $62bn it said it is owed by the oil majors, despite ongoing suits against them.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, Sylva said “nobody can bring out that kind of money… I mean, we can’t get $62bn. We can maybe get something from them but not $62bn. It’s an opportunity we have lost.”
Recall that the Senate, on Tuesday, passed an amendment of the crude oil Production Sharing Contracts (PSC), a move it said could boost the country’s revenue by as much as $1.5bn in 2020 and the following year.
Sylva, however, said talks about recouping some money from oil majors, such as Shell, Chevron, ENI, and ExxonMobil, were ongoing.
The companies received individual requests for cash in February, with one telling Reuters its bill was nearly $10bn. Shell and Chevron are fighting the cases in court, according to scheduled cases seen by Reuters.
Sylva said the government must quickly pass amendments to the PSC law to ensure it did not miss out on more revenue.
“We have to ensure that this bill is passed. With this bill now, there will be some adjustments in the fiscal regime and we believe that the government will get a lot from the oil companies, especially their deep shore exploration activities.”