The news source reported that the Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua has instructed the state-owned oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to take urgent steps to recover the arrears in an effort to limit lost revenue from its deep water field contracts.
Nigeria is reportedly seeking arrears of $850 million from Shell and $646.3 million from ExxonMobil accrued to NNPC as capital allowance from the Bonga and Erha fields, respectively.
The NNPC and the government are also asserting claims for $414.6 million in gas sales and taxes from Shell for the Bonga field.
The report noted that exploration licenses for the two fields have been awarded under production sharing contracts, which allow the investor to recover all their costs before sharing profits with the Nigerian government and paying taxes and royalties.
