Nigeria: Ministerial Intrigues Stall Oil License Renewal For Shell, Chevron

Backgrround: A Year Ago

Daily Champion

8 February 2010

Nigeria: Ministerial Intrigues Stall Oil License Renewal For Shell, Chevron

Lagos — Talks of license renewal for Shell and Chevron appear to be stock in the palpable rift between the two ministers of petroleum resources as the two firms appear to have backed the wrong horse in their overtures.

Whereas ExonMobil has secured its license renewal through the junior minister,

Shell and Chevron which are among the major multinational oil firms caught in the license web are finding it difficult to get around of health the confusion over the roles of the two ministers.

Business Champion gathered from sources involved in the talks that the rift in the presidency may have been playing out in the petroleum ministry as key officials from the core North and Niger Delta engage in battle over control of critical segments of the petroleum industry.

The situation, contrary to reports that all is well in the ministry, is worsened by the suspense over the state of health of the President whose lingering absence from office has been blamed for impasse in resolving the blurred areas in functional boundaries of the two ministers.