Oil Licence: Court Dismisses Suit Against FG, NNPCL

• The decision favours the Federal Government and the NNPCL in their pursuit of oil mining leases previously held by ADDAX

Kaztec Engineering Ltd’s suit over oil mining licences has been dismissed by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Kaztec Engineering Ltd’s lawsuit challenging the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) statutory concession for OMLs 123, 124, 126, and 137 was dismissed by Justice N.E. Maha on Friday.

The judge called the suit incompetent.

The decision favours the Federal Government and the NNPCL in their pursuit of oil mining leases previously held by ADDAX.

Kaztec Ltd filed the suit against the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the NNPCL, and others, requesting a declaration that the award of OMLs 123, 124, 126, and 137 to them dated back to 2002.

In its judgment, the court held that Kaztec lacked merit, primarily due to its failure to fulfill the essential requirements of paying the signature bonuses for the award with the stipulated timelines.

The court held that the bonus, being a condition precedent to the award of OMLs 123, 124, 126, and 137, rendered Kaztec’s suit frivolous in law.

The court held that the company failed to join necessary parties to the suit, noting that the omission led to the court to rule that the suit constituted an abuse of the court processes.

The judge struck out the suit for being incompetent.

Earlier, the counsel for the NNPCL, Mr Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN) and other defendants had challenged the jurisdiction of the court to determine the suit.