nigeria oil and gas concessions map and licenses bureau

Rights to explore and produce crude oil are granted by federal government under a typical licensing regime. How are rights to explore and produce granted? What is the procedure for applying to the government for such rights? To what extent are the terms of licences or contracts negotiable? There is a similar restriction, albeit subject to regulatory permission, to refrain from affecting public places, townships, cultivated areas, roads tramways, dams, forest reserves, cash crops, fishing rights, among others. What is the general character of oil exploration and production activity conducted in your country? Are areas off-limits to exploration and production?Įxploration and production of crude oil are undertaken onshore, in the swamp and shallow water areas of the Niger Delta and offshore the coast of Nigeria.Ĭoncessionaires’ are prohibited from conducting petroleum extraction activities over sacred land or affecting venerated objects. Title to crude oil extracted from the reservoir is transferred from the federal government to the licensee or lessee of the relevant acreage (concessionaires) at the point of production from the oil field. Surface rights must pave the way for the exercise of subsurface mineral rights. Surface rights are occupancy rights held by citizens, while subsurface mineral rights are held by the federal government and leased out to companies to exploit the minerals. The citizen whose land is compulsorily acquired by the government in this manner, is entitled to appropriate compensation. Under Nigeria’s Constitution and its substantive land titles legislation (Land Use Act), Nigerian citizens have the right to acquire and own land anywhere in Nigeria, but that right is subject to the federal government’s overriding authority to compulsorily acquire the lands held by citizens for overriding public purposes, with activities related to the mining and transportation of oil, being one of such public purposes. Nigeria’s Constitution and the Petroleum Act vest the federal government with title over oil reservoirs present in the land, the territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zones of Nigeria. Who holds title over oil reservoirs? To what extent are mineral rights on private and public lands involved? Is there a legal distinction between surface rights and subsurface mineral rights? At what stage does title to extracted oil transfer to the licensee, lessee or contractor?

Nigeria oil and gas concessions map and licenses bureau