Senate asks oil companies to relocate headquarters to Niger Delta

The Senate has requested international oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to relocate their headquarters to their states of operation.

It passed the resolution during plenary session on Tuesday after the adoption of a motion sponsored by Albert Akpan, lawmaker from Awka Ibom.

There have been calls by the oil-producing states for the relocation of the IOCs and their subsidiaries from Lagos and Abuja to the south-south region.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in March 2017 said relocating the oil firms to the region would mitigate tension in the host communities.

Akpan said on Tuesday that the relocation of the IOCs to their host communities would facilitate development in the areas.

He said the international oil companies should relocate to the region because they once operated there before they left “due to some reasons”.

He said, “The companies attributed their operation outside their host communities to insecurity and hostilities in the host communities,” he said.

“Their operation outside of host communities and operational base accounted for the high cost of oil and gas production.

“This is a big setback to the country’s oil and gas industry and it is militating against maximum revenue from crude oil and gas sales to the federation account.”