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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
BAYELSA Governor, Douye Diri, has broken his silence of the revocation of the Bayelsa-owned Atala oil field, describing it as shocking.
The oil field named, Atala Oil Marginal field (OML 46) which the Bayelsa got in 2003, was revoked by the Federal Government through the Department of Petroleum Resources in April 2020.
Governor Diri, who was commenting on the issue publicly for the first time amid the controversy it had generated in recent times, said the marginal oil field remained a prized asset of the state to which it is sentimentally attached and called on the Federal Government to reconsider its decision on the matter.
Diri, who spoke shortly before the commencement of the weekly state executive council meeting in Government House, Yenagoa, called on all concerned parties, including the DPR, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, to consider returning the oil field to the state.
He noted that the people and government of Bayelsa were emotionally and sentimentally attached to it, saying it is the only oil asset owned by the state.
“There has been this issue of the Bayelsa State-owned Atala oil field. We kept a studied silence over the matter because we needed to have all the information that led to the revocation of the licence on our state-owned asset.
“Bayelsans are emotionally and sentimentally attached to that asset as it is the only oil asset we own even though it is a marginal oil field. It was a surprise and rude shock to us that the licence was revoked.
“Part of what I have done in the last one week of my absence was to state the position of the Bayelsa State government, which I did very clearly to the President Muhammadu Buhari. So, our position on Atala oil field is that it is a prized asset of Bayelsa State and that revocation should be cancelled.”
