OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Lekoil has agreed to make a final payment of $9.6 million to Optimum Petroleum Development Company, the operator of Nigeria’s Oil Prospecting License, OPL 310 oilfield.
The company disclosed this in a statement.
According to the statement signed by its chief executive officer, Lekan Akinyanmi, the payment will be made by May 2, this year.
Optimum has also agreed to give Lekoil until July 2020 to prove it can fund 42.86% of the drilling costs.
The new development came after SweetcrudeReports’ publication on Monday, that Lekoil may lose the oilfield if it failed to come up with capital to fund the development.
Lekoil had discovered the $184 million loan from purported QIA executives intended for drilling of the oilfield was fraudulent.
This led to a crash in its shares on the London stock market last week.
“We remain excited about the opportunities of OPL 310 and are focused on securing the necessary funding under the revised schedule,” said Lekoil’s chief executive.
“We are grateful for the support and commitment shown by our partner Optimum,” he said.
