The Federal Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt has upheld the 2025 ruling of the Federal High Court in Yenagoa, reaffirming Halkin Exploration and Production Limited as the legal owner and operator of the Atala Marginal Oil Field (OML 46).
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Ibrahim Sirajo JCA in a panel that included Justices I.M Sanni JCA and Elejo Eneche JCA, ruled that the appeal by the Bayelsa Oil Company Limited was unmeritorious, and awarded the cost of N1 million against the appellant, and in favour of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants.
Following the 2025 Federal High Court ruling in Yenagoa by Justice Ayo Emmanuel dismissing a suit filed by the Bayelsa Oil Company Limited contesting the re-awarding of OML 46 to Halkin E&P, the plaintiff had appealed the case, and sought an overturning of the lower court’s judgment.
However, in its ruling, the appeal panel maintained the position of the high court, insisting that the case was statute-barred, and that Bayelsa Oil Company Limited lacked the legal standing to challenge the legal ownership and operational rights of Halkin E&P over the OML 46.
In reaction to the ruling, counsel to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Chikaosolu Ojukwu, said the judgment by the appeal court, same as last year’s ruling by federal high court upholding Halkin E&P as the legal owner and operator of the OML 46, “remains a victory for the upstream oil and gas sector.”
He added that the judgment reaffirmed the seriousness and integrity with which the bidding and re-awarding processes of the OML 46 to Halkin E&P was duly carried out by the NUPRC .