A Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, on Wednesday, stopped the Minister of Petroleum Resources and Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, from revoking the Ororo Marginal Field in OML 95, until the determination of the substantive suit before the court.
Trial judge, Justice Muslim Hassan, granted the order of interim injunction against the respondents following an ex-parte application by Owena Oil and Gas Ltd.
The judge ordered the parties to maintain status quo about the revocation, pending the determination of the motion on notice and adjourned till June 10 for hearing.
The Ororo field, discovered in 1986, is located within OML 95 in shallow waters offshore Ondo State. It lies in water depths ranging between 23feet and 27 feet.
Owena, by its counsel, Kemi Pinheiro(SAN), said the first and second respondents “purportedly revoked the Ororo Marginal Field without recourse to the plaintiff.”
It also sought, among others, an order restraining the respondents from, among others, issuing re-entry permits to the third respondent to deal with the Ororo Marginal Field.
He said that it would suffer “irreparable damage unless the defendants are restrained.”
The court upheld the argument and granted the order as prayed.
The judge held that: “An order of interim injunction of status quo is, hereby, granted restraining the defendants/respondents from taking any step in respect of the revocation of the Ororo Marginal Field in OML 95 pending the determination of the motion on notice.”
Respondents in the suit are the Minister, DPR and Guarantee Petroleum Company Ltd.
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