Sunday 8 February
In March 2006, Nigeria and South Korea signed a deal about oil exploration. The Nigerian government granted a South Korean consortium the right to develop two offshore oil fields, based in the deep water of the Gulf of Guinea. Its fields were estimated to provide approximately two billion barrels of oil. In exchange, South Korea promised to build a 1,200 kilometres gas pipeline from the south to Abuja and supply 2,250 megawatts of power generation.
South Korea is a great importer as it got oil contracts with others African countries like Cameroun or Congo.
However, in January 2009, the Nigerian government decided to repeal the agreement. It accused the South Korean consortium of failing to pay $231 million out of the $323 million promised. The consortium contests the amount and claims it has already paid $92 million dollar out of the $231 million.
Furthermore, the Nigerian government accuses the Asian country of increasing its reserves.
According to local media reports, the president Amaru Yar’adua has already cancelled three licenses with China, Korea and India; the main consumers of Nigerian oil.
The Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) said: "The South Korean consortium is studying various measures against the Nigerian government's unilateral cancellation of the exploration rights. Through close consultations with the SK government, we are working on various countermeasures which may include a lawsuit »
To my mind, if South Korea hasn’t paid yet the amount to Nigeria, the African country would be able to cancel the contract once and for all.
Also, the government, by falling down contracts with Korea, South Korea, China and India showed that the Nigerian resources won’t be “exploited” anymore and that they can afford ending oil contracts.
Sources: BBC news - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7857898.stm
Afrol news - http://www.afrol.com/articles/32291
Sarah.D
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