The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has announced that it has terminated 24 years contract with Addax Petroleum’s production sharing contract (PSC) and has taken over their assets.

   Addax is owned by Sinopec, a state-owned Chinese firm. Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO), NNPC Limited, GCEO; and Yonghong Chen, outgoing managing director (MD), Addax, signed the closing documents on behalf of the two parties In a tweet on Tuesday, NNPC said the documents were signed in Abuja on January 31, 2023. The signing ceremony marked the termination of the 24-year PSC relationship between both oil firms. The development comes over two months after Addax Petroleum Development Nigeria transferred four major oil mining leases (OMLs) to the national oil company, after exiting from the assets. Both parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the transfer, settlement, and exit agreement (TSEA). With the agreement, Addax ceased to be the PSC contractor for the four oil mining leases (OMLs) 123, 124, 126, and 137.

In April 2021, the defunct department of petroleum resources (DPR) revoked the four Addax licenses over poor development of the assets but three weeks later, President Muhammadu Buhari restored the licenses.