All petroleum licences in the country are currently under review.
Speaking at the 3rd Petroleum and Energy Summit, Petroleum Minister Fabian Pok said this is to weed out any non-compliance in the licence awarding process.
The review covers all Petroleum Prospecting Licence (PPL), Petroleum Retention Licence (PRL) and Petroleum Development Licence (PDL).
The Minister announced that the review was to stop what he alleges are abuses within the licensing process.
“The abuse that have been common practice in the awarding of licences will not be tolerated anymore.
“I’ve instructed Petroleum Licensing Board to ensure all process of licensing acquisition are scrutinised where they strictly meet pre-conditions,” stated Pok.
“Those to be in breach will be dealt with as per the Oil and Gas Act.
“Any breaches of these conditions will be dealt with without fear or favour.
“All PPL, PDLs and PRLs are currently under review and non-compliance licence will be dealt with as per the oil and gas act.”
The Minister said any future licence applications will go through a vigorous process.
“For the future, it is my intention to ensure that petroleum prospective licences are issued, further extension of operation will be very strict unless applicants are able to justify acceptable circumstances as to why extra time is needed to prove extension or variations.”