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Sierra Leone Lawmakers Agree to Restore Oranto of Nigeria Oil-Block Rights

By on July 20, 2011

Lawmakers in Sierra Leone approved an agreement between Oranto Petroleum Ltd. of Nigeria and the West African nation’s government to restore the company’s rights to an offshore oil block.

The deal was passed after the International Court of Arbitration ruled that Oranto should have the full rights to the 4,022 square-kilometer (1,552 square-mile) block, known as SL-5, said Coleson Turay, a member of the ruling party that voted in favor of the policy, in an interview today. The decision was agreed by lawmakers in the capital, Freetown, yesterday, he said.

Sierra Leone’s government tried to reduce the area that the block covered in Oranto’s 2003 agreement, according to a parliamentary document that was handed to reporters on July 15.

Bloomberg