Cross River Regains Oil Producing Status as RMAFC Receives Oil States Verification Report
The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has formally received the final report of the Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Committee on Nigeria’s oil-producing states, with projections indicating that Cross River State may be re-listed as an oil-producing state.
The report was presented on February 13, 2026, to the RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, by 10 members of the 14-man committee after a six-month verification exercise conducted between August 2025 and February 2026.
The review involved nationwide scrutiny of crude oil and gas coordinates spanning 2017 to 2025.
The inter-agency committee comprised representatives from the RMAFC, the National Boundary Commission, the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Nigerian Hydrographic Agency and relevant security agencies.
Its mandate was to scientifically determine the precise onshore and offshore locations of oil and gas assets within Nigeria’s territorial boundaries.
During the exercise, the committee visited more than 12 states, including Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Imo, Anambra, Abia and Cross River. Over 1,000 new crude oil and gas coordinates were verified based on confirmed onshore and offshore reservoir data.
Findings indicate that most oil-producing states may benefit from new oil well attributions arising from the verified coordinates.
The review also resolved longstanding boundary overlaps involving Rivers–Akwa Ibom, Delta–Edo, Delta–Ondo, Imo–Rivers, Imo–Anambra and Akwa Ibom–Cross River.
Shared attributions were determined using technical and geological evidence.
For Cross River, the report projects a return to oil-producing status for the first time since 2008, with more than 100 producing oil wells identified from verified onshore and offshore reservoir coordinates, particularly from Oil Mining Lease 114 (OML 114) located within its maritime territory.
Although Cross River submitted over 245 surface coordinates, the implications of the 2012 Supreme Court judgment are expected to retain 76 oil wells in Akwa Ibom State pending further judicial interpretation.
An earlier Inter-Agency Committee report in May 2024 had attributed 67 wells from OML 114 to Cross River, though implementation did not proceed at the time. The 2025 verification, strengthened by hydrographic and reservoir data, is considered decisive in the current review.
The RMAFC Chairman is awaiting the assent of Bola Tinubu for the implementation of the committee’s recommendations. Following presidential approval, the RMAFC Board of Commissioners is expected to convene a plenary session to finalise the operational framework for implementing the new attributions and updating the official list of oil-producing states.
Stakeholders described the development as a significant administrative and economic milestone, marking a potential restoration of fiscal recognition for Cross River based on scientific validation of its oil assets.
