The presiding Judge of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha, will on Thursday, August 20 decide whether President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua legally revoked two oil exploration licences from Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC). The administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded the Oil Prospecting Licences (OPLs) 321 and 323 to KNOC in 2005. However, the administration of President Yar’Adua revoked the two exploration licenses in January this year, on the grounds that the Korean firm failed fully to pay the investment pledged. Long-term investors have expressed concern that the cancellation was an indication that contracts signed by one administration in Nigeria will not be respected by its successor. A lawyer for the Korean firms, Mr. Robert Clarke, was once quoted as saying that Nigeria’s politics was behind the Federal Government’s cancellation of the two oil blocks. The South Korean firm is challenging the revocation of its two crude prospecting licences in the Federal High Court. “Judgment in this case is not ready. Case is adjourned to 20th of August for judgment,” Justice Mustapha said, after a second postponement in a week. The ruling was initially slated for August 4 following the conclusion of the hearing last month, but it was delayed because of the absence of Mustapha in the court. The absence of the judge on that day led to the postponement of the judgment to August 6. However, the presiding judge said judgment would now be delivered on August 20. Clarke was quoted as saying the cancellation was politically-motivated, pointing accusing fingers at the ruling PDP. He said: “We are here to say that the revocation of our license is politically motivated. We know those who are behind it. They are the big shots in the PDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) and that is why we are in court.” “We are saying that the government has no right to revoke the licence after we have been operating on the licence for 18 months. That is why we are asking for a judicial review of Mr. President's act. We are saying that Mr. President, under the law, cannot revoke,” Clarke said. Reuters had quoted Clarke as saying that under Nigerian law; only the Minister of Petroleum has the power to revoke the oil exploration licence. He said: “The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not at the same time the Minister of Petroleum Resources.” But government lawyers countered his argument, insisting that the President has the power to revoke the oil licences since he has authority over the Minister of Petroleum, and urged the court to dismiss the case. President Yar’Adua revoked the oil licence on January 6, nearly a month after he appointed Dr. Rilwanu Lukman as Minister of Petroleum. However, before this appointment, Yar’Adua was both President and Oil Minister. KNOC, a member of the consortium, said that the Federal Government alleged that the consortium failed to make agreed payments. But the consortium said they paid $92 million in cash and offered a letter of credit to pay an additional $231 million to cover their 60 per cent interest in oil blocks Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 321 and OPL323. ONGC lost out to the Korean consortium in 2005 as South Korea promised the Federal Government massive investment in infrastructure. South Korea promised to build a 1,200-km (745-mile) gas pipeline from Port Harcourt to Abuja and 2,250 megawatts of power generation in return for the exploration rights. Following the cancellation, KNOC then petitioned President Yar’Adua to reverse the decision to scrap the rights to the two offshore blocks - estimated to hold some two billion barrels of crude in total - and later filed a lawsuit. KNOC consequently asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to reinstate its oil licences.