But for the intervention by  Delta State Governor,  Emmanuel Uduaghan, Chevron Nigeria Limited might have been kissing the Escravos Gas-to-Liquid (EGTL) project in the state goodbye.

The Senate Committee on Gas, which is investigating the $5.9 billion project, said yesterday that it had made up its mind, as of Monday, when Chevron appeared before it to defend  conversion of the $1.7 billion lump sum contract to $5.9 billion reimbursable contract, to recommend  termination of the contract.

Chevron had come under fire for increasing the contract sum from $1.7 billion to $5.9 billion.
But yesterday, after Uduaghan's timely intervention, the Senate Committee said it would soon visit the site of the contract to ascertain whether the job on ground was worth the $2.5 billion that Chevron claimed to have expended  on it. 

The Committee Chairman, Senator Osita Izunaso, and other members of the committee declared that the appearance of Uduaghan before the committee yesterday, to underscore the importance of the contract was Chevron’s saving grace.

Uduaghan called on Chevron to pay more attention to welfare and development of their host communities,  to curtail the lingering crises in the region.  He said the unrest that characterised the  region resulted principally from the fact that most of the oil companies failed to carry their host communities along. 

When the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Chevron appeared before the Committee on Monday, they  disagreed sharply on the actual contract sum.

While NNPC said the total sum approved by it for the contract was $2.7 billion, Chevron admitted that it unilaterally reviewed the sum upward to $5.9 billion, without  NNPC approval.

NNPC’s Executive Director (in charge of Exploration), Mr Chris Ogienwonyi, who represented NNPC's Group Managing Director,  Abubakar Yar’Adua,  told the committee that the increment by Chevron was not in the interest of the NNPC.

He  said  in all, only $2.72 billion was approved by NNPC, owing to the tension in the Niger Delta region where the project is sited.