crude oil PHOTO: www.moneftegasoilllc.net
• Reps discover $24b crude oil swap without contractual obligations
ALTHOUG the British government supports the Federal Government’s move against corruption, it will only repatriate stolen wealth from the United Kingdom if certain conditions are meant.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria Mr. Paul Arkwright, who spoke to reporters in Kano, hinted of his government’s commitment to assisting Nigeria to fight endemic corruption.
Arkwright, however, maintained that the UK was specifically interested in the end result and area of usage before the fund would be return to the country.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee probing the operations of the swap programme of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) and oil trading companies (OTCs) discovered yesterday that for about three years there was no contractual agreement between the parties on the deal to swap crude oil for refined petroleum products into the country.
Yesterday, members of the Mr. Zakari Mohammed led ad-hoc panel learnt that the agreement on deal was signed in December 2014 long after oil was lifted out of the country.
The British envoy, while citing past cases of diversion of stolen funds and mishandling of property by a few individuals in authority for personal interests after repatriation, posited that the UK was initiating an international asset recovering system to ensure wealth return would be judiciously used to improve the living standard of the citizens of Nigeria.
While expressing belief in the genuineness of President Muhammadu Buhari’s change mantra in all sectors of the economy, Arkwright advocated reformation of the judiciary, security and other government institutions in a bid to sustain the fight against impunity in government.
While challenging the Federal Government to accelerate the investigation of those diverting public funds in line with the rule of law, the British envoy canvassed a holistic reform of the nation’s judiciary and prison system.
The UK High Commissioner said the British government had also support and would double efforts in the assistance programme for the Nigerian military, particularly in the fight against insurgency as well as international direct humanitarian support for internally displaced people in the North Eastern part of the country.
He restated readiness to strengthen economic intervention, good governance and other social programmes of the Department for International Development (DfID) in the six Northern states, including Kano.
The leading oil trading companies involved in the deal were Duke Oil Nigeria Limited and Trafigura Nigeria Limited involved in the oil swap deal whose value and volume were put at $24 billion and over 45 million metric tonnes between February 2011 and December 2014.
The Managing Director of the PPMC, who appeared before the ad-hoc committee, Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, who confirmed the development disclosed that the deal was eventually terminated in September 2015.
Nnamdi-Ogbue, who put up spirited effort to avoid queries from the lawmakers as to whether it was proper to have allowed benefiting oil companies to indulge in the oil swap without contractual obligations ab-initio maintained that she did not know the consideration used in arriving at the decision by her predecessors.
She said: “We don’t know under what circumstances it (contract) was done as all of us are new, most of the dealings were done before our appointment. Before us, a lot of things happened, we met a lot of things as inconclusive, and this has led us into reconciliations, which are still going on.
“We discovered that some contractual agreements were not favourable to PPMC which was why we went into the reconciliations. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I should be clear that oil swap is practised globally.”
PPMC ‘s Executive Director, Commercial and Distribution, Mr. Justin Ezeala, who corroborated her statements, said the oil swap deal was an internationally-recognised practice, revealing that the deal with the oil companies was at an inconclusive stage when they came into office. He also stated that there was an improved offshore processing arrangement (OPA) now in place to make up for the inadequacies of the oil swap deal.
The duo were responding to a question by a member Mohammed Sani Aliyu (Rano: Kano: APC) who wanted to know the contractual terms followed by PPMC in the oil swap deal involving Duke Oil and Trafigura worth about $24 billion.
Ezeala who stated that the oil swap deal was based on the approval of the NNPC group managing director (GMD) promised to avail the lawmakers, details of the quantum of crude oil lifted by the benefiting companies.
This prompted Zakari (APC Kwara) to indicate the desire of the panel to summon the former group managing directors of the NNPC, Mr. Austin Oniwon, and Joseph Dawha as well as immediate past managing director of the PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh to appear before the committee to shed more light on how the oil swap deal was executed within the period.
Ezeala faulted figures by the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) on swapped oil and imported petroleum products into the country, a position which drew the ire of an official of the NCS, Mr. Andrew Sule who maintained that his outfit was only aware of imports and export of the products after the deal must have been struck.
Asked why Duke Oil Limited, which is a subsidiary of the NNPC, assigned a responsibility to three other indigenous oil companies to participate in the oil swap deal, he said there was nothing untoward with the deal since it was within the provisions of the law to do so.
The Managing Director of Duke Oil Limited, Mr. Abdulkadir Saidu, justified why the three indigenous oil firms were assigned to carry out the oil swap deal saying it was aimed at building their capacities.
Saying Duke Oil swapped 90,000 barrels of crude oil for equivalent products on daily basis, he acknowledged that his oil firm had to engage Aiteo Nigeria Limited, Ontario Nigeria Limited and Taleveras to lift 30,000 barrels of crude oil on its behalf on daily basis within the period.
He remarked that Duke Oil Nigeria Limited had to engage the outfits in line with its resolve to boost the capacity of indigenous oil firms. He disclosed that the aforementioned firms had duly delivered the products in line with their contractual obligations.
The Head of the Downstream Sector of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mrs. Gladys Odunuga, who remarked that oil companies must own oil well to lift crude oil noted that the outfit started taking record of the deal in 2013, adding it was a “tug of war” for her outfit to classify it.
Noting that the DPR was not in the know of the agreement since it was not a commercial entity, Odunuga said her outfit’s role was purely to regulate the oil sector, adding the PPMC was not in its picture as at the time the deal was sealed.
ALTHOUG the British government supports the Federal Government’s move against corruption, it will only repatriate stolen wealth from the United Kingdom if certain conditions are meant.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria Mr. Paul Arkwright, who spoke to reporters in Kano, hinted of his government’s commitment to assisting Nigeria to fight endemic corruption.
Arkwright, however, maintained that the UK was specifically interested in the end result and area of usage before the fund would be return to the country.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee probing the operations of the swap programme of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) and oil trading companies (OTCs) discovered yesterday that for about three years there was no contractual agreement between the parties on the deal to swap crude oil for refined petroleum products into the country.
Yesterday, members of the Mr. Zakari Mohammed led ad-hoc panel learnt that the agreement on deal was signed in December 2014 long after oil was lifted out of the country.
The British envoy, while citing past cases of diversion of stolen funds and mishandling of property by a few individuals in authority for personal interests after repatriation, posited that the UK was initiating an international asset recovering system to ensure wealth return would be judiciously used to improve the living standard of the citizens of Nigeria.
While expressing belief in the genuineness of President Muhammadu Buhari’s change mantra in all sectors of the economy, Arkwright advocated reformation of the judiciary, security and other government institutions in a bid to sustain the fight against impunity in government.
While challenging the Federal Government to accelerate the investigation of those diverting public funds in line with the rule of law, the British envoy canvassed a holistic reform of the nation’s judiciary and prison system.
The UK High Commissioner said the British government had also support and would double efforts in the assistance programme for the Nigerian military, particularly in the fight against insurgency as well as international direct humanitarian support for internally displaced people in the North Eastern part of the country.
He restated readiness to strengthen economic intervention, good governance and other social programmes of the Department for International Development (DfID) in the six Northern states, including Kano.
The leading oil trading companies involved in the deal were Duke Oil Nigeria Limited and Trafigura Nigeria Limited involved in the oil swap deal whose value and volume were put at $24 billion and over 45 million metric tonnes between February 2011 and December 2014.
The Managing Director of the PPMC, who appeared before the ad-hoc committee, Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, who confirmed the development disclosed that the deal was eventually terminated in September 2015.
Nnamdi-Ogbue, who put up spirited effort to avoid queries from the lawmakers as to whether it was proper to have allowed benefiting oil companies to indulge in the oil swap without contractual obligations ab-initio maintained that she did not know the consideration used in arriving at the decision by her predecessors.
She said: “We don’t know under what circumstances it (contract) was done as all of us are new, most of the dealings were done before our appointment. Before us, a lot of things happened, we met a lot of things as inconclusive, and this has led us into reconciliations, which are still going on.
“We discovered that some contractual agreements were not favourable to PPMC which was why we went into the reconciliations. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I should be clear that oil swap is practised globally.”
PPMC ‘s Executive Director, Commercial and Distribution, Mr. Justin Ezeala, who corroborated her statements, said the oil swap deal was an internationally-recognised practice, revealing that the deal with the oil companies was at an inconclusive stage when they came into office. He also stated that there was an improved offshore processing arrangement (OPA) now in place to make up for the inadequacies of the oil swap deal.
The duo were responding to a question by a member Mohammed Sani Aliyu (Rano: Kano: APC) who wanted to know the contractual terms followed by PPMC in the oil swap deal involving Duke Oil and Trafigura worth about $24 billion.
Ezeala who stated that the oil swap deal was based on the approval of the NNPC group managing director (GMD) promised to avail the lawmakers, details of the quantum of crude oil lifted by the benefiting companies.
This prompted Zakari (APC Kwara) to indicate the desire of the panel to summon the former group managing directors of the NNPC, Mr. Austin Oniwon, and Joseph Dawha as well as immediate past managing director of the PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh to appear before the committee to shed more light on how the oil swap deal was executed within the period.
Ezeala faulted figures by the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) on swapped oil and imported petroleum products into the country, a position which drew the ire of an official of the NCS, Mr. Andrew Sule who maintained that his outfit was only aware of imports and export of the products after the deal must have been struck.
Asked why Duke Oil Limited, which is a subsidiary of the NNPC, assigned a responsibility to three other indigenous oil companies to participate in the oil swap deal, he said there was nothing untoward with the deal since it was within the provisions of the law to do so.
The Managing Director of Duke Oil Limited, Mr. Abdulkadir Saidu, justified why the three indigenous oil firms were assigned to carry out the oil swap deal saying it was aimed at building their capacities.
Saying Duke Oil swapped 90,000 barrels of crude oil for equivalent products on daily basis, he acknowledged that his oil firm had to engage Aiteo Nigeria Limited, Ontario Nigeria Limited and Taleveras to lift 30,000 barrels of crude oil on its behalf on daily basis within the period.
He remarked that Duke Oil Nigeria Limited had to engage the outfits in line with its resolve to boost the capacity of indigenous oil firms. He disclosed that the aforementioned firms had duly delivered the products in line with their contractual obligations.
The Head of the Downstream Sector of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mrs. Gladys Odunuga, who remarked that oil companies must own oil well to lift crude oil noted that the outfit started taking record of the deal in 2013, adding it was a “tug of war” for her outfit to classify it.
Noting that the DPR was not in the know of the agreement since it was not a commercial entity, Odunuga said her outfit’s role was purely to regulate the oil sector, adding the PPMC was not in its picture as at the time the deal was sealed.
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