The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), its subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), and companies in the oil and gas sector are yet to remit $22.06 billion and N481.75 billion into the Federation Account, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) declared yesterday.
NEITI made the disclosure at a remediation conference where it provided a summary of unremitted revenues, losses and reconciled differences in transactions and operations in the sector.
It insisted that the unremitted funds included earnings from oil and gas producing companies worth N5.2 billion and $152.69 million and another $498.6 million in revenue from companies involved in offshore processing contracts.
According to the statistics, the NPDC is yet to remit $2.38 billion and N51.95 billion while NNPC is holding on to $19.04 billion and N424.57 billion. The total loss to the federation arising from crude oil production, processing and transportation stood at $3.038 billion and N60.997 billion.
Also, unreconciled differences arising from the allocation, sale and remittance of proceeds from domestic crude allocated to NNPC amounted to N317.475 billion.
At the event, the NEITI’s executive secretary, Waziri Adio, expressed concern over growing remedial issues in the nation’s extractive sector. He regretted that regulations that set up the agency did not empower it to prosecute and called on stakeholders to address challenges of remediation.
NEITI equally raised the alarm over unpaid consideration on four oil fields in the NAOC Joint Venture assigned by NNPC to NPDC in 2012. It stressed that while the asset was previously valued at $2.25 billion, it was re-negotiated down to $1.554 billion, with NNPC claiming that before revaluation, it had remitted $1.65 billion from the gas revenue derived from the assigned assets as payment for the value of the assets.
Reacting, Peter Egbule, national coordinator of Publish What You Pay Nigeria, blamed regulatory lapses, weak institutions, determination by entities and individuals to divert public fund and the inability of government to act proactively.
He said while the Petroleum Industry Bill remains key to addressing the issues, the Federal Government must strengthen regulatory frameworks and show political will towards fighting corruption and blocking leakages in the oil sector.
Meanwhile, oil prices slid yesterday as Russia signaled output would remain high. Losses, however, were limited ahead of the United States’ sanctions on Iranian exports. The sanctions are expected to reduce supplies when they come into effect in just under a week.
Brent crude futures fell 12 cents to $77.50 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 30 cents to $67.29 a barrel. Oil prices also fell about $10 a barrel since four-year highs reached in early October.
But Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu in an interview in London yesterday said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is likely to keep prices at $70 per barrel when it meets in December. He described $70 as the “comfort level for us and everybody,” saying he would be surprised to see anything dramatic.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday that there was no reason for Russia to freeze or cut its oil production levels, noting that there were risks that global oil markets could face a deficit.
OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC member, Russia, agreed in June to lift oil supplies, but OPEC signaled last week that it might have to re-impose output cuts as global inventories rise.
“When the Russians start talking about keeping the production levels high and even the possibility that they need to increase it because of a possible tightness in supply, that brought on some selling pressure,” Reuters quoted Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, as saying.
Industrial commodities such as crude and copper have also been rattled by hefty losses in global equities due to concern over corporate earnings and fears over the impact to economic growth from escalating trade tensions, as well as a stronger dollar.
Meanwhile
NNPC subsidiary resumes international shipping of Crude oil
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says its subsidiary, NIDAS Shipping Services, has resumed the international shipment of crude oil, petroleum products and had already gotten its first consignment. Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru
The corporation disclosed this in a statement signed by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in Abuja, on Tuesday.
He said that the global tanker fixture’s report had acknowledged the chartering of LRI tanker, MV Atlantica Bridge by NIDAS to load jet fuel from El Dekheila Port, Egypt for delivery to Nigeria for Duke Oil.
Oil and gas suppliers ready to combat adulteration of petroleum products He added that the fixture report also captured NIDAS booking of tanker Res Cogitans to load Mercuria’s gasoline cargo for early-November loading from Europe’s Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) region to Offshore Lagos.
He noted that NIDAS would optimise right of first refusal offer in the NNPC annual crude oil term and Direct-Sale-Direct Purchase, DSDP, agreements with off-takers.
“Under the terms of the deal, the off-takers are obligated to offer the NNPC shipping subsidiary the right of first refusal in freighting of cargoes.
“The re-entry of NIDAS into the international shipment of crude oil and petroleum products was seven years after falling out of reckoning in the global oil freight trade. Unremitted, stolen funds:
We lack power to enforce remediation – NEITI “ NIDAS’s re-entry was in tandem with the ongoing strategic re-engineering of some NNPC subsidiaries to ensure multiple income streams and value addition to the corporation in line with the aspiration of the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Maikanti Baru,’’ he said.
He explained that NIDAS has established a robust chartering and operation desk in its UK office to help the company secure sea-going vessels from spot market to herald its market re-entry and foster strong competitive edge.
Ughamadu further said that the long-term aspiration of the company was to own and operate fleet to secure a significant market share in the global shipping market.
This development, he said, was part of Baru’s 12 Business Focus Areas (12BUFA), which he unfolded when he took over the leadership of the corporation in 2016. Incorporated in 2007 as a Joint Venture between NNPC, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company Limited (DSME), he added that NIDAS is presently a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporation.
“Subsequently, a Board of Directors was inaugurated by the GMD with Mr. Henry Ikem Obih, Chief Operating Officer Downstream, as chairman, while Mr. Lawal Sade was appointed Managing Director with mandate to drive the turn-around process and effective re-entry strategy of NIDAS into the international oil shipping business,” he added.