FOLLOWING alleged serious violations of extant laws guiding the lifting of crude oil in the country, especially in the last 12 months, plans are under way by the Presidency to initiate a detailed investigation of the oil and gas sector, especially the trading of the resource, The Guardian has learnt.
The Presidency's resort to the investigations was reportedly prompted by protests from major oil companies and other stakeholders, who alleged overwhelming presence of shadowy companies on the list of crude oil lifters in the country, in gross violation of the extant rules.
Another reason for the probe, it is said, is the disquiet in the national oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), over what many top executives there regard as the Petroleum Ministry's overbearing influence on the corporation's work.
Consequently, claims and counter-claims on who is sabotaging the nation's oil sector have been flying between the NNPC and the ministry. The phenomenon, it is said by the complainants predates the current regime but allegedly gathered momentum under it.
Specifically, the worried stakeholders alleged that the favoured companies set up only in the last 12 to 15 months, secured crude oil lifting approvals under spurious discretionary awards, without going through the tender process.
Besides, this category of crude oil lifters were reportedly listed for the operations without requisite industry experience and stipulated financial power.
Also, they were alleged to have failed to fulfill stipulated corporate responsibilities to the host communities, in violation of the guidelines signed by the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke.
Under the guidelines, a company seeking oil-lifting licence must be "a bonafide end user, who owns a refinery and retail outlets abroad. Details of the applicant's facilities, markets and volumes of crude oil processed over the last three years must accompany the application."
Also, the prospective crude oil lifter should be "an established and globally recognised large volume trader. Such applicant must provide evidence of its global networks, its activities and volumes of crude oil handled in the last three years."
Such applicants, according to the guidelines, must have a minimum yearly turnover of at least $100 million and networth of not less than $40 million.
"Successful applicants must show commitment to the development of Nigerian economy by investing in any number of investment opportunities that abound either in the oil industry or other sectors or, as an alternative, in the short run, meaningful and sizeable investment in community development project(s) in the oil producing areas, as may be acceptable," the guidelines added.
Investigation by The Guardian revealed that virtually all the 'briefcase' companies listed as crude oil lifters in the country have no track record of operations in the oil industry, even as their networth were grossly inadequate for the business.
Again, some of these companies fingered in the infractions have no fixed address and those that could be placed featured locations where no business related to crude oil lifting was being carried out.
Sources within the oil industry alleged that these corporate minors have been securing crude oil lifting rights through discretionary awards, contrary to the rules in the nation's Procurement Act.
The unsavoury operations of the companies also include secretive award of petroleum products' allocations, without public tender.
These oil traders, according to industry sources, regularly pay substantial kickbacks into the offshore accounts of top officials in the industry.
Officials of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources declined comments when The Guardian sought their reactions to these developments. One of them only averred that the practice predated the regime of Alison-Madueke but affirmed that it became more noticeable in the last 12 months.
But an NNPC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the organisation has been inundated with report of the scam in the industry, stressing that some oil majors have raised eyebrows on the overwhelming presence of the "briefcase" companies in the crude oil lifting business.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), it was learnt, has been put on the alert and full scale investigations might soon commence on the allegations.
A Presidency source also confirmed that a probe into the activities of companies in the crude oil lifting business was on the card and that some initial investigations have even been carried out. .
The Guardian