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LequteMan
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Former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Austin Oniwon, on Tuesday confirmed that there was no formal contract between the NNPC and trading companies that lifted $24bn worth of crude oil from the country between 2011 and 2014.
He'd previously said there were no breaches in the oil swap agreement.
However, when put under pressure by the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Crude Oil Swap, he confessed that ex Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, merely granted the “extension” of an earlier contract.
He said the extension was not a formal contract before he (Oniwon) left office in 2012.
The original (first) contract was signed between the NNPC and two crude traders, Duke Oil and Tranfigura in 2010 to last for one year. It expired officially in 2011.
However, Alison-Madueke reportedly granted an extension of the contract without the NNPC formally signing another contract on the new (second) deal.
The committee had earlier heard from the firms that crude lifting indeed continued till 2014 before a contract was formalised.
“These companies had lifted crude worth $24bn before the contract was signed in 2014 and backdated to look like it was signed in 2011 when the first one expired," one of the lawmakers, Mr. Michael Enyong, said.
PUNCH
He'd previously said there were no breaches in the oil swap agreement.
However, when put under pressure by the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Crude Oil Swap, he confessed that ex Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, merely granted the “extension” of an earlier contract.
He said the extension was not a formal contract before he (Oniwon) left office in 2012.
The original (first) contract was signed between the NNPC and two crude traders, Duke Oil and Tranfigura in 2010 to last for one year. It expired officially in 2011.
However, Alison-Madueke reportedly granted an extension of the contract without the NNPC formally signing another contract on the new (second) deal.
The committee had earlier heard from the firms that crude lifting indeed continued till 2014 before a contract was formalised.
“These companies had lifted crude worth $24bn before the contract was signed in 2014 and backdated to look like it was signed in 2011 when the first one expired," one of the lawmakers, Mr. Michael Enyong, said.
PUNCH
