Fear grips oil industry operators over probes

There is palpable fear in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry as strong indications emerged that the ongoing probe will not be restricted to Offshore Processing Agreements (OPAs) and crude oil swaps contracts but will cover other activities in the industry, including the huge amount of money said to have been spent on the publicity of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

Already, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Security (DSS) are investigating the Crude for Petroleum Products Exchange Agreements, better known as crude oil swaps, and OPAs  involving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and some local companies. The oil companies involved in the deals are Taleveras, Ontario, Sahara Group and international commodity trader, Trafigura.

NNPC officials questioned and watch listed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Security (DSS) included the  Managing Director of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Mr. Tony Moneke; Executive Director, Commercial, PPMC Mr. Frank Amego; and former NNPC Group Executive Director, E&P, Mr. Abiye Membere, among others.
THISDAY, however, gathered at the weekend that the Deputy Manager in charge of Joint Venture Accounts, Mr. Reginald Udeh was allegedly interrogated last week by the operatives of EFCC and DSS on issues relating to cash calls.

According to sources within NPDC, Udeh was invited twice to Abuja where he was questioned by investigators.

It was also learnt that two  past executive secretaries of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), two former Managing Directors of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and the current one, Mr. Haruna Momoh may be required to help investigators in the probe relating to fuel importation. Sources also said the operatives have been detailed to also investigate how billions of Naira allocated for routine turn round maintenance of the refineries were spent.

Also,  the huge funds said to have been spent on the campaign for the passage of the PIB is also said to have attracted the attention of the present government and will also be subject of investigation.

The past administration was said to have budgeted heavily for awareness campaign for the passage of the PIB.

In a letter dated May 18, 2015, the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke had written to the EFCC requesting it to look into the Swaps/OPAs “in order to clarify the status of crude oil allocations to the trading firms and the petroleum products that had been imported into the country on behalf of NNPC’s product distribution subsidiary, the PPMC.”

[ThisDay]