18 February 2016, Abuja – A former Group Managing Director, Mr. Joseph Dawha, has revealed that the contracts for the two major firms involved in the crude oil swap deal were backdated to the period when the initial contracts expired, after both firms had lifted crude without formal agreements between 2011 and 2014.
Duke Oil Company Incorporated, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and Amsterdam based Trafigura BV had contracts from October 2010 till October 2011. Both firms however continue lifting crude until August 2014,without any agreements extending their contracts. In the period, they lifted crude worth $24billion.
Dawha, said this when he appeared the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee investigating the Refined Product Exchange Agreement/Crude Oil Swap between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Petroleum Pipelines Marketing Companies (NNPC/PPMC) and some oil firms on Wednesday.
He also confirmed the claims of two of his predecessors, Mr. Austin Oniwon and Mr. Andrew Yakubu, that the informal extensions were granted to the two firms by the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
“Thus, as of August 2014 when I assumed office, the contracts were being run long after they had expired”, he said, and admitted that such arrangements have never been allowed in all his years (27) as an employee of the NNPC.
Dawha told the Hon. Zakari Mohammed-led committee that he wrote to the Minister on the need to formalise the arrangements with valid contracts.
- This Day