Oscarline Onwuemenyi
19 January 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The House of Representatives has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to strengthen the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) for strict monitoring of the activities of joint venture partners in order to protect the nation’s interests.
The lawmakers gave the advice at the plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Sulaimon Lasun, when they adopted the report of the Rep. Victor Nwokolo-led joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Public Procurement that probed into the $260 million contract awarded by NAPIMS.
The lawmakers further urged the NNPC and its joint venture partners to always adhere to due process in their transactions to eliminate prolonged disputes that may negatively impact on investments.
They observed that since the contract for the provision of the DP2-DP3 construction platform support vessel single sourced to GMT Energy Limited is already ongoing, the contractor should be given enough termination notice by demobilizing it at a date not later than the first year anniversary of the commencement date.
The House further directed that due to the human capital development and financial investments already made by Tilone Subsea Limited, the NNPC board should approve the NAPIMS’ memorandum of 30 December, 2013 which cleared the agency’s contract review committee on 10 July, 2014 for the provision of OIMR vessel and WROV services for Usan operations in OML 138.
The House thereby maintained that Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL) should mobilise Tilone Subsea Limited to provide the OIMR vessel and WROV services to meet its requirement after the demobilization of GMT Energy Limited.
The House intervention was preempted by allegations that NAPIMS, a subsidiary of the NNPC, in violation of due process and without approval from both the NNPC’s board and the Group Executive Committee (GEC), granted approval for ESSO, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, to award four single source contracts for projects in the Usan Deepwater Project at a total value of $260 million without any form of tendering process.
