Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
President Umaru Yar'Adua on Tuesday ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to recover outstanding payments of $1.91 billion (about N236 billion) due to the federal Government from Shell and ExxonMobil on the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for the Bonga and Erha oilfields.
President Umaru Yar'Adua on Tuesday ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to recover outstanding payments of $1.91 billion (about N236 billion) due to the federal Government from Shell and ExxonMobil on the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for the Bonga and Erha oilfields.
Presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi who disclosed this in Abuja when he addressed State House correspondents said the amount represented what the country lost from what he termed discrepancies in the contracts for the Bonga and Erha oilfields.
The president's directive, he pointed out, was sequel to the recommendations of a special committee which the federal Government established to determine whether Nigeria lost any revenue opportunities in the implementation of the PSCs for the two deep-offshore oil fields which account for about 20 per cent of the country's total oil production.
The committee chaired by the Special Adviser on Petroleum Matters to the President, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah carried out its assignment over a period of six months and focused on the transactions in the two oilfields between 2003 and 2007.
The president who reaffirmed his commitment to establishing full accountability and transparency in the operations of Nigeria's oil and gas sector equally directed NNPC to recover the total sum of $1.496 billion accruable to NNPC based on the proper application of the PSC's Capital Allowance, made up of $850 million from Bonga and $646.3 million from Erha.
Also ordered to be recovered, according to Adeniyi, is the sum of $414.6 million accruable to NNPC and government from Bonga gas sales as well as tax revenue from the gas sales
President Yar'Adua further directed that all future government gas sales agreements should account for Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) to ensure that government derives maximum economic benefits from them, saying this position should be adopted in the renegotiation of all existing PSC agreements which are due for renegotiation.
To ensure all areas are covered, he also ordered the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to pursue the company income tax payments due from Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited on the operation of the Bonga and Erha oilfields.
He said his administration would continue to do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria derives maximum economic benefits from the exploitation of its God-given resources and that the revenues so derived are properly utilized to enhance the living conditions of all Nigerians.
The president will soon unveil his broad agenda for the total restructuring of the oil and gas sector in line with his vision to turn it from a mere extractive industry to one that adds tangible values to the overall economy of the country.
Other members of the special committee are the Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Tanimu Kurfi; the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman; the Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), Mr. Odein Ajumogobia; the FIRS chairman, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.