Senate Probes Seven Oil Firms Over $21bn Unremitted Funds

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday mandated three of its committees to investigate seven international oil companies over their alleged refusal to remit about $21bn to the national treasury, according to a report by PUNCH.

 

The decision of the upper legislative chamber was sequel to a motion by the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources, Ifeanyi Ubah.

Ubah had drawn the attention of his colleagues to the IOCs alleged refusal to honour the provisions of the Production Sharing Contracts Act.

The Act of the National Assembly according to the senator, regulates the sharing of additional revenue between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the various oil companies.

The Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act Cap D3 LFN 2004 (PSC Act) became effective on January 1, 1993.

He said the legislation was supposed to be reviewed after 15 years.

He said as a result of the non-review of the PSC Act, the Nigerian Government had lost about $21bn over a period of 20 years as confirmed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council on December 14, 2017.

He, therefore, stressed the need to thoroughly investigate reasons for the failure to review the salient provisions of the PSC Act.

He said beyond the crude oil price of $20, the share of the Nigerian Government in the additional revenue was adjusted to the extent that the PSCs shall be economically beneficial to the government in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

The Senate after a debate on the issue mandated committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Judiciary and Legal Matters, and that of Finance, to investigate reasons for the failure to review the salient provisions of the PSC Act.