The lawyers said about $15 million per month accruable to the federal government could potentially be lost due to the absence of a functional measurement system for exported crude oil volumes at this Ugo Ocha terminal.
A group of lawyers has petitioned the Senate Ad-Hoc committee over alleged oil theft from the Ugo Ocha export terminal at OML 42 in the Niger Delta region.
The OML 42, an oil field located in the swamps of the western Niger Delta, is operated by NECONDE Energy Limited. The terminal has four flow stations with a combined production capacity of around 30,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
The lawyers complained that an average of one million barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil is taken away monthly by the company without accurate measurement – due to the absence of meters at this export terminal.
In the petition seen by PREMIUM TIMES and presented at the committee’s investigative hearing on “Oil Lifting, Theft and the Impact on Petroleum Production and Oil Revenues” on 21 September, the lawyers said since the terminal was established in 2017, NECONDE has frustrated efforts by the federal government to install a metering system also known as LACT Unit at the terminal. The company, they said, continues to operate the terminal in full violation of the federal government’s requirement for accurate custody transfer measurement at all export terminals.
The petition, dated 21 September, was submitted through O. F. Emmanuel & Co. It comes on the heels of oil theft and vandalism in the Nigerian oil sector.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) disclosed that it loses 470,000 bpd of crude oil amounting to $700 million monthly due to oil theft.
This paper also reported how Nigeria, amid dwindling revenue, lost $10 billion to crude oil theft in seven months.
The lawyers, in the petition signed by the Principal Partner, Oluwatosin F. Emmanuel, alleged that as of the time of the petition, there are no meters at the Ugo Ocha export terminal to accurately determine the volumes of Nigeria’s crude oil sold to foreign buyers.
They said enormous amounts of revenue – to the tune of $15 million per month – accruable to the Federal Government of Nigeria could potentially be lost due to the absence of a functional measurement system for exported crude oil volumes at this terminal.
They also claimed that NECONDE continues to operate the terminal in flagrant violation of the federal government’s mandate for accurate custody transfer measurement at all export terminals.
“Been aware of this monumental revenue loss, the government of Nigeria, through NUPRC, recently placed a ban on all exports of crude oil from NECONDE’s OML 42 UGO Ocha terminal until a functional LACT Unit is installed on the terminal,” part of the petition read. “In spite of the subsisting government ban, NECONDE continues to export Nigeria’s crude oil illegitimately from the Ugo Ocha terminal while frustrating every effort to install a LACT Unit on the terminal.”
They asked the Senate panel to ensure that the ban on exports from the Ugo Ocha terminal is enforced and that the company is compelled to install a 1.25 million barrels per day LACT Unit (metering system).
The lawyers further prayed the committee to direct the Nigerian Navy to “arrest and detain the vessel “MT COPPER SPIRIT” which is currently lifting oil at the Ugo Ocha terminal, direct the NMDPRA and NUPRC to cancel all barging permits granted to NECONDE and NPDC until a LACT Unit is installed and commissioned at the Ugo Ocha terminal – as directed by NUPRC and direct the Nigeria Ports Authority to prohibit the movement of crude oil barges and tankers to and from the Ugo Ocha terminal.”