Crude swap: NNPC, Taleveras reconcile accounts

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it has reached settlement agreements with Taleveras Group of Companies, AITEO Energy Resource Limited and Ontario Oil in the long-running $184 million crude oil swap affair.

Taleveras will make an initial settlement payment of $17 million before further payments in $10 million tranches.

AITEO has also reached a repayment agreement but Ontario is yet to submit its plan.

NNPC commended the companies for reconciling their accounts and agreeing on a settlement plan to close the matter.

Maikanti Baru, the group managing director of NNPC, said in Abuja on Friday that the agreement was a product of “ongoing extensive reconciliation” process with the affected companies.

Ndu Ughamadu, group general manger, public affairs, quoted Baru as saying: “We have engaged them and positively too. So far, AITEO has been very cooperative and we had extensive reconciliation across all our chains of businesses where they are involved.

“In the case of Televaras, they have agreed to make tranche payment of $10 million while Ontario has also agreed to come to the table with our team and present their repayment schedule.”

Baru said the recovery process is geared towards ensuring probity and accountability in the operations of the corporation in line with current reforms in the industry.

He also said NNPC was determined to recover the outstanding stock of its missing petrol in Capital oil depot.

NNPC announced last week plans to achieve full recovery of over 130 million litres of petrol stored in the facilities of two indigenous downstream operators, MRS Limited and Capital Oil & Gas Limited, under a throughput arrangement.

Henry Ikem Obih, NNPC chief operating officer, downstream, had explained that the violation was discovered earlier in the year when the corporation needed  to access the over 100 million litres of petrol stored at the Capital Oil & Gas depot for NNPC Retail.

He said MRS has fully complied by returning the 30 million litres of petrol it expropriated.

Capital Oil & Gas still owes 82 million litres of petrol, valued at N11 billion.