NNPC disclaims ‘authorisation letter’ on crude oil lifting

The management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has raised an alarm over the circulation of fake letters of authorisation purportedly from the corporation to buy and sell Nigerian crude oil, its spokesman Ohi Alegbe, said on Monday.

It urged members of the public to be wary of persons with fraudulent intents circulating letters authorising the lifting of Bonny Light crude oil from Nigeria.

A paragraph in one of the fake letters of authorisation in circulation reads:

We hereby confirm that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has entered into contractual arrangements directly with Lavi International Corp, to supply Bonny Light Crude Oil to the Lavi International Corp Associated Refineries and or Global Traders, and that the Lavi International corp, has the power and authority to sell or otherwise deal with the Bonny Light Crude Oil, the subject of those contractual agreements.

However, NNPC, denied that Messrs Lavi International Corp is one of its crude oil off-takers for the 2014-2015 term contract periods, saying the corporation had not been allocated any crude oil volume as speculated in the fake letter of authorisation.

“The list of local and international companies duly approved as NNPC’s crude oil off-takers for the 2014-2015 term contract periods has been widely publicised and members of the public are enjoined to avail themselves of such information to avoid being duped by unscrupulous elements,” Alegbe said, adding that NNPC was “working closely with relevant security agencies to track and bring to book all those behind these nefarious activities.”