Subsidy Probe: Oil Companies deny receiving payment from Nigerian Government

Operators in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector have denied receiving subsidy payment from the government since 2015.

The Companies made the revelation at the resumed hearing of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc committee set up to investigate the petroleum products subsidy regime from 2017 to 2021

The Companies that appeared before the Committee include; Sahara Energy Trading Company, Oando, Mocoh S.A, A.A. Rano and Hyde Energy Limited were all unanimous in their statement that they did not receive subsidy payment from the government.

They said that transaction between them and the Nigerian government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) now Nigerian National Petroleum Limited was on the Direct Sale, Direct Purchase (DSDP) basis, adding that no money has exchanged hands between them and the NNPC as a result of their involvement in importation of petroleum products into the country.

The Chairman of the Committee, Ibrahim Aliyu disclosed that the Corporate Affairs Commission also has no records of the existence of 23 of the over 50 companies involved in the DSDP project with the NNPC.

“A letter from the office of the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission Ref. RGO/SU/VOL.5/2022/0248, dated 13th July, 2022 and signed by one Maimunat Hamu reads “please be informed that we could not readily find information on the exact name of the following companies as provided in our record. 

“The Companies include Emadeb Consortium, Britania-U Nig. Limited, Totsa Total Oil Trading SA, Petroleum Trading Nigeria Limited, Mocoh S.A, Socer Worldwide, Calson Bermuda Ltd, Hyson, Litasco S.A, Mercuria Energy, Cepsa Lubricant, Trafigura Pte, Vitol S.A, Ocanbed Trading Limited, Bonno Energy, West Africa Gas Limited, Petrogas, Matrix, Masters Energy, AMG, Barbedos, Hindustan and Patermina. However, you may wish to provide the registration numbers or any other available documents at your disposal to enable us to investigate further. Kindly accept assurances of the Registrar General’s highest regards.” Aliyu said.

They claimed that the agreement between them and the NNPC has always been on a DSDP basis and that they are only required to supply products as specified by the NNPC in exchange for the crude oil allocated to them.

“No payment is made to us. It is purely a swap deal. We take crude and bring in petroleum products. We have not received any cash payment. Even after reconciliation, any outstanding is carried over.”

Representative of Sahara trading Company, Stephanie Oseni said the company’s partnership with the NNPC is to take crude and deliver petroleum products equivalent of the crude to the NNPC.

“We import products as specified in the DSDP and are not involved in subsidy payment. We have never received any subsidy payment as part of our contract. We do reconciliation quarterly with the NNPC. Even when there are shortfall, it is carried over to the next supply,” she said.

Also, the Head of Legal and Compliance with Hyde Energy Limited, Abdulwahab Oseni said even though his company was part of the DSDP programme, they have never received any payment for subsidy from the NNPC or any government agency.