Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Mr. Yusuf Matashi, has disclosed that the company was in talks with statutory government agencies such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to agree on an installed payment timelines for the company’s historical financial liabilities to these agencies.
Matashi stated this when he made a presentation to the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the recovery of unremitted oil revenue in Abuja.
A statement by the Group General Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Ndu Ughamadu in Abuja stated that Matashi also provided clarification on the reported non-remittance of some crude oil revenue to the Federation Account by the NPDC, saying that some of the quoted figures were not agreeable with the books of the company.
Overtime, the NPDC has been indicted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) of poor financial practices in remittance of oil revenue to the Federation Account, as well as repayment for oil blocks divested to it by International Oil Companies (IOCs) in various oil blocks divestment exercises in the past.
But providing clarification on the alleged non-remittance of crude proceeds from some divested oil wells such as Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 61, 62 and 63, Matashi explained that the value of crude oil lifted by NPDC between May 2013 and August 2016 from them was $3.294 billion as against $3.487 which the Senate Committee claimed.
He also told the Committee that on the basis of the ministerial assignment of the oil blocks to NPDC, cash-call funding of the assets by the government subsequently ceased, necessitating the company to fund the cost of production and lifting of crude oil by itself.
“According to our records total crude oil lifted from OMLs 60-63 by NPDC during the period May 2013 to August 2016 is valued at $3.294 billion against the figure of $3.487 billion. OMLs 65, 111 and 119 referred to by the Senate Committee are not part of the divested assets,” he said.
He stated that the figures given refer to as the Good Valuable Consideration obligation payments in respect of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) divested asset – OMLs 4, 38 and 41 and OMLs 26, 30, 34, 40 and 42.
According to him: “The $1.847 billion referred to by the Committee is the total Good and Valuable Consideration (G&VC) determined by DPR for the divested assets. The $100 million referred to as paid is part of the G&VC which has been paid by NPDC.”
He said a balance of $1.747 billion for the G&VC was recognised by the NPDC and would be paid in in the future to the Federation Account as captured in company’s books.
On the report that a total of $344.3442 million worth of crude oil was not remitted between January and August 2016, as well as non-payment of due royalties and taxes within the period, Matashi said: “The committee is invited to note that the actual value of crude oil liftings from all assets divested to NPDC is a total of $584.1 million for the period January to August 2016. NPDC has paid a total of $608.4 million as royalty and PPT.”
He noted that a total of $608, 417, 937 was made by the NPDC as royalty and Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) in 2016, adding that the company was required to pay royalties to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and PPT to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
