BUSINESS NNPC, Capital Oil disagree over ‘missing’ 82m litres of PMS
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Capital Oil and Gas, yesterday, disagreed over the actual value of the 82.120 million litres of petrol said to be missing kept under the later’s custody.
While the NNPC said the value of each litre was N131, Capital Oil said it was N120.
The Executive Director of NNPC Retail, Ibrahim Juma Dansure, told the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) investigating the matter that they had reached an agreement to store over 97 million litres of PMS at Capital Oil’s facilities since 2014.
However, he said when they demanded the product in February this year, they discovered that about 82.120 million litres were nowhere to be found and asked the firm for explanation.
“By the end of February, 2017, when top NNPC management did all the necessary checks, we discovered it was 82.120 million litres of PMS, equivalent to N11.144.bn at the rate of N131.28 per litre,” he said
He said Capital Oil had paid N2bn out of the amount, leaving a balance of N9.114bn, adding that the development was as a result of failure on the part of both parties.
However, Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas, Ifeanyi Uba, disagreed with the value of the products given by NNPC, saying the value of the product as at the time they carried out the deal was N120 per litre.
Uba said the N131 mentioned by NNPC was the current market rate, adding that: “NNPC claimed we owed N11bn but failed to reveal that they owed us N16bn with a key portion of the debt spanning over two years.”
He said his company did not commit any crime because all that they did was, “within the purview of the dynamics of the business practice in storage management worldwide.”
The committee, chaired by Rep. Joseph Akinlaja (PDP, Ondo) demanded the details of the contracts entered between NNPC and Capital Oil, among other documents.