Capital Oil Accuses NNPC of Consistent Breach of Contract

Seeks account reconciliation with corporation

Capital Oil and Gas Limited has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of consistent breach of contractual agreement, saying the allegation by the corporation that it could not access over 100 million litres of petrol stored in the company’s depot was a calculated attempt to stifle and strangulate the private company.

The company said in a statement yesterday that it had earlier reported this act of strangulation to the Senate in a petition against the NNPC, which was read on the floor of the Senate on March 8, 2017, adding that it had also submitted a similar petition against the NNPC to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as the Department of State Services (DSS).

Capital Oil has also called for account reconciliation with the NNPC, stressing that the corporation is indebted to it for services rendered to it at very critical periods to salvage nationwide fuel scarcity since 2015, which amounted to millions of dollars and billions of Naira.

The company further alleged that the NNPC also failed to deliver petroleum products, which it had duly paid for.

It also revealed that it had trucked out over seven billion litres of petroleum products for the NNPC over the last few years, thus making the company their biggest partner in the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

“NNPC has a subsisting contract with our company which is on throughput basis. The corporation has consistently been in breach and default of our contractual agreement by owing us money for services rendered. Payments from NNPC for services rendered by our company have consistently been delayed for periods spanning over one year and remains unpaid till date. Currently, NNPC owes us for services rendered to the corporation at very critical periods to salvage nationwide fuel scarcity since 2015 (more than two years now) amounting to millions of Dollars and billions of Naira,” Capital Oil explained.

The company added that it had written several letters to the NNPC, requesting for outstanding payments and products it had duly paid for.

“Rather than honour our request, we are shocked that the Corporation had resorted to this needless campaign of calumny while refusing to make payments and deliver our products to us till date. We respect the fact that NNPC is our biggest partner in the downstream sector and we have always stood by the Corporation especially in times of national emergencies (product scarcity). We have proudly rendered intervention services at all critical times in the life of our nation. It is on record that few months ago, when the same NNPC had a serious break in its supply chain and in a bid to avert an imminent national scarcity, Capital Oil & Gas Industries Limited lent the Corporation millions of product to close the gap,” the company added.

NNPC’s spokesman, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, had said in a statement at the weekend that the corporation had reported Capital Oil to the DSS and EFCC for illegal sale of about 100 million litres of petrol that belongs to the corporation, which was stored in the private company’s depot.

Ughamadu said the involvement of DSS and EFCC was part of measures to achieve full recovery of the product or its cash equivalent.