By Udeme Akpan, Michael Eboh, Ediri Ejoh & Ezra Ukanwa

There was controversy, yesterday, over the status of operations of the commodity trading subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Duke Oil Services, in London.

Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that the company shut down its London operations, following the $96 billion judgement debt a UK court imposed on Nigeria in favour of P&ID

NNPC

However, when contacted, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated that the shut down of the company’s operations had no connection with the P&ID issue, as the NNPC still has an office in London that is far bigger than Duke Oil’s.

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Nigeria is currently faced with a $9.6 billion judgement claim instituted by Process and Industrial Development, P&ID, Limited. P&ID had secured an order from a British court to seize Nigeria’s assets in the United Kingdom and elsewhere over the failure of the country to pay the judgement debt.

In a filing to the authorities in the United Kingdom, through ‘Companies House’ in July, Duke Oil Services had disclosed that it would cease trading in the United Kingdom by June 2019 and would become dormant by December 31, 2019.

The filing sent to Companies House in UK was signed by Inuwa Ibrahim Waya, a Director of Duke Oil.

Waya said: “After considering the outlook for the company’s affairs for the next 12 months, the Directors have taken the decision to relocate the company’s operations overseas in quarter two of 2019. At this point, the company will cease trade and is expected to be dormant after the year ended December 31, 2019.

“The directors expect an orderly winding down of activity of activity during which time all liabilities of the company are expected to be paid and all receivable balances collected. Where possible, equipment will be transferred to the new location and any remaining non-current assets sold for the recoverable value.

“No adjustments have been made to the financial statements as a result, as the directors are of the opinion that all balances are already held at their recoverable values.”

In the filing, Duke Oil had declared a profit of 174,118 pounds for the financial year ended, December 31, 2018, compared to 90,980 pounds recorded in the 2017 financial year.

The company had posted a revenue of 1.7 million pounds in 2018, rising by 89.3 per cent from 898,704 pounds in 2017, other income of 203 pounds and administrative expenses of 1.478 million pounds, as against 781,482 pounds recorded in 2017.

Blame our leaders— Boyo

Meanwhile, a petroleum and economic expert, Henry Boyo, said in his reaction to the judgement debt: “It is without doubts that the P&ID debacle is a reflection of the lackadaisical and possibly selfish attitude of Nigerian leaders and public servants in the performance of their duties.

‘’The Attorney-General, for example, has not explained why they kept ignoring this Sword of Damocle on our financial stability from as far back as 2015, after this odious liability had been reduced to $850 million by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

“In retrospect, the full execution of the agreement between the Nigerian government and P&ID would have probably changed the landscape of the Nigerian oil and gas, power  industry and also clearly impacted positively on the level of our foreign reserves and employment, and possibly also lowered our carbon footprint!

“Notably also, under the agreement, Nigeria would have received 85 percent of the refined gas from P&ID’s facility, “free of charge” (FOC), for power generation, which would cost-effectively drive our heavy industries and provide more electricity and cheaper cooking gas for more Nigerians nationwide.

Addax keeps mum

A week after the slamming of $9.6 billion penalty judgement debt by the United Kingdom court, on Nigeria, Addax Petroleum, which is owned by Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation, SIPC, has failed to explain its role in the controversial gas pipeline deal.

In a text message to Vanguard, yesterday, the company stated: “We will revert as soon as we have an official response.”

Vanguard had requested the company to comment on some important issues, including the details of its involvement in the project.

However, under the terms of the agreement that guided the activities of P&ID, founded in 2006 by two Irishmen, Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill, with the Federal Government, the company was to build and operate an accelerated gas development project at Adiabo in Odukpani Local Government Area, LGA, of Cross River State.

The agreement, it was gathered, required the Federal Government to supply natural gas from Addax Petroleum-operated Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 123 and 67 for P&ID to refine into fuel suitable for power generation in the country.

According to the agreement, the initial volume of gas was about 150 million cubic feet per day, which would be ramped up to about 400 million cubic feet per day during the 20-year-period.

Vanguard