India is now Nigeria’s number one crude buyer, an
importation that grosses $15 billion yearly. But under Diezani
Alison-Madueke, commission agents creamed away some of the billions, when
Nigeria’s treasury ought to have enjoyed the full benefit. Nigeria is the only
oil producing nation selling its oil this way. Other nations make the sale,
country-country.
"From other countries, when we buy oil , whatever we want to
pay, we pay to the Ministry of Finance of that country. In Nigeria, we pay to
intermediaries. We would like to be dealing directly with the Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It’s not a good thing. Why should we go through
intermediaries?
Secondly, we would also like to have long term agreement,
which we have with many countries: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other
countries from where we buy oil . Nigeria is the only country with whom
we don’t
have an agreement. .. When we write a letter to NNPC, we don’t get a
response," Ghanashyam told Nigeria’s newspaper, Daily Trust.
The newspaper quoting NNPC 2014 Annual Statistical Bulletin
reported that India bought 136,419,844 barrels of crude oil from Nigeria. The
relationship continues.
The Indian High Commissioner added that apart from the lack
of long-term agreement between the two countries on crude oil purchases, in 2006,
an Indian company, Oil & Natural Gas Commission Videsh Limited (OVL) and
Mittal Energy International, which is a joint venture between OVL, an Indian
government company, and Mittal Energy a private firm, applied for oil
concession. The Signature bonus sum of $25 million was paid, but neither was
the oil concession granted nor the money paid returned to the Indian companies.
"How many years is it? Nine years. Even to get the
concession is not possible, and the money is not refunded to us. For nine years
your country has been sitting on this, and they make us go round and round and
round. We buy $15 billion worth of crude oil per year and we have the potential
of importing $50 billion worth of crude oil from Nigeria. We can buy more
because our requirement is going up.
But if you continue to make us to pay through agents, and
continue to ask us to buy from the swap market, it means you don’t trust us,
and if you don’t trust us, we have to look for those who trust us more. We are
making concessions to Nigeria by buying your crude oil because you’re our old
friends and we’ve been friends for a long time, and your crude oil is better
quality. But you must take our interest into account."
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