Nigerian youths on the platforms of Ethnic Youth Leaders and Patriotic Youth Organizations have urged the Federal Government to sanitise the oil and gas industry and nationalise Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Ltd assets in the country.
In a protest in Abuja on Tuesday, the Ethnic Youth Leaders presented letters allegedly written by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), accusing the oil giant of understating the volume of crude oil which was pumped to the terminal.
They also presented another letter alleged to be from SPDC where the firm committed to refunding about 2.1 million barrels of crude to some local oil companies including Belema Oil, Newcross, AITEO and Eroton.
A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos on January 25 granted an interim Mareva injunction directing commercial banks to block SPDC and its subsidiaries accounts in a bid to recover the cash value of more than 16 million barrels of crude oil allegedly diverted by the oil giant from AITEO Eastern E & P Company Ltd.
Aiteo is claiming about $4billion against SPDC over alleged problems with the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) pipeline it bought from the Anglo-Dutch group in 2015 and over claims that Shell undercounted its oil exports.
The Patriotic Youth Organisation of Nigeria in a suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/252/2021 prayed the court to order the federal government “to expropriate, nationalise and take over all assets, investments and interests of Shell found anywhere or traceable within the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Speaking on behalf of the Ethnic Youth Leaders, the President of Middle Belt Youth Council, Godwin Meliga pledged “total support to the President Muhammadu Buhari economic agenda and anti-corruption stand.”
The group commended DPR Director Auwalu Sarki for “insisting that the right thing must be done” by firms operating in Nigeria’s oil sector, and for “making Nigerians proud by standing up to Shell” and imposing a fine on the firm.
It said: “As you are aware, Shell is the operator of the Bonny and Forcados crude oil export terminals which has the capacity of 5.7 million barrels and 6.3 million barrels respectively. This has made Shell the largest exporter of Nigeria’s crude oil.
“Shell was also the owner and operator of the OML 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) which it later sold sometime in 2015 to an indigenous company known as AITEO Eastern E & P Company Limited.
“This Company upon their acquisition of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line had an agreement with Shell, who as the operators of the Bonny Oil Terminal were to be the handlers of the crude oil injected into the Trunk Line by AITEO and other local oil companies that transport their oil to the terminal through NCTL.
“In our crude oil handling, there are allocations made for water and oil theft which are calculated and then deducted from the total volume of crude supplied by the various companies. The methodology for calculating the water and crude theft allocations are determined by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“This approved methodology is reviewed periodically in line with the Petroleum Act and issued as Guidelines by the DPR.
“In 2016, the DPR approved methodology was to be conducted with a metering system known as Leased Automatic Custody Transfer (LACT) and not any other system.
“However, following several complaints from Local Oil Companies (LOC’s) operating particularly on the Nembe Creek Trunk Line, the DPR conducted investigations and discovered that instead of using the approved metering system, Shell acting through its officers and agents, deployed an unapproved metering system, known as the Coriolis Flow Meter.
“DPR informed Shell that the Coriolis Flow Metering system which it installed does not have any approval. The DPR went ahead to sanction Shell and imposed a penalty of only N250, 000 for violations of the Petroleum Act and Mineral Oil Safety Regulation.”
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