A member of the board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Senator Magnus Abe has denied media reports that the Petroleum Minister Cronies plot kangaroo NNPC report to divert $650 million oil contracts to themselves.
Magnus said: “There is nothing in the committee assignment that involved the allocation of oil blocks. Nigerians however need to know that Kaztec Engineering limited a local company was awarded contracts worth over $650m by Addax petroleum to develop the oil fields operated by Addax petroleum.”
In 2015 the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari in keeping with its anti-corruption agenda accused Addax of tax atrocities which resulted in substantial losses to the federal government.
Addax was asked to pay, in response, they declared a force majeure on their exploration activities and cancelled their investments in the oil fields.
The Nigerian company Kaztec, a company that has invested 650million dollars in the project with Addax was forced to bear the brunt of the entire dispute, which was actually between Addax petroleum and the Nigerian government.
Over 3,000 workers were laid off, equipment, vessels, and a fabrication yard worth billions of Naira borrowed from Nigerian banks was laid waste.
“There is absolutely no scam on oil blocks, or contracts involved in the Kaztec committee report. Issues of revocation, allocation and management of oil blocks are exclusively the preserve of the Department of Petroleum Resources.”
