Daily fuel consumption probe: Reps summon Mansel MD, other officials

• …demand details of oil companies in DSDP contract

By Christiana Ekpa

House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the daily consumption of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country has demanded the details of oil consortium involved in the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited.

The Committee chaired by Hon. Abdulkadir Abdullahi made the demand at its resumed session with an oil consortium made up of 3 companies namely Ashgroup Energy Ltd; Jack Energy Solutions Ltd and Vitol SA, a Swiss based Company.

It will be noted that the DSDP arrangement is a deal whereby NNPC allows oil companies to lift crude and return a shipment of the same value in refined products in the country.

The Consortium represented by the Commercial Manager, Ashgroup Energy Ltd, Nazifi Alhassan and Murtala Baloni, Head, Public Affairs, Mansel Commercial Company, an affiliate Company linked to Vitol SA had made a submission which however did not meet the satisfaction of the investigative Committee.

The committee members had probed the involvement of the Consortium and the role of Mansel in the scheme as earlier explained by Baloni.

Baloni said that the committee needed to write to the Swiss embassy to obtain approval from the authorities before certain information could be disclosed of the Vitol SA.

He said that consortium was ready to provide all necessary information needed of it by the committee, stressing that that was the case with a Senate Committee.

A member of the Committee, Hon. Nkem Abonta (PDP Abia) had frowed at a foreign company for withholding the details of its transaction in the DSDP, demanding further scrutiny.

Vexed by the response, Abonta said the partners in Nigeria, particularly Mansel should be invited to explain. 

In his ruling, Chairman of the Committee, directed the Clerk to write a letter inviting the Managing Director (MD) of Mansel Commercial Company Ltd to appear before the Committee next week Tuesday.

In a related development, the House Committee also asked Oando Plc to provide the details of crude lifting, importation of refined products and other information as regards the DSDP arrangement.

The committee made the demand when the Head, Business Development, Oando Trading DDMC, Otaru Danjuma appeared before it.

The committee also inquired if the company entered into the deal as a consortium to which the representative answered in the negative.

“As a stand-alone company, when the allocations come out from NNPC, a request is made for us to deliver a cargo of products. The volumes differ. The dates differ. However, the crude is allocated as against the value of that product we have supplied. And what NNPC does sometimes is that NNPC releases an allocation, the allocation is valued and you requested to bring back PMS of that value and we reconcile. We reconcile on a quarterly basis.

“Upon arrival of the vessel, arrangements will have already been made by the NNPC to receive the cargo upon arrival. Our responsibility stops at the point of handover. We discharge to daughter vessels or jetties based on the instructions that are given to us by the PPMC. We don’t have depots”, Danjuma told the committee.

However, Hon. Abonta expressed concern Oando’s capacity to participate in the deal. 

He said “I think that for you to do this, you should have the capacity. And capacity means picking the crude, storing the products, storing and distributing them. Can you tell us the volume you have done?”

In his response, Danjuma said that the contract doesn’t include storage of crude.

“Like I said, immediately it is handed over, NNPC takes the title of it,” he said.

Other oil companies grilled by the Committee included Virgin Forest Energy Ltd, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd.