Oil Theft Worsened After Jonathan’s Election
Thu, 28/06/2012 - 2:14am | BLESSING ANARO Cover Stories News
The claim by players in the oil and gas sector that oil theft has been on the rise in Nigeria has been supported by findings.

Alexandra Gillies, governance adviser at Revenue Watch Institute, said the proliferation of middlemen involved in selling Nigeria’s oil since Jonathan’s election last year had resulted in considerable uncertainty over ownership.

“If NNPC only issued term contracts to companies with the capacity to lift crude, then nobody would be able to pose as a company flipping (reselling) a cargo. The confusion is a symptom of Nigeria’s sub-optimal system for selling its oil,” she said.

The large number of companies involved in selling oil via term contracts means it can be tough for even experienced traders to tell the difference between real and fake offers.

Industry sources said the number of companies selling Nigeria’s oil increased dramatically after Jonathan’s election as part of a strategy to broaden local participation in the country’s oil sector.

According to documents cited by Reuters it revealed that oil thieves were offering mouth-watering $10 million discounts to lure buyers to take off the commodity from their hands, even as traders feared the deal was too good to be genuine.

Representatives of oil thieves, according to the documents, showed spot cargoes of several hundred thousand barrels of crude could be picked up at discounts of up to $10 million.

But the documents are suspiciously flawed, suggesting the financial scams for which Nigeria is notorious have spread to its oil sector.

State oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has placed a “Scam Alert” on its website warning of “unsavoury characters purporting to be bona fide staff of the NNPC or contractors to NNPC or purchasers of Nigerian crude oil or contractors to the Nigerian government”.

The sellers include one UK-registered firm purporting to be near the top of a sales chain in which oil cargoes can change hands up to half a dozen times before being refined.

Two of the firms contacted by Reuters said they were able to sell oil cheaply because of special access to NNPC contracts.
The documents point to the difficulty faced by President Goodluck Jonathan in making reforms when there is considerable doubt over who is responsible for selling the oil.

One recent step has been the creation of higher barriers to entry for participation in NNPC’s 2012-2013 term allocations. The results have not appeared since the initial tender document was released in March.

On Tuesday Jonathan sacked the managing director of the NNPC and three other senior directors.

A report that government-funded watchdog the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) sent to the authorities in January showed billions of dollars missing from Nigeria’s oil revenues.

Five written offers reviewed by Reuters show a close resemblance to official paperwork circulated among traders, including documents attributed to NNPC, stamps from terminal operators and shipping lists with vessels and loading dates.

They include arcane oil market jargon such as ‘laycan’, which refers to the timeframe for loading and ‘STS’ meaning ship-to-ship transfer of the cargo.

One shipping list showed a tanker called the ‘Elsa Craig’ - a name close to an actual Panama-flagged crude oil tanker called the Ailsa Craig 1 - next to other cargoes booked by western oil majors such as Chevron.

“They are full of imagination,” said a West African oil trader, commenting on the document.

A second oil trader with a London-based oil firm suspected that some of these offers were attempts to resell the oil siphoned off by thieves in the Niger Delta, since the majority of offers were for the local grade Bonny Light.

“A lot of this oil on the side may be bunkered (stolen) and does go to people in the Delta to sell. It’s a side business and I think some buyers are doing good business there,” he said.

A third oil trader said he had considered buying a cargo from an Abuja-based company called Sunny Industrial Lubricant but rejected it only after a member of the compliance team noticed a flaw in the NNPC logo.

NNPC’s logo - a green, red and yellow wagon wheel - has 20 spokes compared with 22 on this document.

“We discovered that the logo was not fully accurate. It’s difficult to distinguish and it’s a big risk,” said the oil trader who asked not to be named.

When contacted by Reuters via email, the firm’s chief executive, Sunny Eze, said he was able to gain access to oil produced in excess of Nigeria’s official OPEC production target, known as ‘off-OPEC’ crude.

“Our company outsources crude oil for buyers from NNPC bulk allocation, otherwise known as OFF-OPEC. We are using our strong influence with NNPC JVC to outsource and deliver products to interested buyers,” he said in an emailed response to Reuters’ questions about the company. OPEC has not assigned individual OPEC country quotas since last year.

Another firm, the UK-registered Current Energy, said in an offer letter that it was reselling 5 million barrels a month of the benchmark Bonny Light grade obtained from an NNPC contract holder at $6 a barrel below the market price.

This amounts to a saving of $6 million per cargo, about 7 per cent on a cargo that would currently cost around $90 million.

Reuters shipping data showed that 4 million to 8 million barrels of this grade, sourced from the Niger Delta, have been available for export monthly this year.

When contacted by Reuters, company director Akin Aboaba said he was reselling oil obtained from an NNPC contract holder who had received the oil to compensate for oil spills from regional pipelines.

Nigeria’s oil is sold by equity holders including oil majors Total and Royal Dutch Shell, which have a stake in production and via term contracts handed mostly to oil trading firms.

But critics point to this as an example of the cronyism that is helping to buttress support for Nigeria’s political elite.

“It will be interesting to see whether the issuing of the latest crude tender to include Nigerian companies is a return to the political patronage of the past dressed up as increasing Nigerian content,” said an oil industry consulting source in Nigeria.

Under every new regime, military or civilian, the list of those authorised to sell Nigerian crude is usually torn up and a new one issued to include friends of the new government.

Last year’s allocation list showed a considerable increase in recipients from 2010 and had more than 40 names ranging from top commodities trading houses such as Glencore and Trafigura to little-known Nigerian firms including Masters E. and Delaney.

“NNPC makes a lot of decisions in an opaque way, without much oversight ... Politics and discretion likely play a big role,” said Revenue Watch’s Gillies.

Term contracts allocated to oil firms without the know-how or logistics to handle multi-million dollar oil shipments are often re-sold or “flipped” to other traders, industry sources said, making it hard to verify who really has oil to sell.

http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/28408/2012/06/28/oil_theft_worsened_after_jonathans_election.html

Oga GEJ u don hear ?

He's "our" son. lmao.

Thank God it was not reported by SaharaReporters because GEJ supporters on NL would have rubbish it as political opponents trying to stop GEJ,imagine what is going on with our crude and billions lost on a monthly basis.
Did GEJ address this issue on the Media Chat? You guess is as good as mine,when Bakare said this government want to bankrupt this nation NLanders were quick to call him fake prophet.
Who is Police going to interrogate,GEJ of Bakare?

^^^ It would have been better if reported by Sahara Reporters. Atleast I know I'm not getting sugar-coated, bribed news.

What do you sycophants mean ? What about the Cocoa theft in the West and Groundnut theft in the North ? All man wan survive on Oil....from the Niger Delta. Lazy rats.

talkin about paper wrks nigeria are d best.
Wats on paper is utterly different frm wats on ground,
I really feel is tym we face our problems d way dey confront us and 4get about dese paper works dey never add up


I knw wat am sayin cos were i leave here in warri bunkry is d order of d day, a lot of money is been made tru it and dey are not recorded on paper.

we need no report b4 we solve our problems, d truth is dat most of our politicians benefit frm dese illegal bussiness goin on day by day in d creeks, dnt want 2 mention names but here in warri we knw them and day knw dem selves

The man must have good intenton.to boost local participation in oil business.we should only be looking forward to dealing with attendant difficulty associated with such participation. Equally,the report didnt say the bunkering started with GEJ's era,it only said it got worsened with the given reason above.i think the govt should look increase the impetus with which they fight this scourge.No matter what the intention of govt is in boosting local partcipation,if they fail to fight this issue properly,...i pray GEJ get the balls to tackle nigeria corruption probs cos fighting corruption in nigeria democracy will hardly yield fruit.

The above topic represents a subjective analysis of govts genuine efforts to ensure local content in our petroleum sector. This is the burden that the present Minster has come to grapple with even before her assumption of office last year. Her drive is to divest much of foreign control of oil exports thus bringing her in conflict with the IOC's.

The author of the piece admitted this much in the fourth paragraph viz: " Industry sources say the number of companies selling oil increased dramatically after Jonathan's election as PART OF A STRATEGY TO BROADEN LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN OIL SECTOR.." This no doubt is a policy initiative deserving of commendation. The article now tried to discredit this good policy on account of the activities of those who engage in age long oil bunkering. It read " ... oil thieves were offering mouth watering offers $10 m discounts to take the commodity of their hands..."

Now the big question is, did oil bunkering business in Nigeria start today? The answer is No. The second question then is, is the relevant govt authority in support of these bunkering and oil theft? The answer to this question is captured in the seventh paragraph viz; "...state oil company NNPC has placed a SCAM ALERT on its website warning of unsavory characters purporting to be bona Fide staff of NNPC or contractors to NNPC or purchasers of Nigerian crude oil or contractors to Nigerian govt..." does this in anyway suggest complicity by the authorities? The answer is No.

The article went further to exonerate Diezani by hinting of the efforts by govt to entrench hitherto non existing processes for participation. Paragraph 10 reads thus: "... One recent step that has been taken is the creation of high barriers for entry for participation in NNPC's 2012-2013 term allocations..." The article went ahead to hint that the Fg sponsored NEITI to do an investigation of the sector( thus reinforcing GEJ's claim on media chat on Sunday that he had long before the House probe taken steps to probe the oil sector) . NEITI submitted its report in January and revealed that billions of oil revenue are being lost to theft prompting the MINISTER TO INVITE MALLAM NUHU RIBADU to oversee our oil revenue.

Last Tuesday, GEJ sacked the NNPC Directors as part of govts continuous sanitisatisation of the sector. Ordinarily, these were matters that previous administrations failed to probe. Bunkering has always been good business in the history of Nigeria. But this govt is taking a bold step to handle it while ensuring that there is local content in our crude oil export sector. GEJ and Diezani deserves our maximum support.

GBAM! On Point!

Thanks for sharing.

Occupy your resources

Oga Jona is the number one oil thief, these other guys know it and that is why they engage in oil theft without remorse. Though there has been oil theft before Jonathan's regime, it got to a whole new level in his own time as the writer correctly pointed out.

dedeike: The above topic represents a subjective analysis of govts genuine efforts to ensure local content in our petroleum sector. This is the burden that the present Minster has come to grapple with even before her assumption of office last year. Her drive is to divest much of foreign control of oil exports thus bringing her in conflict with the IOC's. The author of the piece admitted this much in the fourth paragraph viz: " Industry sources say the number of companies selling oil increased dramatically after Jonathan's election as PART OF A STRATEGY TO BROADEN LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN OIL SECTOR.." This no doubt is a policy initiative deserving of commendation. The article now tried to discredit this good policy on account of the activities of those who engage in age long oil bunkering. It read " ... oil thieves were offering mouth watering offers $10 m discounts to take the commodity of their hands..." Now the big question is, did oil bunkering business in Nigeria start today? The answer is No. The second question then is, is the relevant govt authority in support of these bunkering and oil theft? The answer to this question is captured in the seventh paragraph viz; "...state oil company NNPC has placed a SCAM ALERT on its website warning of unsavory characters purporting to be bona Fide staff of NNPC or contractors to NNPC or purchasers of Nigerian crude oil or contractors to Nigerian govt..." does this in anyway suggest complicity by the authorities? The answer is No. The article went further to exonerate Diezani by hinting of the efforts by govt to entrench hitherto non existing processes for participation. Paragraph 10 reads thus: "... One recent step that has been taken is the creation of high barriers for entry for participation in NNPC's 2012-2013 term allocations..." The article went ahead to hint that the Fg sponsored NEITI to do an investigation of the sector( thus reinforcing GEJ's claim on media chat on Sunday that he had long before the House probe taken steps to probe the oil sector) . NEITI submitted its report in January and revealed that billions of oil revenue are being lost to theft prompting the MINISTER TO INVITE MALLAM NUHU RIBADU to oversee our oil revenue. Last Tuesday, GEJ sacked the NNPC Directors as part of govts continuous sanitisatisation of the sector. Ordinarily, these were matters that previous administrations failed to probe. Bunkering has always been good business in the history of Nigeria. But this govt is taking a bold step to handle it while ensuring that there is local content in our crude oil export sector. GEJ and Diezani deserves our maximum support.

well said. Pls educate these f.ools who don't knw jack about the sector but keep ranting for Diezani's sack

sheyguy: Oga Jona is the number one oil thief, these other guys know it and that is why they engage in oil theft without remorse. Though there has been oil theft before Jonathan's regime, it got to a whole new level in his own time as the writer correctly pointed out.

And where's the proof of this rubbish you wrote?

dedeike: The above topic represents a subjective analysis of govts genuine efforts to ensure local content in our petroleum sector. This is the burden that the present Minster has come to grapple with even before her assumption of office last year. Her drive is to divest much of foreign control of oil exports thus bringing her in conflict with the IOC's. The author of the piece admitted this much in the fourth paragraph viz: " Industry sources say the number of companies selling oil increased dramatically after Jonathan's election as PART OF A STRATEGY TO BROADEN LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN OIL SECTOR.." This no doubt is a policy initiative deserving of commendation. The article now tried to discredit this good policy on account of the activities of those who engage in age long oil bunkering. It read " ... oil thieves were offering mouth watering offers $10 m discounts to take the commodity of their hands..." Now the big question is, did oil bunkering business in Nigeria start today? The answer is No. The second question then is, is the relevant govt authority in support of these bunkering and oil theft? The answer to this question is captured in the seventh paragraph viz; "...state oil company NNPC has placed a SCAM ALERT on its website warning of unsavory characters purporting to be bona Fide staff of NNPC or contractors to NNPC or purchasers of Nigerian crude oil or contractors to Nigerian govt..." does this in anyway suggest complicity by the authorities? The answer is No. The article went further to exonerate Diezani by hinting of the efforts by govt to entrench hitherto non existing processes for participation. Paragraph 10 reads thus: "... One recent step that has been taken is the creation of high barriers for entry for participation in NNPC's 2012-2013 term allocations..." The article went ahead to hint that the Fg sponsored NEITI to do an investigation of the sector( thus reinforcing GEJ's claim on media chat on Sunday that he had long before the House probe taken steps to probe the oil sector) . NEITI submitted its report in January and revealed that billions of oil revenue are being lost to theft prompting the MINISTER TO INVITE MALLAM NUHU RIBADU to oversee our oil revenue. Last Tuesday, GEJ sacked the NNPC Directors as part of govts continuous sanitisatisation of the sector. Ordinarily, these were matters that previous administrations failed to probe. Bunkering has always been good business in the history of Nigeria. But this govt is taking a bold step to handle it while ensuring that there is local content in our crude oil export sector. GEJ and Diezani deserves our maximum support.

Nice analysis, most folks on NL will only look at the heading of the thread and start insulting others.

What government is failing to realize in their bid to encourage local participation in the oil industry is that some industries like in the oil sector is not an "all comers game"
It's nice to note that high barriers of entry have been created in the NNPC 2012 -2013 term allocation participation.
It will be better if term allocation is done ones in ten years, that will bring sanity to the sector, imagine the nightmare buyers of crude are going through to identify genuine sellers of Nigerian crude, looking for errors in the offer placement to know if it is a fraud. A 10 year allocation regime will make it easier to know the Nigeria industry players to buy crude from.

dedeike: The above topic represents a subjective analysis of govts genuine efforts to ensure local content in our petroleum sector. This is the burden that the present Minster has come to grapple with even before her assumption of office last year. Her drive is to divest much of foreign control of oil exports thus bringing her in conflict with the IOC's. The author of the piece admitted this much in the fourth paragraph viz: " Industry sources say the number of companies selling oil increased dramatically after Jonathan's election as PART OF A STRATEGY TO BROADEN LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN OIL SECTOR.." This no doubt is a policy initiative deserving of commendation. The article now tried to discredit this good policy on account of the activities of those who engage in age long oil bunkering. It read " ... oil thieves were offering mouth watering offers $10 m discounts to take the commodity of their hands..." Now the big question is, did oil bunkering business in Nigeria start today? The answer is No. The second question then is, is the relevant govt authority in support of these bunkering and oil theft? The answer to this question is captured in the seventh paragraph viz; "...state oil company NNPC has placed a SCAM ALERT on its website warning of unsavory characters purporting to be bona Fide staff of NNPC or contractors to NNPC or purchasers of Nigerian crude oil or contractors to Nigerian govt..." does this in anyway suggest complicity by the authorities? The answer is No. The article went further to exonerate Diezani by hinting of the efforts by govt to entrench hitherto non existing processes for participation. Paragraph 10 reads thus: "... One recent step that has been taken is the creation of high barriers for entry for participation in NNPC's 2012-2013 term allocations..." The article went ahead to hint that the Fg sponsored NEITI to do an investigation of the sector( thus reinforcing GEJ's claim on media chat on Sunday that he had long before the House probe taken steps to probe the oil sector) . NEITI submitted its report in January and revealed that billions of oil revenue are being lost to theft prompting the MINISTER TO INVITE MALLAM NUHU RIBADU to oversee our oil revenue. Last Tuesday, GEJ sacked the NNPC Directors as part of govts continuous sanitisatisation of the sector. Ordinarily, these were matters that previous administrations failed to probe. Bunkering has always been good business in the history of Nigeria. But this govt is taking a bold step to handle it while ensuring that there is local content in our crude oil export sector. GEJ and Diezani deserves our maximum support.

Sorry, Sir, you lie. NEITI was not set up by Jonathan. It was set up by Obasanjo, normally a despicable character. But we have to tell the truth

Obiageli (formerly of the Due Process office and now at the World Bank) and that name-dropper Segun Adeniyi were part of the team
They did a good job at NEITI, probing the oil secto

It is unfortunate that GEJ's people pretend GEJ is the only one that has ever done anything to sanitise this country

Forget about NEITI for a while
There was an audit by KPMG comissioned under GEJ
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/kpmg-how-nigeria-lost-65m-through-demurrage/117051/

When will the KPMG report be transmitted to Deziani?
An audit was commissioned by the government and its report submitted. More than 7 months after its submission, the minister in charge of the sector, Deziani, confirmed to all Nigerians (during the subsidy probe) that that report "had not been transmitted to her"?
Who was holding the report?
Why did the minister not ask for it?
Or was she not interested in the findings?
Or was she just interested in telling the whole world - we have engaged an international firm to audit the activities of NNPC.
Attention of Nigerians diverted
Objective achieved, Case closed!

dedeike: The above topic represents a subjective analysis of govts genuine efforts to ensure local content in our petroleum sector. This is the burden that the present Minster has come to grapple with even before her assumption of office last year. Her drive is to divest much of foreign control of oil exports thus bringing her in conflict with the IOC's. The author of the piece admitted this much in the fourth paragraph viz: " Industry sources say the number of companies selling oil increased dramatically after Jonathan's election as PART OF A STRATEGY TO BROADEN LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN OIL SECTOR.." This no doubt is a policy initiative deserving of commendation. The article now tried to discredit this good policy on account of the activities of those who engage in age long oil bunkering. It read " ... oil thieves were offering mouth watering offers $10 m discounts to take the commodity of their hands..." Now the big question is, did oil bunkering business in Nigeria start today? The answer is No. The second question then is, is the relevant govt authority in support of these bunkering and oil theft? The answer to this question is captured in the seventh paragraph viz; "...state oil company NNPC has placed a SCAM ALERT on its website warning of unsavory characters purporting to be bona Fide staff of NNPC or contractors to NNPC or purchasers of Nigerian crude oil or contractors to Nigerian govt..." does this in anyway suggest complicity by the authorities? The answer is No. The article went further to exonerate Diezani by hinting of the efforts by govt to entrench hitherto non existing processes for participation. Paragraph 10 reads thus: "... One recent step that has been taken is the creation of high barriers for entry for participation in NNPC's 2012-2013 term allocations..." The article went ahead to hint that the Fg sponsored NEITI to do an investigation of the sector( thus reinforcing GEJ's claim on media chat on Sunday that he had long before the House probe taken steps to probe the oil sector) . NEITI submitted its report in January and revealed that billions of oil revenue are being lost to theft prompting the MINISTER TO INVITE MALLAM NUHU RIBADU to oversee our oil revenue. Last Tuesday, GEJ sacked the NNPC Directors as part of govts continuous sanitisatisation of the sector. Ordinarily, these were matters that previous administrations failed to probe. Bunkering has always been good business in the history of Nigeria. But this govt is taking a bold step to handle it while ensuring that there is local content in our crude oil export sector. GEJ and Diezani deserves our maximum support.

I couldn't have said it better. We are fast to pick holes in everything,but our reading culture will never die. Thank you Dedeike,you beat me to this,and I must commend you for being a crusader for the good of this country. I believe that most of these haters and enemies of state are involved in this act of national and economic sabotage,but let them continue because sooner than later,they will be caught and the petroleum sector will finally breathe an air of sanity.

Every theft worsened with Jonathan becoming President ( call it election if you like).

High_Chief: Occupy your resources

chief! why excluded yourself aren't you part of us!

BetaThings:

Sorry, Sir, you lie. NEITI was not set up by Jonathan. It was set up by Obasanjo, normally a despicable character. But we have to tell the truth

Obiageli (formerly of the Due Process office and now at the World Bank) and that name-dropper Segun Adeniyi were part of the team
They did a good job at NEITI, probing the oil secto

It is unfortunate that GEJ's people pretend GEJ is the only one that has ever done anything to sanitise this country

Forget about NEITI for a while
There was an audit by KPMG comissioned under GEJ
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/kpmg-how-nigeria-lost-65m-through-demurrage/117051/

When will the KPMG report be transmitted to Deziani?
An audit was commissioned by the government and its report submitted. More than 7 months after its submission, the minister in charge of the sector, Deziani, confirmed to all Nigerians (during the subsidy probe) that that report "had not been transmitted to her"?
Who was holding the report?
Why did the minister not ask for it?
Or was she not interested in the findings?
Or was she just interested in telling the whole world - we have engaged an international firm to audit the activities of NNPC.
Attention of Nigerians diverted
Objective achieved, Case closed!

Dedeike never said that it was GEJ that set up NEITI,he only said it was sponsored by the FG to carry out an investigation,or don't you read well enough.Mr Dedeike pls thank you for the write up,very educating.

Personally I knew there was serious rot in the oil industry,it was purposely kept that way by all the previous govts weve had,transparency and crude oil have never been on the same page in Nigeria,infact people always tended to overlook all that was going on in that sector because the caliber of people who were in control of that sector were just too powerful to fight,but this govt came to power and the president from the onset Made it clear that it was not going to be business as usual in that sector,from the signing of JVA's to the allocation of OML's it has been a different story.the attempt by thegovt to boost local content in that sector is also quite commendable,but the NNPC must make its allocations as transparent as possible and standards should not be compromised for anybody,that is the way forward.the sack of the GMD and his colleagues is also a commendable move for under them things were beginning to go haywire,to clean up the oil and gas industry is not going to be an easy task but with determination we'll get there and I can see that this govt is determined to get there so all I can say is God be with our president and God be with us as a nation.

First, increasing local content is not the problem, what methods or processes were used to increase local content?, what are the names of the companies involved?, did they obtain their licences through due process?, who owns this companies?, politicians?, PDP politicians? businessmen?

These are the questions we should be asking government as they are accountable to us and not just blindly defending every GEJ action blindly like some peeps in nairaland, dis number has increased drastically this past few weeks, guess GEJ has overhauled his PR or better still 'internet relations', I know you guys are just earning your pay, but try and be a lil objective in your arguments.

Ileke-IdI:
^^^ It would have been better if reported by Sahara Reporters. Atleast I know I'm not getting sugar-coated, bribed news.

LOL!

BUMPS

sleek29: First, increasing local content is not the problem, what methods or processes were used to increase local content?, what are the names of the companies involved?, did they obtain their licences through due process?, who owns this companies?, politicians?, PDP politicians? businessmen?

These are the questions we should be asking government as they are accountable to us and not just blindly defending every GEJ action blindly like some peeps in nairaland, dis number has increased drastically this past few weeks, guess GEJ has overhauled his PR or better still 'internet relations', I know you guys are just earning your pay, but try and be a lil objective in your arguments.

Thank you brother, 'IMPLEMENTATION' and a good 'follow up' it is. GEJ still remains the number one beneficiary of oil theft and the most powerful oil theft cabal member.

@

ogb5:

And where's the proof of this rubbish you wrote?


Nice analysis, most folks on NL will only look at the heading of the thread and start insulting others.

What government is failing to realize in their bid to encourage local participation in the oil industry is that some industries like in the oil sector is not an "all comers game"
It's nice to note that high barriers of entry have been created in the NNPC 2012 -2013 term allocation participation.
It will be better if term allocation is done ones in ten years, that will bring sanity to the sector, imagine the nightmare buyers of crude are going through to identify genuine sellers of Nigerian crude, looking for errors in the offer placement to know if it is a fraud. A 10 year allocation regime will make it easier to know the Nigeria industry players to buy crude from.

why not u step up and disprove me. The man has imposed his 'own' pple on all key positions and does not seem to burder about the unprecedented level of corruption the article aptly talks about here.

First, increasing local content is not the problem, what methods or processes were used to increase local content?, what are the names of the companies involved?, did they obtain their licences through due process?, who owns this companies?, politicians?, PDP politicians? businessmen?

These are the questions we should be asking government as they are accountable to us and not just blindly defending every GEJ action like some peeps in nairaland, dis number has increased drastically this past few weeks, guess GEJ has overhauled his PR or better still 'internet relations', I know you guys are just earning your pay, but try and be a lil objective in your arguments.

I strongly maintain that crude oil theft will not be possible without the collaboration of the Navy. Nigerian Navy personnel have a lot of questions to answer.

abeg allow dem, na dem oil!!!

I know a bit about the happenings in Nigeria oil industry to let you guys know that its not that this theft is increasing but that the awareness.Oil theft has always been Niga problem with very little that can be done.These people are so powerfull with a lot of money to throw about,so our govt. is trying to minimise if not stop these menace since the nation needs more money than ever before,because of the economic melt down,this also has led to a lot of employment,so a lot expecially in the Nija delta are been lured into oil theft.I stay in warri and the people doing the theft are from all over nijera.Hausa,yoruba,ijwa iboo etc.I am not a supporter of GEJ but it wiil be very bad to say this problem has increased since became the president.the problem has been there all along.The issue is the awareness has increased because of the effort of past and present govt.

@Betatins, Don't always be in a haste to criticize. Take time to go thru the post and arm yourself with facts before you write. It saves you much embarrassment. From what I read, DEDEIKE did not write that Jonathan set up NEITI. Perhaps, the English you failed to grasp is that "The Fg sponsored or funded" NEITI to carry out investigations into the sector .