Crude swap: NNPC validates report Aiteo is not indebted

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has officially validated claims that Aiteo has no outstanding $202million obligation to the Corporation.

Officially putting the matter to rest in a release made available to newsmen yesterday, NNPC Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndu Ughamadu disclosed that Aiteo Group had made full settlements to the Corporation’s downstream entities amounting to $202,344,838.62.

“The amount includes Aiteo’s share of crude swap obligations plus other downstream liabilities,” Ughamadu, reiterating that Aiteo Group had from the outset demonstrated cooperation and commitment towards a successful recovery process.

This validates our story last week tiltled “Crude swap: NNPC debunks claims Aiteo is owing” where we quoted our reliable high-ranking source in the Corporation dismissing claims Aiteo was indebted, following allegations that the Group, Televaras and Ontario Oil and Gas were owing the NNPC crude oil allocations from 2012 through 2014. The source had emphasised that NNPC And Aiteo enjoy a cordial working relationship and currently share a Joint Venture (JV) tipped to currently be the best performing asset in Nigeria.

“Aiteo has met all its obligations to the NNPC in full and is not indebted to the Corporation or any of its subsidiaries. If and when there are outstanding debts to be cleared, we will duly inform Aiteo,” the source said as far back as Tuesday last week.

However, over the course of the last four days, the Dr. Maikantu Baru-led NNPC pledged to provide periodic updates on its recovery efforts for crude swap under-deliveries, assuring it is committed to transparency and adequate public information in its ongoing industry reforms.

Our earlier investigations had revealed that Aiteo collaborated with Duke Oil in the SWAP crude oil-for-refined-products-exchange programme and Offshore Processing Agreement in 2015, which industry experts assured were governed by robust legally binding agreements backed by the necessary financial instruments to mitigate and manage potential risks which include bad debts.