President
Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate ban of 113 crude oil vessels from
doing business in any of the 27 oil terminals within the length and breadth of
the Nigerian territorial waters.
The ban followed a directive contained in a memo dated July 15,
2015 by the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, Gbenga Komolafe, to all terminal operators.
Copies of the memo were also sent the Director of the Department
of Petroleum Resources; Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration
& Safety Agency, and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs
Service.
No reason was stated in the memo why the ban was imposed on the
affected vessels.
However, industry sources familiar with the development said the
ban may not be unconnected with certain discrepancies between the volume of
crude oil lifted by the affected vessels from various Nigerian terminals and
the volume eventually discharged abroad to buyers.
The source, who pleaded not to be named, as he was not
authorised to speak officially on the issue, said the NNPC had faced the
challenge of explaining huge differences between the volume of crude oil lifted
from Nigeria by these vessels and what they actually delivered to customers
abroad.
Considering the huge volumes involved, the source said it was
difficult to rule out high level connivance to steal the country’s crude oil
using the affected vessels, a development that costs the Nigerian government
huge losses in revenue.
Since his assumption of office, President Buhari, himself a
former Minister of Petroleum, has met the top hierarchy of NNPC management and
the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to express his concern over the huge impact
of crude oil theft on the country’s economy.
The President has also met with the leadership of the Nigeria
Customs Service and the Navy to emphasise the need for them to step up their
processes to ensure close scrutiny of all NNPC’s operations at all terminals
within the country’s territorial waters.
Some of the affected vessels include MV Eliza, with
international maritime organisation registration, IMO, No. 9387578 with MV
Happines, with IMO No. 9212905; MV Progress, with IMO No. 9180152; MV New
Harmony (No. 963207); MV Cosgrace Lake (No. 9294587) and MV Plata Glory (No.
9172674).
Others include MV Humanity (No. 9180281); MV Scf Shanghai (No.
9325968); MV Tenyo (No. 9222443); MV Astro Challenge (No. 9237072); MV Maran
Thetis (No. 94214427); MV BW Bauhinia (No. 9315070); MV Dream (No.9356893); MV
Xin Dan Yag (No. 96140048) and MV Desim (No. 9395305)
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