The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) has said that it would not compromise on its established processes of
awarding contracts for major pending projects in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector
to the benefit of International Oil Companies (IOCs).
Apparently raising eyebrows over media reports
credited to some IOCs which had accused it of deliberately stalling the
execution of some multibillion dollar projects in the petroleum sector, the
acting General Manager Public Affairs of NNPC, Mr. Fidel Pepple, said in a
statement in Abuja that the corporation will only adhere to established
procedures in its contracting cycle than been made to compromise.
Pepple stated that the corporation will not be
intimidated to abandon its firmly established process of contract award because
of what it termed calculated media blackmail ostensibly by the IOCs and other
interested parties.
He said in the statement that while the industry
concern is normally expected in the processes leading to the award of major oil
and gas projects, the NNPC has an established procedure of contract and project
approval which includes conduct of economic analysis to establish project
viability as well as the Federal Government’s interests from investments in the
upstream.
The corporation also defended its Group Executive
Director, Exploration and Production (GED, E&P), Abiye Membere, who was
alleged to be behind a phantom contract splitting attempt of the Egina project
as he allegedly did with the previous Bonga South-west project, saying that
such allegation was totally misplaced and untrue.
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