Alison-Madueke, Shell in $380Bn “Shady” Oil Deal-Reps

House of Representatives, Thursday accused Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of Petroleum Resources; Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited; and officials of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC) of “secret and arbitrary farm-out” of oil mining leases.

The House has also asked its ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged shady oil deal which it put at some $380 billion.

According to the House, the deal include; oil mining leases 4, 26, 30, 34, 38, 41 and 42 to two firms, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited and Septa Energy Limited, without  due process.

The legislators alleged deliberate exclusion of indigenous operators from exercising their rights of first refusal before selections were made, adding that the exercise was carried out in violation of sections 3 ( 1), (2) and 5 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry content Act N0 2 of 2010.

They said the federal government would have earned $800 million in upfront payments instead of the $50 million it received, if there had be an open competitive bidding in accordance with the Public Procurement Act.

Mr. Victor Ogene, member of the House from Anambra State, who raised the issue under matters of urgent public importance, recalled that the deal was the reason protesters from oil producing communities in Delta State marched on the National Assembly on April 25, 2013.

Ogene alleged that Alison-Madueke, SPDC and NPDC officials worked in collaboration with the firms to farm out the marginal oil fields.

“A colossal sum of $380 billion or N59 trillion and $15.72 trillion worth of gas assets were alleged to be at stake in the shady deal.” He added

According to him, “This is an action, which obviated the need for an open and competitive bidding in favour of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Ltd, which neither tendered nor bided for the (oil) blocks allocated to it,”

He noted that the entire deal became possible through a mischievous process of hinging the transaction on the ‘Strategic Alliance Agreement’ an action which was deliberately designed to circumvent due process and transparency in contravention of Section 3 of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparent Initiative, NEITI, Act 2005, the Public Procurement Act and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act (No 2) 2010.

The House did not debate the motion before endorsing it for investigation.

In passing the motion, the House urged stakeholders, authorities or bodies to cooperate and assist the committee in it investigation and findings.

Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, deputy speaker of the House, who presided over Thursday’s sitting, observed that debating it could make lawmakers to pass judgments ahead of the investigation.

“We have to guard against debating this motion so that comments are not made that will prejudice the outcome of the investigation,” Ihedioha said.

The investigation will be conducted within four weeks.