Crude Oil Theft: EFCC And The Saltpond Oil Racket?
By: Ifeanyi Izeze
In recent years, oil executives and Nigerian government officials estimate that as much as 80 percent of Nigeria stolen oil is being shipped out of the country in small tankers. And as reported by The Wall Street Journal, a Ghanaian oil facility, Saltpond Oil Platform has been fingered by The American Authourities as one of several destinations that crude oil thieves use to trans-ship stolen Nigerian crude, effectively laundering it by making it appear to come from a legitimate source outside Nigeria.
It would be recalled that a few months ago, President Goodluck Jonathan called for help from the United States Government in curbing the menace of crude oil theft from Nigeria. And by careful tracking of ship services by the American Authourities, it was established that small vessels that have loaded unofficial oil in Niger Delta frequently gs to discharge at a Ghanaian oil facility, the Saltpond Platform. The investigation by the United States also stemmed from a recent revelation that the small Ghanaian oil facility is exporting large quantities of crude to Europe, raising questions about whether some of the oil were the ones stolen from Nigeria.
Saltpond Oil Platform is the production platform of an oilfield off the coast of Ghana. The field was discovered in 1970 by Signal-Amoco Consortium but did not commence production until 1978.The field is currently managed by the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company (SOPCL), Ghana's oldest producer of crude oil. From 1978 to 1985 the maximum oil production was 4,800 barrels per day (760 m3/d) of oil. When operation stopped in 1985, the volume of production was 580 barrels per day (92 m3/d). The estimated percentages of oil and gas that had been obtained from the field at the time of shutdown were 10.4% and 25%, respectively, with three of the six wells unable to produce oil.
The cumulative production from beginning of operations to the shut-in in 1985 was 3.752 million barrels (596.5×103 m3) of oil and 14.086 billion cubic feet (398.9×106 m3) of natural gas. The field currently produces about 550 barrels per day (87 m3/d) of oil.
On 18 January 2000, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) entered into an agreement with Lushann International of Houston Texas, for the rehabilitation of the Saltpond Oil Field and the implementation of a rig-less workover proposal. On 10 June 2010, GNPC completely pulled out of the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company thereby making Lushann the sole owner.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Ghana Finance Ministry, as saying Port officials, ship-tracking services and port record, however, showed that since last August, three export tankers loaded more than 470,000 barrels from Saltpond, transporting it to an Italian refinery near the port of Genoa.
It was the tracking of this particular three cargs listed in shipping documents as Saltpond blend crude oil, that went to Genoa terminal for delivery to Italy Iplom SpA refinery that finally raised this strong suspicion by the American and Nigerian government officials.
According to the document, two cargs, unloaded in August 2013 and February 2014, carried about 340,000 barrels altogether, according to Genoa port officials. The third tanker, unloaded on April of this year, carried 132,000 barrels. Together, that more than four times Saltpond platform 2013 output of far less than 100,000 barrels, according to the Ghana government figures.
The checks also revealed a particular oil tanker, Akshay, travelled three times between Nigeria and Saltpond in the four months before the ship seizure by the Nigerian navy, for allegedly carrying stolen crude, in November 2012, according to shipping tracker service IHS Fairplay. Meanwhile, Akshay is a tanker co-owned by Ajay Bhatia, an Indian national who was sentenced in a Nigerian court in May in absentia to 15 years in jail for oil theft.
Two other vessels partly owned by Bhatia also travel frequently from Nigeria to Saltpond, according to vessel database FleetMon.com and to some of the ships crew members.
The question is: how could anybody claim that the provenance of the crude oil consignments listed as Saltpond blend crude which sustained Italy Iplom SpA refinery, since 2013 to date, was unknown? The huge volumes exported from the Ghanaian facility could not have come from an oilfield that produces about 500 barrels a day or even less? How could that platform which is even smaller, in terms of reserve and output than most marginal fields in the Niger Delta be selling millions of barrels on monthly basis?
What happens at the Saltpond Platform is now clear that the stolen Nigerian crude is mixed with Ghanaian oil and though almost all the crude oil comes from Nigeria, it is certified as of Ghanaian origin which is labelled as Saltpond Blend. The oil is then transferred to larger tankers and taken to Europe, Asia and even America.
As expected, Saltpond Lushann International Energy Corporation, an American oil firm with headquarters in Houston Texas as reported, denied any wrong doing though the company did not dispute that some of the oil it loads into tankers at Saltpond come from Nigeria. The curious aspect of the statement by the owner of, Quincy Sintim, was his insistence that the company purchases the crude oil legally from the Nigerian government Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the authority with primary responsibility for cracking down crude oil theft and smuggling from the country.
This is where the big issue came in- the involvement of the EFCC in this whole set up.
Is there a legitimate contract between the Federal Government (The EFCC in this instance) and Saltpond Lushan to trans-ship oil that law-enforcement agencies in Nigeria have confiscated from thieves?
According to Saltpond Lushann, the EFCC sells crude that it seizes in its pursuit of oil theft.
The only crude we take from Nigeria¦has been seized by the government, the President and owner of Lushann, Sintim, was quoted as saying in a telephone interview, We have invoices that we pay to EFCC Nigeria.
In its response to the grievous allegation, the EFCC was quoted as saying that claims about invoices purportedly emanating from the Commission by any person or organization should be discountenanced as such documents would have been forged by fraudsters. It emphasised that the commission is not an oil marketing company and could not have issued any invoice to any oil trader to lift confiscated crude oil from Nigeria.
Was that all the EFCC has to say to Nigerians and the world? Whether the anti-graft commission wants to hear this or not, its casual statement was not enough and outrightly unacceptable to Nigerians as explanation of its involvement in this busted racket.
A very serious allegation that weighs heavily on the credibility and integrity of the country main anti-graft agency cannot just be casually dismissed by officials of the commission. We need more serious and detailed explanation of the involvement (if at all) of the EFCC in the serial sale of confiscated crude recovered from oil thieves in Nigeria.
There are several ends that are not tying up well in this whole Saltpond racket especially as it concerns the EFCC. For instance, Jarret Tenebe, the owner and head of Fenix Impex Nig Ltd., a Nigerian oil-trading firm, agreed, as quoted, that he had been selling confiscated Nigerian crude oil to Saltpond on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, though he said the quantities were small but did not give figures of the actual delivery volumes.
So if the American authourities had not unravelled the Saltpond racket, DPR would not have agreed that the quantity of crude oil recovered from thieves is small, raising questions about the origins of the rest of the oil the platform has loaded into ships.
Head of Public Affairs at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mrs. Dorathy Bassey said as reported that Fenix only loaded about 2,000 barrels of confiscated crude oil since late 2012. Meanwhile, the owner of Saltpond is claiming that Fenix is Saltpond only provider of EFCC-confiscated crude.
So, if the EFCC at any time engaged Fennix or whver to dispose confiscated crude oil, we need to know how long the company has worked for the EFCC, the actual volumes and dates of consignment (s) to help establish whether the very large volumes of exported crude oil from the Ghanaian facility matches outputs from its oilfields. If it ds not, Saltpond Lushan should explain where the excess capacity comes from minus what they allegedly got from the EFCC. This should be the line of thinking because the owner and operators of the Ghanaian oil platform definitely would have information haulage and disposal of stolen crude oil from the Niger Delta.
IFEANYI IZEZE is an Abuja-based Consultant and can be reached on: [email protected]; 234-8033043009)
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