NIGERIANS RESISTING EFFICIENT MONITORING OF OIL EXPORTS

Petroleum Cooperation Coordinator in the Norwegian Embassy in Nigeria, Halvor Musaeus, has said although the Norwegian government has the technology to stem the huge revenue losses incurred by the Federal Government in its crude oil exports occasioned by sharp practices, some people within the system were making it difficult for it to be used in Nigeria.

'We want to put the system in place (here in Nigeria) while some others sitting somewhere do not want these things,' he lamented.

He said his country had been holding seminars since 2006 to try to get the government  to be interested in the technology, but that nothing had come out of it up till now, adding: 'We are going to hold a seminar workshop in Abuja in August on metering.'

According to him, in Norway where most of the exploration is done offshore, 'We have built the infrastructure offshore. It is very difficult to hide anything. Produced oil is put in ship. It is very easy to know what goes on in the ships and then oil and gas is transported by pipelines and it is easy to know what goes into pipelines.

'What is important in Nigeria is to have data of how much is being produced from the different fields in Nigeria because this is not clear to anyone. Norway is prepared to assist Nigeria in designing the right metering system to get the proper information. We think that this is needed at the flow stations.

'There are too many wells. You need to have metering at these wells. You also have flow stations close to the wells. You can meter there and meter again at the point of export terminals and know how much has been lost in transportation. Today, you only have metering system at the outlet of the terminals.'

What this means, he explained, is that 'you know how much is exported but do not know what might have been diverted from the pipelines and production wells.'

Musaeus explained that to further check rip-off by the oil companies in Norway, they are made to pay tax as high as 78 per cent on profits on their products after the cost of production had been removed, adding that corruption is very difficult there because there is an effective and efficient method of monitoring losses.