Former Senator and Board Member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Magnus Abe has denied any involvement in an alleged $650 million oil scam.
Abe was accused in a report of plotting transfer of four Production Sharing Contracts, PSCs licences (OML 123, 124, 126 and 137) from Addax petroleum to Kaztec Engineering Limited/Salvic Petroleum Resources Limited, owned oil magnate, Emeka Offor.
The DPR had set up a committee to evaluate the revoked oil blocks of Addax Petroleum in preparation for the formal hand over of the assets to new operators.
However a day after, President Muhammadu Buhari restored ownership of the four OMLs to the NNPC, as the Abe-led Presidential Inter-Ministerial Committee submitted its report on the abandoned $1 billion Kaztec Engineering Limited (KEL) fabrication yard, located in Ilase village, Snake Island in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos state.
Reacting, Abe said the media report was designed to create the impression of a major scandal and arm twist the federal government, adding that his committee report stressed that aside the 3,000 jobs lost to the collapse of the facility in which Kaztec already invested over $650 million, after Addax declared a force majeure over an unrelated matter, monies invested in equipment were also wasted.https://www.theheritagetimes.com/investigation-reveals-that-buhari-revokes-oil-leases-back-to-oppressed-addax/
He added that there is nothing in the committee’s assignment that involved the allocation of oil blocks, alleging that it is Addax which wants to rip off Nigeria.
“In 2015 the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari in keeping with its anti-corruption agenda accused Addax of tax atrocities which resulted in substantial losses to the federal government.
“Addax was asked to pay. In response, they declared a force majeure on their exploration activities and cancelled their investments in the oil fields.
“Nigerians must look beyond the needless sensationalism and ask the hard questions that need to be answered,” Abe added.
While arguing that Kaztec claimed to have invested millions of dollars in the project with Addax, he queried whether it was the company accused of abandoning its Nigerian investments for over 10 years or the DPR that tried to hold them to account that should be held responsible for allegedly deceiving the president as claimed by the media report.
“There is absolutely no scam on oil blocks, or contracts involved in the Kaztec committee report. Issues of revocation, allocation and management of oil blocks are exclusively the preserve of the DPR.
“In the light of the abandonment of the oil blocks, the lack of investment in the field, the colossal losses to the Nigerian economy by the actions of Addax, DPR was right to recommend a revocation of the mining leases issued to Addax in the national interest.On March 30, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) revoked the four Addax licences over poor development of the assets,” he added.
