NNPC denies role in $25m failed oil deal

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has denied having a link with the failed bid by an Indian company, Oil and Natural Gas Corp-Mittal Energy Limited (OMEL), to acquire an oil block and the consequent non-refund of the signature bonus it paid for the deal during the 2006/2007 oil bid round.

The Corporation, in a statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr.Ohi Alegbe, said that the reports linking it with the transaction showed a high level of ignorance on how the oil and gas industry in Nigeria works.

He explained that NNPC is not the statutory body saddled with the responsibility of organizing bid rounds and so could not have received the alleged amount of $25 million or any payment from OMEL for the transaction. 

The corporation, however, urged those who are interested in the transaction to seek clarification from the relevant agencies responsible for conducting bid rounds and to whom OMEL may have paid the alleged fee.

Recall that the Immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, had last month,  denied allegations that she refused to sign a $15 billion oil deal for OMEL, insisting the allegations made by the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Ajjampur R. Ghanashyam, was  spurious, unfounded, libelious, and  intended to malign her person.