The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has confirmed Taleveras Oil & Gas Limited kept its pledge and obligation to settle its commitment to the crude oil swap programme.
The company was one of three crude oil marketing firms that agreed to pay over $184 million for alleged under-delivery of crude oil recorded under the defunct swap regime, which involved allocation of crude oil to trading companies in exchange for processed petroleum products.
At the end of reconciliation meetings between the NNPC management and the three companies, including AITEO Energy Resource Limited and Ontario Oil and Gas Limited, Televaras expressed commitment to the repayment schedule.
The schedule included an initial settlement of $17.2 million within two weeks, and a further payment of $10 million later in tranches.
The Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power in NNPC, Saidu Mohammed, confirmed on Tuesday that Taleveras has commenced the payment to the corporation.
He said the NNPC would continue to work towards ensuring all outstanding matters relating to all the affected companies for various activities were pursued and closed out as soon as possible.
The acting Chief Executive Officer of Taleveras Oil and Gas Services Limited, Aliyu Jimeta, confirmed on Wednesday, in Abuja that the payment was done on schedule as agreed during the negotiations.
“As a responsible company, and one that has over the years made positive contributions to the Nigerian economy, Taleveras Group would do everything within its powers to promptly ensure its associated units closed out on all outstanding issues with the NNPC,” Mr. Jimeta said.
“The Company is keen on maintaining our long standing relationship with the NNPC spanning close to 20 years. That is why we have commenced the settlement of all outstanding matters with NNPC.
“We have demonstrated this by our actions. We are still contributing positively to Nigeria’s economy in various ways. We are a responsible corporate organization and intend to keep to all our business commitments,” he said.
The Group Managing Director, GMD, of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, recently commended the Televeras for its prompt settlement of its obligations with the corporation, saying his management was determined to close out on the lingering issue as it relates to the swap programme.
Part of the settlement agreement with all firms involved in the programme was to extract a commitment from Taleveras and other companies for a final settlement.
“In the case of Taleveras, they have agreed to make a tranche payment of $17.2 million,” he said.
Mr. Baru said the recovery exercise was a product of ongoing extensive reconciliation process with the companies involved in the programme.