The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has debunked allegations that its officials and those of the NNPC ship crude oil illegally to the United States and South America.
The company, in a statement on Thursday, was forced to dismiss the allegations following a report on February 15 by Sahara Reporters with the headline “EXCLUSIVE: How Top Officials In Nigerian Corporations, NLNG, NNPC Operate International Cartels, Illegally Ship Over $1billion Oil To US, South American Countries.”
“The report is false and malicious and is obviously calculated to cast the Company and its leadership in bad light, as no opportunity was ever offered to the Company to react or respond to the allegations prior to their publication. Clearly, the report is at best a figment of the writer’s imagination. Either the author of the report was simply being mischievous, or is totally deficient in knowledge of the dynamics of the global LNG industry,” NLNG’s spokesman Andy Odeh said in the statement.
The company added, “Deliveries of LNG from its Bonny Terminal complies with all regulatory requirements for the export of its products and are made under various term and spot sales contracts to destinations not limited to Europe, the Far East, Greater Middle East, North America and South America, thus ensuring NLNG’s position as a significant competitive global LNG supplier, promoting the Nigerian Brand.
“From the commencement of its operations in October 1999, NLNG has never, and does not, engage in ‘illegal’ or ‘backdoor’ exportation of LNG or any of its products, nor is NLNG involved in any international cartel, as alleged. It is simply not true that ‘…the illegal exportation is still ongoing with the backing of some players in NLNG.'”
The NLNG said records exist for every single cargo of product loaded by the company since it commenced operation, together with fully accurate accounts of destinations, quantities loaded and unloaded and related earnings on each cargo.
“NLNG demands an immediate retraction of the false and malicious report in its entirety, in addition to an apology, which must be given as much prominence as the original report. The legal rights of NLNG and its impacted personnel are fully reserved,” it said.
