Thefts: Account for six-month oil production, Reps order NUPRC

The House of Representatives Committee on Finance, on Tuesday, asked the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission to provide details of crude oil production for the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.

The committee said the information would help the House to determine the revenue accrued to the Federation through the NUPRC within the period.

The Chairman of the committee, James Faleke, made the request at the continued investigative hearing of the panel in Abuja on Tuesday.

The NUPRC, in its written presentation to the committee, said out of total sum of N695.617bn revenue realised in the period under review, the sums of N616.182bn, N19.556bn, N39.085bn, N3.502bn, N6.693bn and N10.599bn were generated from oil royalty, gas royalty, gas flaring penalty, concession rentals, MISC oil revenue and signature bonus, respectively.

NUPRC also said a contract worth N49,921,250 was also awarded for the engagement of consultants to facilitate capacity building on upstream petroleum operations for relevant National Assembly staff and legislative aides on December 24, 2021, which was awarded to Priceless Craft.

Another N48.268m contract was awarded by the commission to facilitate strategic engagement on budget and revenue for NUPRC on December 24, 2021; a N39.295m contract was awarded for separation and reconfiguration of smart inspector (Formelo) mobility workforce application for NUPRC; while N78.045m was paid for the renewal of automated upstream system (AUS) for NUPRC, among others.

Representing the NUPRC, Babajide Fashina, said the differential observed by the committee would be resolved during the reconciliation with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.

The Chairman of the committee, James Faleke, in his ruling, said, “Royalty, N88.7bn; I am reading from your figure. From what volume of crude is this? We need to know. You need to create a column to tell us the volume of crude for that particular period you are referring to because we have to monitor this in line with our production.

“This is just bandying figures before us without foundation. In every budget, there is revenue expected of you and you are aware of that from the Budget Office. So, you need to also create that column.”

“So, we will give you another day to do two things. Give us this proper report that we are asking for. Two, do a final reconciliation with Fiscal Responsibility and get back to us next week.”

Consequently, Faleke directed the NUPRC to submit a proper report on the volume of crude oil produced from October 2021 to March 2022; and details on the projected revenue. (The PUNCH)