Nigeria Voice

South Korea appeals over quashed Nigeria oil deal

SKorea appeals over quashed Nigeria oil deal: company
Seoul's state energy firm said Thursday it has petitioned Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua to reverse his country's decision to scrap oil exploration rights awarded to a South Korean consortium. "We've petitioned the president to reconsider the cancellation of oil exploration rights given to us," a spokesman for the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) told AFP.
He declined to elaborate, saying the issue is too sensitive. The Nigerian Ministry of Petroleum cancelled rights to develop two offshore oil blocks awarded to a South Korean consortium led by KNOC, citing an alleged failure to make payments, KNOC said in January. The two blocks are estimated to hold some two billion barrels of crude in total, according to KNOC. South Korea has a 60 percent stake, with a British company owning 30 percent and a Nigerian firm the remaining 10 percent, in the product-sharing deal. Nigeria accused the South Korean consortium of failing to pay 231 million of the 323 million dollars promised in return for exploration rights. KNOC said the 231 million dollars had already been written off by the former Nigerian government in return for the consortium's construction of infrastructure including a power plant and gas pipelines for Nigeria. The government of President Umaru Yar'Adua took office through a much-criticised April 2007 election victory.

South Korea appeals over quashed Nigeria oil deal

Nigeria's oil output down to 1.6 million barrels: Yar'Adua

Nigeria's oil output down to 1.6 million barrels: Yar'Adua
23 hours ago

ABUJA (AFP) — Nigeria's oil output has dropped to 1.6 million barrels per day compared to last year's average of around two million bpd, President Umaru Yar'Adua said on Tuesday.

"The reality today as a result of the... OPEC quota and activities of militants in the Niger Delta... the average production has fallen to 1.6 million barrels per day," Yar'Adua said as he signed into law the 2009 national budget.

Oil-dependent Nigeria, which is targeting four million bpd next year, had projected its 2009 budget on 2.209 million bpd.

OPEC, a cartel of oil producing nations, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil, cut output late last year in a bid to reverse tumbling prices and protect its members' revenues.

Nigeria's actual production last year averaged just over two million barrels a day, because of the unrest in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta, Yar'Adua said in December.

The budget for Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil producer, was based on a crude oil sale price of 45 dollars per barrel down from 59 dollars the previous year.

Yar'Adua warned that should production levels continue to tumble and if the price does not rise considerably, the country could face an unacceptable budget deficit.

"Should this low production turn out to be our average for the year, and the average price fall to 40 dollars per barrel from the original budget projection of 45 dollars per barrel, our fiscal deficit will increase to... 5.24 percent of GDP, which is way above the three percent allowable limit under the fiscal responsibility act," he said.

The 3.1-trillion-naira (21-billion-dollar) budget Yar'Adua signed has a deficit of 3.02 percent of GDP.

The benchmark exchange rate, for the budget proposed in December, was set at 125 naira to the dollar, yet the local currency now trades at 147 to the greenback.

Before 2006, Nigeria's production peaked at around 2.6 million bpd, but the last three years have seen an increase in attacks and kidnappings targeting oil companies in the volatile Niger Delta region.

The attacks are staged by armed groups claiming to be fighting for a greater share of oil wealth to go to the locals or by criminal gangs.

The most prominent of the militant groups is the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

The resulting reduction in output has put pressure on the crucial export earnings for Africa's most populous nation of 140 million people.

Nigeria's foreign reserves have taken a huge knock to just under 50 billion dollars (40 billion euros) in February from 57.2 billion dollars in December, according to bank officials.

The country relies heavily on oil and gas, which according to the World Bank rakes in more than 90 percent of export earnings and 85 percent of government revenues.

Nigeria's oil output down to 1.6 million barrels: Yar'Adua

Shell declares force majeure on Forcados oil shipments

LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has declared force majeure on its Nigerian Forcados oil shipments due to the impact of explosions on a pipeline last week, it said on Monday.
"Shell's joint venture has declared force majeure from Saturday on outstanding March and April Forcados offtakes," a Shell spokesman said.
Forcados exports were due to be around 184,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March and 285,000 bpd in April. Shell could not confirm how much of this would now be delayed or cancelled.
"The explosions on the trans-Escravos pipeline the weekend before last shut in some production. We're still working to recover the spilt oil and repair the pipeline," the company spokesman said.
Last week, Shell said it had shut in a number of oil installations after explosions on a pipeline that may have been due to sabotage.
The blasts caused at least three punctures to the 24-inch trans-Escravos pipeline, which sends crude oil from Shell's Forcados oilfields to the Escravos oil export terminal in Nigeria's Niger Delta.
A senior official from Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC, which jointly operates the pipeline with Shell's Nigerian unit SPDC, said as much as 70,000 bpd had been shut down due to the damage.
Nigeria's most prominent militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), called off a ceasefire a month ago. But it has not claimed any significant strikes against the industry, partly because the military has stepped up a campaign to flush out its fighters.

Shell declares force majeure on Forcados oil shipments

Total Starts Nigerian Deep-Water Oil, Gas Field Early

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, began production from its Akpo deep-water oil and gas field off Nigeria’s shore before its planned startup date.
With proved and probable reserves estimated at 620 million barrels of condensate and more than 1 trillion cubic feet of gas, Akpo is “one of the largest deep offshore projects ever undertaken” and will be the largest brought on stream in 2009, Total said in a statement today. Output was slated originally to begin in the second quarter.
Total is counting on production growth in the next decade from deep-water fields in Africa, heavy-oil ventures in Canada and liquefied natural-gas projects. Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie has predicted output will increase this year after it dropped 2 percent in 2008.
Total, which operates the Nigerian development, plans to increase gas condensate production from the field to 175,000 barrels a day by summer. Gas condensate is a liquid hydrocarbon usually produced at the same time as natural gas. Akpo’s natural-gas production is expected to reach 320 million cubic feet a day, Total said.
Total has a 24 percent interest in block OML 130, in which Akpo is located. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, South Atlantic Petroleum, China’s Cnooc Ltd. and Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA hold the remaining interest.
‘Most Important’
Cnooc, China’s largest offshore oil producer, has a 45 percent stake. Cnooc aims to increase oil and gas output by as much as 18 percent to 231 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, the company said in January.
Akpo “will become the most important new oil field of the year,” Cnooc Chairman Fu Chengyu said in a statement today.
The field, discovered in 2000, is 200 kilometers (124 miles) off Nigeria’s shore. Oil and gas will be pumped via a floating production, storage and offloading vessel and exported through a moored oil terminal, according to the Total statement.
Akpo is one of five Total projects expected to start up this year. The others are Yemen LNG, the Tahiti project in the Gulf of Mexico and Angola’s Tombua-Landan field and Qatargas 2.

Total Starts Nigerian Deep-Water Oil, Gas Field Early

Gazprom may seal oil and gas exploration deal with Nigeria this month

Russia’s Gazprom hopes to conclude a $2.5 billion oil and gas exploration deal with Nigeria by the end of March, establishing a 50/50 joint venture with state oil firm Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). “We are one month away from getting a conclusion on the Joint Venture (JV) deal,” Vladimir Ilyanin, managing director of Gazprom Nigeria, told an oil and gas conference in the Nigerian capital Abuja last Wednesday. NNPC said in September it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Russian gas export monopoly on joint venture projects, but gave few details. The corporation said at the time that the deal covered petroleum and gas exploration, as well as power. Nigeria has the world’s seventh-largest proven gas reserves, but has been unable to develop its gas industry to anywhere near full potential because of lack of funds and regulation. Some industry experts in Europe see Russia’s deals with African OPEC members like Nigeria as an attempt to increase control on Europe’s natural gas supplies. Gazprom already provides a quarter of Europe’s gas. A senior Gazprom source told Reuters three weeks ago that the Russian firm wanted to invest at least $2.5 billion in the development and production of Nigerian gas, a figure confirmed by Ilyanin. The source added that 90 percent of the investment would be in developing Nigeria’s domestic gas production, processing and transportation.

Gazprom may seal oil and gas exploration deal with Nigeria this month

N‘ Delta crisis: Shell’s crude oil production crashes to 320,000 bpd

Published: Monday, 2 Mar 2009
The effects of the lingering crisis in the Niger Delta has continued to bite hard on the Anglo- Dutch oil major, Shell Petroleum Development Company, as its crude oil production in Nigeria has dropped to 320,000 barrels per day.
Investigations by our correspondent showed that SPDC, which produced as much as 1.2million bpd before the crisis in the Niger Delta assumed a worrisome dimension in 2004, was currently producing 320,000 bpd as at Friday.
Reliable sources in the oil firm told our correspondent on Sunday that the eastern operation of the company with its headquarters in Port Harcourt was producing 120,000 bpd of crude oil as at Friday.
Similarly, the sources disclosed that the company‘s western operation, with headquarters in Warri, was producing 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day as at the close of work on Friday.
The source, who said the management of the Anglo-Dutch oil firm was not comfortable with the development, blamed the downward trend on the worsening security situation in the region, which had led to the shut down of some major production platforms and vandalism of strategic delivery lines.
Specifically, sources attributed the poor crude oil production from the eastern operation of SPDC to the vandalism of the Nembe trunkline, which channels crude from the flow stations and platforms to the loading terminal before it was ruptured by suspected militants in the region.
Also, the re-entry into shut platforms and flow stations in the western zone of SPDC was being hampered by the difficulty in replacing vandalised and stolen flow lines in the coastal oil fields in the area.
It will be recalled that the General Manager, Production, SPDC, West, Mr. Cor Zegelar, had said that over 56,000 kilometres of pipelines were uprooted and carted away in the zone by warlords in the heat of the crisis.
Our source said, ”Shell is producing 320,000 barrels of crude oil per day in Nigeria as at last Friday. This figure represents 200,000 barrels per day in the western division in Warri and 120,000 barrels per day in the eastern operation in Port Harcourt. The current production strength of the company is a far cry to the 1.150million barrels of crude oil per day that was attained by the company in 2004.
”Our (SPDC) predicament is not unconnected with the precarious security situation in the Niger Delta. Some major production platforms have been shut and a number of flow lines were vandalized. In some cases the crude oil pipes are uprooted and carted away by these hoodlums. Take for instance, the blown up of the Nembe trunkline has frustrated optimal operation in the eastern axis.
”The Nembe trunkline is very strategic to service delivery by SPDC in the east because it services so many production platforms and deliver crude to the loading terminal. We cannot achieve much in the east until the Nembe trunkline is put in proper shape and secured against fresh attack.
”Most of the lines in the west were excavated and stolen by the militants leading to the closure of many production platforms in the area. The re-entry programme in the west is being frustrated by the process required in securing replacement for the stolen pipes.
”To receive any steel material after an order has been placed for it would take up to 18 months. You cannot just go to the open market and buy these strategic pipes. That is why the re-entry process in the west is slow. That is why the decision to abandon the locations during the crisis was heavily criticised. A lot of people believed that we should have remained there under tight security.
”Besides, we still have such issues as poor funding level and inadequate government support hindering effective operation,” added our source, who craved anonymity.
Consequently, our correspondent learnt that the management of the Anglo- Dutch oil firm had intensified cost cutting measures in order to stay afloat.
SPDC‘s spokesman, Mr. Precious Okolobo, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, said it was not the style of the oil firm to discuss its production, adding that ”We do not give daily production updates.”

N‘ Delta crisis: Shell’s crude oil production crashes to 320,000 bpd

Militants threaten to attack gas pipeline in southeast Nigeria

Nigeria's rebel group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) has threatened to sabotage a multi-billion dollar plan to pipe Nigerian gas to Europe across the Sahara desert, a scheme that has attracted the European Union (EU) and Russian energy majors, the Nation newspaper reported Sunday.
The MEND said on Saturday that the project, which is expected to earn Nigeria millions of dollars, runs contrary to the wish of indigenous oil producing communities in the Niger-Delta region in southeast Nigeria.
The project, with capital costs estimated at 10 billion U.S. dollars for the pipeline and 3 billion dollars for gathering centers, would send up to 30 billion cubic meters a year of gas to Europe via a 4,128 km pipeline from the Niger-Delta through the Northern states to Europe, Niger and Algeria Republics.
Russian gas company Gazprom, France's Total and Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell are among international firms to have expressed interest in participating in the project.
The MEND, which has shut down more than a fifth of Nigerian oil output since launching attacks on the industry three years ago, warned that the planned project would be a target.
"Those talking to the wrong people in Abuja about investing in the Trans-Sahara gas pipe project will be investing unwisely as we are determined to sabotage the project from inception," the group said in an e-mailed statement.
The MEND frequently makes such threats. It called off a cease-fire a month ago but has since failed to carry out any significant strikes against the industry, partly because the military has stepped up a campaign to flush out its fighters.
The European Union, which currently relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas and a third of its oil, has said the Trans-Sahara project could help diversify its energy sources.
But the latest statement from the MEND undermines the notion that the pipeline could be a secure energy source for Europe.
The pipeline has been on the drawing board for years. But Nigeria's desire to improve its domestic gas infrastructure along with a desire among consumer nations to seek alternative energy supplies has renewed interest in the project.
Nigeria has estimated natural gas reserves of 180 trillion cubic feet, the seventh largest in the world. Officials of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG said the group already provides 10 percent of world supply, much of it to Europe and North America.

Militants threaten to attack gas pipeline in southeast Nigeria

Nigeria could be key gas player: Oil chief

Nigeria could be a key player in the global gas industry if obstacles are removed, a multinational oil giant's chief executive said Wednesday, as the west African country neared completing a deal with Russia's Gazprom. The west African powerhouse which has the seventh largest proven natural gas reserves in the world -- 187 trillion cubic feet -- taps roughly three billion cubic feet a day. Most of the harnessed gas so far has been targeted for the export market, but the demands of its 140 million people are not fully met. "Nigeria is very well located as a supplier for major markets like the US..., Mexico, and all Europe," Guy Maurice head of Total Nigeria told an oil and gas investment conference in Abuja.

The country, could occupy a "key position" in the future, said Maurice. But "the problem is that this requires considerable investment in terms of infrastructure," added Maurice.

The sector needs considerable infrastructural development, a "challenge" in these times of global financial crisis, he said. But interest in Nigeria's gas is still on the rise, said President Umaru Yar'Adua's special advisor Emmanuel Egbogah. "The rising gas prices in the western countries is resulting in relocation of gas based industries to low gas price regions such as Nigeria," said Egbogah.

"As a result, we see an increase in proposals from investors," he added.

Russia's oil giant Gazprom on Wednesday said that it was closer to concluding a 2.5 billion-dollar (1.95 billion euro) oil and gas exploration joint venture with Nigeria targeting the domestic market. The deal should be sealed by end of March, Vladimir Ilyanin, managing director of Gazprom Nigeria said. On Tuesday, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell announced a 1.6 billion dollar (1.25 billion euro) joint gas production project with Nigeria in the volatile Niger Delta.

A mega future gas project is the 13-billion-dollar Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project destined for the European market more than 4,000 kilometres (2,485 miles) from Nigeria, through Niger and into Algeria. Supplies along the pipeline, expected to reduce dependence on Europe's traditional supplier Russia, are set to start in 2015 at the earliest. Nigeria has made the development of the gas sector as a priority area, and put in place measures to act on the infrastructural deficiencies, Egbogah, said.

"The gas master plan aims at addressing some of the challenges confronting the Nigerian gas sector, notably that of inadequate infrastructure and commercial framework," said Egbogah.
Nigeria, which holds the largest gas reserves in Africa of around 37 percent and three percent of world reserves, is currently the third largest African producer, after Algeria and Egypt, according to Maurice. Violence orchestrated by militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer share of oil revenues, has considerably cut Nigeria's production especially of oil. The conference in Abuja has brought together key political and economic players in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, as well as international oil companies officials.

Nigeria could be key gas player: Oil chief

How ex-Gov Kalu diverted N5bn Abia funds—EFCC

ABUJA — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday gave details, before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, of how the immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, diverted the state fund totaling N5 billion, in 36 installments into the account of Slok Nigeria Limited during his tenure. Slok is owned by Kalu and his family.
Kalu, Governor of Abia State between 1999 and 2007, was said to be in the habit of stealing the state fund each time the monthly allocation of the state government was released by the Federal government.He handed over powers to Chief Theodore Orji who was his Chief of Staff, and the EFCC also fingered Orji as the principal facilitator of the looting of Abia State treasury by his predecessor, Orji Kalu.
The Commission backed up its allegation yesterday by reading aloud the statement of one Christie Ohiri, a banker who worked in the fund transfer department of his bank in Umuahia wherein the bank staff indicated that the total sum allegedly looted was diverted in 36 installments.
EFCC spoke yesterday in court through its lead counsel in the case, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, in reaction to an application brought by Kalu requesting an order of the court quashing the entire charge preferred against him for several reasons.
In the application, Kalu had said that the charge against him was incompetent, claiming that it was so because there was an order from an Umuahia high court which stopped his arrest or prosecution pending determination of his substantive suit before the court.
He argued further that his arrest and his on-going trial is a nullity since every step taken by the EFCC was in breach of the subsisting order of the Umuahia high court.
He also argued that assuming, without conceding, that the process leading to his on-going prosecution was okay, he said there was no nexus between him and the charges preferred against him.
He claimed that in the charge, EFCC mentioned the names of people who allegedly took public fund and diverted same to the account of Slok and that his name was not mentioned at anytime.
He said that Kalu was different from Slok, even though he admitted that the company is owned by his family. He said he gave a directive that his name should be delisted from the Board of Directors of the company as soon as he took his oath of office in 1999.
He also said that a close scrutiny of the charge showed that he was charged to court under Money Laundering Act 2004 and that the Act having been repealed by Act 2007 rendered the charge against him incompetent, saying all through his tenure, he was never indicted of any financial malfeasance.
He added that assuming monies were being transferred into the account of Slok, he said he had no such knowledge let alone authorizing it.
But EFCC said Kalu was economical with the truth.
According to Jacobs, the EFCC counsel, Kalu could not deny knowledge of the money transfer into Slok account when he was the one dispensing it.
He said Kalu’s name was on the Board of Directors of Slok till 2004 and could not say he was not part of the management of the company.
EFCC said that Kalu could not even claim that there were insufficient evidence linking him to the charge preferred against him.
His words: “He can’t say that there was insufficient evidence to establish the charge made against him.
“In the proof of evidence before this court, the accused has a pattern of laundering public fund
“What he did at the time he was in government was that immediately the monthly allocations for state government came, the Chief of Staff (Theodore Orji) would give directive to the Director of Finance to raise cheque in the name of the State House cashier, Mr. M A Udoh for whatever amount of money they intended to launder for the then governor (Orji Kalu).
“The cheque raised is taken to the bank where it is converted to cash. After this, they will now lodge the cash into the account of a private company which deals in the sale of Okrika owned by Ude who is a co-accused person in this matter, who in turn raised a draft payable into the account of Slok Nigeria Limited at the Apapa branch of Inland Bank in Lagos.
“They transferred different sums of monies totaling N5billion into Slok’s account 36 times,” he added.
Meanwhile, the fresh application by Kalu to quash the charge against him was the third since his trial began before the court.
The first two were withdrawn at advanced stages of their hearing owing to no fault of Kalu and were struck out. In essence, the court has not decided any of the applications on merit.
It would be recalled that EFCC had arraigned Kalu alongside two others before the Abuja Federal high court over money laundering involving about N3.2 billion. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
But as full blown trial was about commencing in the case, the trial high court judge, Justice Binta Murtala Nyarko was transferred from Abuja to Lagos.
Another judge who was recently redeployed to Abuja division of the court, Justice Adamu Bello, took over the case file but ordered a de novo trial in the matter.
Apart from preliminary applications involving bail and release of travel documents, no worthwhile progress has been made in the case.
The court has however fixed April 17 for ruling on the latest application by Kalu challenging the competence of the fresh charge preferred against him.

How ex-Gov Kalu diverted N5bn Abia funds—EFCC

ABUJA — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday gave details, before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, of how the immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, diverted the state fund totaling N5 billion, in 36 installments into the account of Slok Nigeria Limited during his tenure. Slok is owned by Kalu and his family.

Kalu, Governor of Abia State between 1999 and 2007, was said to be in the habit of stealing the state fund each time the monthly allocation of the state government was released by the Federal government.He handed over powers to Chief Theodore Orji who was his Chief of Staff, and the EFCC also fingered Orji as the principal facilitator of the looting of Abia State treasury by his predecessor, Orji Kalu.

The Commission backed up its allegation yesterday by reading aloud the statement of one Christie Ohiri, a banker who worked in the fund transfer department of his bank in Umuahia wherein the bank staff indicated that the total sum allegedly looted was diverted in 36 installments.

EFCC spoke yesterday in court through its lead counsel in the case, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, in reaction to an application brought by Kalu requesting an order of the court quashing the entire charge preferred against him for several reasons.

In the application, Kalu had said that the charge against him was incompetent, claiming that it was so because there was an order from an Umuahia high court which stopped his arrest or prosecution pending determination of his substantive suit before the court.

He argued further that his arrest and his on-going trial is a nullity since every step taken by the EFCC was in breach of the subsisting order of the Umuahia high court.

He also argued that assuming, without conceding, that the process leading to his on-going prosecution was okay, he said there was no nexus between him and the charges preferred against him.

He claimed that in the charge, EFCC mentioned the names of people who allegedly took public fund and diverted same to the account of Slok and that his name was not mentioned at anytime.

He said that Kalu was different from Slok, even though he admitted that the company is owned by his family. He said he gave a directive that his name should be delisted from the Board of Directors of the company as soon as he took his oath of office in 1999.

He also said that a close scrutiny of the charge showed that he was charged to court under Money Laundering Act 2004 and that the Act having been repealed by Act 2007 rendered the charge against him incompetent, saying all through his tenure, he was never indicted of any financial malfeasance.

He added that assuming monies were being transferred into the account of Slok, he said he had no such knowledge let alone authorizing it.

But EFCC said Kalu was economical with the truth.

According to Jacobs, the EFCC counsel, Kalu could not deny knowledge of the money transfer into Slok account when he was the one dispensing it.

He said Kalu’s name was on the Board of Directors of Slok till 2004 and could not say he was not part of the management of the company.

EFCC said that Kalu could not even claim that there were insufficient evidence linking him to the charge preferred against him.

His words: “He can’t say that there was insufficient evidence to establish the charge made against him.

“In the proof of evidence before this court, the accused has a pattern of laundering public fund

“What he did at the time he was in government was that immediately the monthly allocations for state government came, the Chief of Staff (Theodore Orji) would give directive to the Director of Finance to raise cheque in the name of the State House cashier, Mr. M A Udoh for whatever amount of money they intended to launder for the then governor (Orji Kalu).

“The cheque raised is taken to the bank where it is converted to cash. After this, they will now lodge the cash into the account of a private company which deals in the sale of Okrika owned by Ude who is a co-accused person in this matter, who in turn raised a draft payable into the account of Slok Nigeria Limited at the Apapa branch of Inland Bank in Lagos.

“They transferred different sums of monies totaling N5billion into Slok’s account 36 times,” he added.

Meanwhile, the fresh application by Kalu to quash the charge against him was the third since his trial began before the court.

The first two were withdrawn at advanced stages of their hearing owing to no fault of Kalu and were struck out. In essence, the court has not decided any of the applications on merit.

It would be recalled that EFCC had arraigned Kalu alongside two others before the Abuja Federal high court over money laundering involving about N3.2 billion. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

But as full blown trial was about commencing in the case, the trial high court judge, Justice Binta Murtala Nyarko was transferred from Abuja to Lagos.

Another judge who was recently redeployed to Abuja division of the court, Justice Adamu Bello, took over the case file but ordered a de novo trial in the matter.

Apart from preliminary applications involving bail and release of travel documents, no worthwhile progress has been made in the case.

The court has however fixed April 17 for ruling on the latest application by Kalu challenging the competence of the fresh charge preferred against him.

How ex-Gov Kalu diverted N5bn Abia funds—EFCC

ABUJA — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday gave details, before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, of how the immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, diverted the state fund totaling N5 billion, in 36 installments into the account of Slok Nigeria Limited during his tenure. Slok is owned by Kalu and his family.

Kalu, Governor of Abia State between 1999 and 2007, was said to be in the habit of stealing the state fund each time the monthly allocation of the state government was released by the Federal government.He handed over powers to Chief Theodore Orji who was his Chief of Staff, and the EFCC also fingered Orji as the principal facilitator of the looting of Abia State treasury by his predecessor, Orji Kalu.

The Commission backed up its allegation yesterday by reading aloud the statement of one Christie Ohiri, a banker who worked in the fund transfer department of his bank in Umuahia wherein the bank staff indicated that the total sum allegedly looted was diverted in 36 installments.

EFCC spoke yesterday in court through its lead counsel in the case, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, in reaction to an application brought by Kalu requesting an order of the court quashing the entire charge preferred against him for several reasons.

In the application, Kalu had said that the charge against him was incompetent, claiming that it was so because there was an order from an Umuahia high court which stopped his arrest or prosecution pending determination of his substantive suit before the court.

He argued further that his arrest and his on-going trial is a nullity since every step taken by the EFCC was in breach of the subsisting order of the Umuahia high court.

He also argued that assuming, without conceding, that the process leading to his on-going prosecution was okay, he said there was no nexus between him and the charges preferred against him.

He claimed that in the charge, EFCC mentioned the names of people who allegedly took public fund and diverted same to the account of Slok and that his name was not mentioned at anytime.

He said that Kalu was different from Slok, even though he admitted that the company is owned by his family. He said he gave a directive that his name should be delisted from the Board of Directors of the company as soon as he took his oath of office in 1999.

He also said that a close scrutiny of the charge showed that he was charged to court under Money Laundering Act 2004 and that the Act having been repealed by Act 2007 rendered the charge against him incompetent, saying all through his tenure, he was never indicted of any financial malfeasance.

He added that assuming monies were being transferred into the account of Slok, he said he had no such knowledge let alone authorizing it.

But EFCC said Kalu was economical with the truth.

According to Jacobs, the EFCC counsel, Kalu could not deny knowledge of the money transfer into Slok account when he was the one dispensing it.

He said Kalu’s name was on the Board of Directors of Slok till 2004 and could not say he was not part of the management of the company.

EFCC said that Kalu could not even claim that there were insufficient evidence linking him to the charge preferred against him.

His words: “He can’t say that there was insufficient evidence to establish the charge made against him.

“In the proof of evidence before this court, the accused has a pattern of laundering public fund

“What he did at the time he was in government was that immediately the monthly allocations for state government came, the Chief of Staff (Theodore Orji) would give directive to the Director of Finance to raise cheque in the name of the State House cashier, Mr. M A Udoh for whatever amount of money they intended to launder for the then governor (Orji Kalu).

“The cheque raised is taken to the bank where it is converted to cash. After this, they will now lodge the cash into the account of a private company which deals in the sale of Okrika owned by Ude who is a co-accused person in this matter, who in turn raised a draft payable into the account of Slok Nigeria Limited at the Apapa branch of Inland Bank in Lagos.

“They transferred different sums of monies totaling N5billion into Slok’s account 36 times,” he added.

Meanwhile, the fresh application by Kalu to quash the charge against him was the third since his trial began before the court.

The first two were withdrawn at advanced stages of their hearing owing to no fault of Kalu and were struck out. In essence, the court has not decided any of the applications on merit.

It would be recalled that EFCC had arraigned Kalu alongside two others before the Abuja Federal high court over money laundering involving about N3.2 billion. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

But as full blown trial was about commencing in the case, the trial high court judge, Justice Binta Murtala Nyarko was transferred from Abuja to Lagos.

Another judge who was recently redeployed to Abuja division of the court, Justice Adamu Bello, took over the case file but ordered a de novo trial in the matter.

Apart from preliminary applications involving bail and release of travel documents, no worthwhile progress has been made in the case.

The court has however fixed April 17 for ruling on the latest application by Kalu challenging the competence of the fresh charge preferred against him.

Nigeria troops repel attack on Agip oil terminal

By Segun OwenYENEGOA, Nigeria, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Nigerian security forces repelled an attack by gunmen on an oil terminal operated by Italy's Agip in the Niger Delta late on Saturday, a military spokesman said.Gunmen in two speedboats attacked Nigerian troops guarding the Twon Brass oil terminal in Bayelsa state. Oil production at the facility was not affected."The attack was professionally foiled with no casualties on our side and the facility was intact," said Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military taskforce in the western Niger Delta.Nigeria's most prominent militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), threatened this month to target Italian companies because of what it said was Rome's offer of two attack boats to the Nigerian military.Italy said it has offered cooperation and assistance to the Nigerian government in fighting drug trafficking and crime but there had been no specific offer to supply two military vessels.MEND is still holding two British oil workers kidnapped more than five months ago in the creeks of the Niger Delta, the heart of Nigeria's oil and gas sector.The group has accused the British government of offering military support to help Nigeria fight militant groups.Attacks by MEND have shut down more than a fifth of Nigerian crude oil production in recent years. (Additional reporting by Austin Ekeinde in Port Harcourt; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Nigeria troops repel attack on Agip oil terminal

Corruption: Swiss banks to reveal secret accounts

By Chinedu Offor, Correspondent, Washington DC
Nigerians with secret Swiss bank accounts may have to look elsewhere to stash their loot as previously inaccessible accounts in Switzerland are to be turned over to the American Government.
This followed an agreement by UBS, a Swiss bank, to pay $780 million and hand in secret Swiss bank records to settle allegations it conspired to defraud the United States Government of taxes owed by thousands of American clients.

Sources at the Justice Department said another part of the deal is for the Swiss authorities to also turn over the accounts of several people under investigation for financial irregularities, including Nigerian officials।
Government officials in Nigeria have for years found a safe haven in Swiss banks, among them the late Head of State, Sani Abacha.
Part of the millions of Dollars Abacha siphoned to Switzerland has been repatriated to Nigeria by the Swiss authorities.
Officials said the deal struck in a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, mandates UBS to immediately turn over to the U.S.Government account information for U.S.customers of the bank's cross-border business.
In doing so, the federal authorities have struck a big crack in Switzerland's trademark bank account secrecy.
"The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it," Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist stated.
"Nobody will trust the security of the Swiss bank account again."
UBS will pay $780 million in fines, penalties, interest, and restitution for conspiring to create sham accounts to hide the assets of American clients.
"We accept full responsibility for these improper activities," Peter Kurer, Chairman of Swiss-based UBS AG, said in a statement.
Kurer added that the bank is determined to abide by the terms of the deal with U.S.criminal and securities officials.
Client confidentiality, to which UBS remains committed, was never designed to protect fraudulent acts or the identity of those clients, who, with the active assistance of bank personnel, misused the confidentiality protections, he stressed.
Approximately 17,000 American clients concealed their UBS accounts from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S.tax-collection agency, hiding assets of roughly $20 billion in total, American officials said.
According to U.S.officials, when an acquisition in 2000 of a U.S.company brought UBS a host of new American clients, the bank set about to evade new reporting requirements for those clients.
To do so, UBS executives helped U.S.tax payers open new accounts in the names of sham entities.
Prosecutors contend that UBS executives used encrypted software and other counter surveillance techniques to prevent anyone from detecting that they were actively marketing such Swiss bank secrecy, and tax evasion, to American taxpayers.
The clients, in turn, filed false tax returns that omitted the income they earned in their Swiss accounts.
Federal officials said they have pulled aside a veil of secrecy that hid a corrupt international banking practice.
"This was not a mere compliance oversight, but rather a knowing crime motivated by greed and disrespect for the law," explained Alexander Acosta, U.S.attorney for southern Florida.
IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman, warned U.S.tax payers hiding money overseas that it is time to come clean.
"People who have hidden unreported income offshore need to get right with their government.They should come forward and take advantage of our voluntary disclosure process," he counselled.
Democratic Senator Carl Levin has estimated that abusive tax shelters and hidden offshore accounts cost the U.S.Government nearly $100 billion a year in lost tax revenue.
Prosecutors still are hunting for UBS Executive, Raoul Weil, who was indicted in November last year on charges he conspired to defraud the government with his management of the bank's cross-border business.
In June last year, former UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, pleaded guilty to a similar charge.
If UBS fails to turn over clients'information, or stops co-operating with the authorities, prosecutors could re-file charges against the bank.
Under the deal, UBS also will stop engaging in the type of cross-border banking business that got it into trouble.

Corruption: Swiss banks to reveal secret accounts

Nigeria loses new oil and gas investments to Angola, Ghana

There are strong indications that investment inflow to the upstream sub-sector of the Nigerian oil industry has started dwindling as foreign investors now choose Angola and Ghana as preferred destinations over Nigeria।This, by implication, of course, would threaten Nigeria’s capacity to grow its crude oil reserves as planned and there might also be job cuts in the industry. Nigeria is targeting 40 billion barrels proven reserves by 2010.Analysts have identified insecurity in the Niger Delta and unstable fiscal policy as key reasons while investors are gradually leaving Nigeria for more stable business climes. BusinessDay gathered that international oil companies are beginning to see insecurity in the Niger Delta as a key threat to investments, especially with the experience that a major oil company like Shell has had,with its production dropping from one million barrels per day to about 380,000 barrels per day.The concern, “essentially, is about militancy in the Niger Delta, and the failure of the government to even begin to resolve the Niger Delta crisis,” a senior executive in a big oil firm told BusinessDay.“For two years now, this government has told us it wants to resolve the Niger Delta crisis, but as it is today, not a single shovel of sand has been moved to the area, and so far, its been merely promises,” the source lamented.Oil companies, consequently, are becoming stricter with their investments as low crude oil prices persist, even as they keep moving strategically from high risk centers to low risk environments.Furthermore, revocation of licenses earlier awarded is also said to be creating an impression of an unstable fiscal climate in the minds of foreign investors. Analysts cited the revocation of oil bloc licenses earlier awarded to Korean National Oil Company (KNOC) and ONGC of India, OPLs 321 and 323, after Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) had been signed, as key indicators of an unstable fiscal environment.Also, the Liquefied Natural Gas projects like Brass, NLNG 7, and Olokola, sources added, are being slowly implemented, as investors continue to weigh their investment options in the face of fast thinning purses resulting from low crude prices.Oladiran Fawibe, chairman, International Energy Services Limited, said government’s recent policy as regards some international companies whose oil blocs were revoked would naturally give a wrong signal to the international community. “They may be forced to think twice before bringing in their money. Investors who are daily bombarded about the security problem in the Niger Delta, the issue of crude oil theft and other criminal activities would not want to make any investment in Nigeria, as these things do not give confidence to foreign investors. The situation in the Niger Delta is no longer political, but criminal.”In the same vein, Austin Avuru, managing director of Platform Energy, said insecurity of investments remain one of the major factors foreign investors are now looking towards Ghana and Angola. He warned that “with the way things are going now, Nigeria may not be able to meet its OPEC production quota as a good number of companies are pulling out.”Already, Angola has begun to attract more investments from oil companies as IOCs are making long term expenditure commitments in the southern African nation.Total, for instance, said last week that it would go ahead with a $9 billion investment to raise production in Angola, despite a $100 fall in oil prices since July last year, occasioned by the global economic slowdown. Total plans to stick to its major investments in Angola, even as it expects crude prices to recover, the company’s top official in Angola said.“We are living through a crisis that has pushed oil prices to very low levels. Therefore, we are being extremely strict with all our investments,” Olivier Langavant, its director general in Angola, was quoted as saying in an interview with Reuters.“But the big projects (in Angola) like the Pazflor, which is a $9 billion investment, will be maintained.”Pazflor, Total’s third production hub in Angola’s offshore Bloc 17, is expected to begin pumping oil in 2011 from water depths of up to 1,200 metres, according to the company’s website. It is the firm’s biggest investment in Angola.Total is the third biggest oil producer in Angola after Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron, pumping, on average of over 500,000 barrels per day.Chevron, Total and Eni are currently developing a $4 to $5 billion liquefied natural gas plant in Soyo, Angola. On the contrary, Nigeria’s Olokola, Brass LNG and NLNG Train 7, are yet to take off.Chevron is also spending on the Tombua –Landana offshore field in Angola, although, it is equally spending money on the Agbami field and Usan development, offshore Nigeria in 2009.Because of the high spend of the oil majors in Angola, big oil service companies have begun to win big contracts. BP plc has awarded Halliburton more than $600 million in contracts for up to four projects in Angola.The Houston-based company will provide well completion equipment and drilling and completion fluids for about 50 wells across for developments. The first is scheduled to begin drilling in 2010. Also, China and Angola would soon seal a $1 billon deal and it had already received $5 billion oil backed loans from China since 2002

Nigeria loses new oil and gas investments to Angola, Ghana

Shell declares force majeure on Nigeria oil exports

LAGOS: Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it has declared force majeure on shipments from its main Nigerian terminal because of increased attacks by insurgents on key facilities.
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant has been a regular target of attacks by militants in southern Nigeria over the past three years, forcing it to shut down some facilities and several times defer contractual obligations to clients.
“SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company) has declared force majeure on loadings at Bonny terminal with effect from 18 hours on February 10,” Shell spokesman in Nigeria, Precious Okolobo, said on Friday.
“The action follows logistics challenges related to the security situation in the area,” he said, adding that February and March deliveries might be affected.
Last November, Shell declared force majeure on gas supplies to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (NLNG) after closing its Soku gas plant to repair a nearby pipeline damaged by thieves.
In January, militants attacked a loading vessel, a tanker and a tugboat at a crude oil platform operated by Shell in Bonny and took eight crew members hostage.
The last three years have seen an increase in attacks and kidnappings targeting oil companies throughout the Niger Delta and in Rivers State in particular.
Some are carried out by militants claiming to be fighting for a larger share of the region’s oil wealth for local people, others by criminal gangs out to make ransom money.
One of the main groups claiming a greater local share of the oil and gas wealth is the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which last month called off a four-month-old truce after an army attack.
MEND promised a “hurricane” of attacks in the region in response.
As companies have tightened security around expatriate workers, kidnappers have increasingly turned their attention to local staff and — an easier target still — their young children and elderly parents.
Earlier this week, the mother of a Nigerian Shell staffer was kidnapped in Rivers.
Other recent high-profile kidnappings have included the wife of a former oil minister and a nine-year old child seized on his way to school in Rivers capital Port Harcourt. The girl accompanying him was shot by the gunmen.
The country’s white-collar oil workers union PENGASSAN last week threatened to pull its members out of Rivers, saying the situation had become intolerable.
PENGASSAN decided to delay the strike, which would have begun on Monday, in order to hold further consultations with its sister union, the blue-collar National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to map out a strategy to face up to the insecurity.
Unrest in the Niger Delta has reduced Nigeria’s oil output by more than one quarter, putting pressure on crucial export earnings. Production currently stands around two million barrels a day against 2.6 million barrels in 2006.

Shell declares force majeure on Nigeria oil exports

Nigerian Ambassador to US, Oluwole Rotimi, sacked

Nigerian Ambassador to US, Oluwole Rotimi, sacked•Calls Foreign Minister a tribalist •Boasts that he defeated Maduekwe’s “ragtag” Biafran Army
By Yemi Adebowale in Lagos and Constance Ikoku in Washington DC, 02.14.2009
Saturday, February 14

President Umaru Yar’Adua has appro-ved the immediate recall of Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, retired Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi, for “gross insubordination.”

Sources at the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC said the decision to recall Rotimi followed his running disagreement with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, over issues bordering on activities of the mission, policy, protocol and hierarchy।
The disagreement that was said to have started last year resulted in a series of correspondence between Maduekwe and Rotimi, culminating in a letter written by the latter in which he called the minister a tribalist and boasted, “I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army.”
Maduekwe who was piqued by the contents of the letter, particularly the reference to the Biafran war, formally complained to the President in a memo, attaching Rotimi’s letter.
Maduekwe in his letter to the President stated: “This man (Rotimi) has no temperament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission.
“This is a strategic assessment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington, which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
“The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal.”
It was on this basis that the President immediately approved his recall from the mission. In the interim, Ambassador Wakil, the Deputy Ambassador has been asked to oversee the mission pending the appointment of a replacement.
All efforts to reach the Ambassador last night on his mobile phone proved unsuccessful as it kept entering voice mail. Voice messages were not returned as at press time either.
A Nigerian embassy official in Washington disclosed that the root cause of the friction between both officials started sometime last year when Maduekwe wrote two letters inviting the Ambassador and his deputy, Ambassador Wakil to a meeting in Abuja to discuss the emergence of Barack Obama as the 44th US President and what it would mean for Nigeria-US relations.
Rotimi was said to have felt slighted that the minister wrote a separate letter to his deputy whom he regarded as his subordinate.
He subsequently wrote two protest letters - one to Maduekwe and a second one to the Secretary to the Govern-ment of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed. He also asked that the trip be rescheduled to enable him sort out one or two things.
Not satisfied, Rotimi further wrote to Senator Jubril Aminu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the same issue.
Rotimi then proceeded to Abuja when he did not receive an official reply from the minister. Maduekwe on the other hand was reportedly irked that the Ambassador proceeded on the trip without the necessary approval.
Rotimi’s action, an embassy official divulged, was seen as an infringement of an important regulation regarding the movement of public officers.
Insiders familiar with the Nigerian civil service set up said his trip was arbitrary given his protest letter and request for a postponement of the meeting, and that since he had not received feedback, it was seen as gross insubordination within foreign service regulations.
According to an official: “when you write, you wait for a reply. Movement must be sanctioned by your boss.”
Similarly, Maduekwe’s effort to streamline the operations of the foreign affairs ministry, particularly the embassies, was said to have been resisted by Rotimi in Washington.
The minister’s brusque style of leadership has reportedly ruffled feathers in the foreign service where most officials are used to “business as usual” bosses.
As such, the little or lack of cordial relations between both men compounded matters, making it almost impossible to mend fences.
In addition, other occurrences pointed to strained relations between the public officers. The usual practice is that an Ambassador receives the foreign minister at the airport when he arrives a country, and sees him off at the end of his official trip.
This was not the case when the minister visited Washington sometime last year to give a talk at a think-tank in the capital city.
However, by January this year, Rotimi tried to seek a rapprochement when he led a delegation to receive Maduekwe who flew into Washington as the head of the Nigerian delegation to President Obama’s inauguration.
But the short-lived détente came under strain again when Rotimi, during the swearing-in ceremony, introduced Emeka Anyaoku, the president’s special envoy, as the leader of delegation in the presence of the minister.
THISDAY learnt that there was actually a disagreement before the trip as to who should lead the delegation to the event.
Eventually, Anyaoku was mandated to head the Federal Government team, while Maduekwe led the foreign ministry team.
But this presented an image problem for Nigeria, because it gave the impression that the home base was in disarray.
Another official of the Nigerian embassy in Washington alleged that Rotimi only appeared for work at the embassy thrice a week and retired to Florida where he has a home, for the rest of the week. “How can he effectively run a key embassy like this,” the official queried.
Before the latest incident that led to Rotimi’s recall, Anyaoku it was gathered, tried to reconcile the two men shortly after Obama’s inauguration, but failed.
Rotimi was a former military governor of the old Western State from 1971 to 1975. He arrived Washington DC on 31st March 2008, and presented his Letters of Credence to the then President, George Bush at the White House, on April 9, 2008.
His sudden recall means that Nigeria will have to deal with the signals the incident would send to the international community, explained a diplomatic source.
One way to save face is to show that Nigeria is ready to revamp its foreign relations machinery and sharpen is focus on improving the effectiveness of the country’s foreign missions overseas, he said.