The global oil tanker industry association has
threatened President in a letter of protest to Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) where it said the ban on 113 oil tankers by the parastatal
must be lifted immediately.
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President Muhammadu Buhari
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Issuing the letter on July 15, NNPC gave the directive
issued by President Muhammadu Buhari, that vessels, mainly VLCC crude oil
tankers, were banned from calling at Nigerian crude oil terminals and also from
Nigerian waters with immediate effect.
INTERTANKO the
industry association, whose independent members own the majority of the world’s
tanker fleet, stated in its letter to NNPC on July 22, that there were no “evidence or grounds” given for the ban. “INTERTANKO
protests in the strongest possible way that these bans should be lifted with
immediate effect until grounds and evidence for the ban have been given to each
vessel and vessel owner/operator, and the owner/operator has had an opportunity
to respond,” General Counsel
Michele White was quoted in the letter.
PM News reported that
White further said the list of banned tankers was “not exhaustive and
already further tankers are being added”. Our current understanding is that
these ships may have been targeted due to a failure to provide official outturn
figures at their last call and/or commercial differences between load and
discharge figures for cargo and free water,” White said in a separate note to the
members. “This
may also however be part of a general crackdown by President Buhari on
corruption in Nigeria’s maritime, oil and gas, financial services and security
sectors, including illegal bunkering and fuel sales.”
According to White,
after INTERTANKO spoke with its members, in some cases the ship had not called
in Nigeria for several years, or at all. In his words, “In others, the ship
has changed ownership since her last call in Nigeria. Members have also advised
that some oil majors are attempting to introduce Charterparty clauses requiring
the owner to warrant that the vessel is not subject to any Nigerian bans or
restrictions due to failure to report any outturn figures for prior voyages.”
Members have been
advised by INTERTANKO to avoid
such provision.