Oil Theft & Crisis in Nigeria

Firstly I will breakdown the whole Oil theft process and how Oil exporting and importing business works here in Nigeria .

NNPC grants importation licenses to a select group of oil companies, which are responsible for importing petroleum products into the country. These companies set the prices for petroleum products, and the media often refer to them as “oil marketers.”

We’ve another set responsible for exporting/selling unrefined petroleum products both locally nd internationally. NNPC nd few partner companies plays a major role in this sector, along with high-ranking govt officials, military leaders, & politicians who r involved in oil theft.

To better understand this thread i will briefly explain how oil exportation and importation works in Nigeria.

Please note every point I will list you will need them as reference as we progress, very important

1. Extraction: Oil is extracted from the ground using drilling rigs.

2. Processing: The crude oil is exported(internationally) to refineries where it is processed into refined products

3. Transportation: The processed oil are transported from the refinery to storage tanks, blending facilities, and ports, typically via pipelines or ships.

4. Export: At the port, the oil is loaded onto tankers or other vessels and shipped to Nigeria and other countries

5. Sale: The oil is sold to buyers in Nigeria at a price set by the importer (oil marketer). The government subsidizes a significant portion of the oil price to make it more affordable for citizens, a practice known as fuel subsidy.

Now let’s link the list together

Recently, Oando PLC announced the approval to acquire 100% of Nigerian Agip Oil Company. This effectively means that the Tinubu family now owns Agip Oil, which is part of Eni S.p.A., an Italian multinational oil and gas company.

Agip Oil operates 17 onshore oil blocks and produces 11 million barrels of oil and condensates annually, and it also manages the Bonny natural gas liquefaction plant. One might wonder why such a successful company would divest 100% of such a critical asset.

Observing similar situations, like the case with Dangote, suggests that this sale was not made lightly. Now, these crucial oil fields and plants in Nigeria are under the control of Tinubu through Oando PLC which is Tinubu’s family owned not even NNPC.

Stay with me please:

Continuing, with their control over substantial oil reserves in the Niger Delta and the ability to explore further through Agip Oil, their next step is refining. Instead of building a refinery in Nigeria, they opted to construct one in Malta 🇲🇹.

This move allows them to exploit the country’s resources and obscure their activities.

In early 2021, Enemed Co Ltd, the leading fuel supplier in Malta, issued a tender for the leasing of storage tanks and a blending facility at the Ras Hanzir Oil Terminal in Malta.

Ras Hanzir Oil Terminal Limited won the bidding. It is owned and operated by the Tinubu family, with Wale Tinubu, who is also the chairman of Oando PLC, serving as its chairman along with other members of the Tinubu family and their associates.

The company has already established a functioning refinery in Malta, they have now acquired the storage tanks and blending facility oil terminals, which were recently exposed to the public.

After Tinubu was sworn in as president, his first major move was to announce the removal of fuel subsidy, while the government continued to pay in secret, allowing him to increase petroleum product prices. This move was designed to benefit his own monopoly.

With the recent forced acquisition of Agip Oil by Oando PLC, Tinubu as an individual has become the largest oil exporter, explorer, and marketer in the whole country, second only to NNPC.

Here’s the pattern: Tinubu, through NNPC, will sell Nigeria’s oil to himself at a low price via his company in Malta. He will also explore, extract and export oil using his newly acquired Agip Oil Company, which operates across the Niger Delta states of Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa,

I’mRivers, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River.

Tinubu will then buy back the refined oil from his company in Malta through NNPC and as an oil marketer via one of his companies OVH Energy(Oando) at a higher price and export them back to Nigeria

The refined oil is sold to the Nigerian public at a high price, while the subsidy, although officially removed, is still being paid secretly. Essentially, Tinubu is paying himself subsidy.‼️

This scheme an extraordinary level of financial exploitation

Even after he leaves office, and Nigeria remains without refinery which he will make sure of, his Oil Monopoly over the country will remain standing. As if that is not enough, the govt will still pay him for subsidy!

He sold Over 2 Billion Dollars worth of petroleum products to Nigeria through the Malta refinery just in 2023 alone, that’s an example of what the future of Nigeria Oil importation will look like

That’s why he will fight the Dangote refinery with everything he has; if it becomes operational, his multi-trillion-naira oil monopoly enterprise will collapse.

The price of petroleum products like fuel will keeping increasing, while he still pays himself subsidy.

Considering his age, one might wonder what he needs all this money for, other than sheer greed. It’s truly disheartening.

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