The Senate has directed three of its Committees to probe seven international oil firms for allegedly failing to remit about $21bn into the national coffers, Daily trust reports.
The committees are that of Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Judiciary and Legal Matters and Finance.
The decision followed a motion by the vice-chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources, Ifeanyi Ubah, who urged the Senate to investigate the alleged refusal by the international oil firms to honour the provisions of the Production Sharing Contracts Act. A development that had cost Nigeria about $21bn as disclosed by a Minister after Federal Executive Council meeting held on December 14, 2017.
The senate also tasked the committees to investigate reasons behind the failure to review the salient provisions of the Production Sharing Contract Act.
The oil firms are Abo (OML 125) – operated by ENI; Agbami-Ekoli (OML 127 and OML 128) – operated by Chevron; Akpo and Egina (OML 130) – operated by Total and South Atlantic Petroleum.
Others include; Bonga (OML 118) – operated by Shell; Erha (OML 133) – operated by ExxonMobil Okwori and Nda (OML 126) – operated by Addax; and Usan (OML 138) – operated by ExxonMobil.
