The House of Representatives says it has taken steps to recover over $30 billion in accrued fees and bonuses from mergers of multinational oil companies operating in the country.
In a resolution that followed a motion sponsored by the member representing Somolu Federal Constituency, Ademorin Kuye, the House asked its relevant committees to conduct an investigation into the issue and recover the money for the country.
Kuye said the oil industry experienced several lateral mergers/buy-overs/takeovers of companies in the same oil and gas exploration, prospecting, production and marketing in the ’90s.
According to him, Section 2 of the Petroleum Act, 2014 – the extant law applicable under which the merger took place – provides that the oil exploration licences, oil prospecting licences and oil mining licenses may be granted to only Nigerian citizens or companies incorporated in Nigeria, implying that mergers that resulted in a corporate body not indigenous to Nigeria in their incorporation would exclude the new entity from the scope of companies that could be given a licence or lease under the Petroleum Act.
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Kuye explained that the June 1984 merger of Gulf and Chevron, which he said brought Chevron through the backdoor to inherit Gulf Oil operations in the country, was not approved until July 1991.
The lawmaker said this only happened after careful consideration and bargaining that still shortchanged the country to the tune of $65 million at that time.
He noted that other mergers between Exxon and Mobil to form ExxonMobil; Elf, Total and Fina to form TotalFinaElf, and between Chevron and Texaco to form ChevronTexaco, resulted in new entities and companies that should have been subjected to certain procedures and processes.