The South-South Reawakening Group (SSRG) has accused an American company previously indicted for bribery in Nigeria of collaborating with officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and TotalEnergies in undermining Nigeria’s local content law and award of a contract for providing a drilling ship at $142k per day higher than that originally awarded.
SSRG, in a petition to the board of the NNPCL, said in December 2021, TotalEnergies issued a local company, PALMERON with Letter of Intent, after emerging as the lowest bidder and the only company with available drillship to meet TotalEnergies OML 130 deepwater drilling campaign planned for April 2022.
SSRG, in the petition issued by its national coordinator, Joseph Ambakaderimo, noted that during the period the rig was available, oil price was above the price margin of $110 per barrel and countries all over the world were taking advantage of the high crude oil price.
“But sadly under the directive of a top official of NAPIMS, without regards to Local Content initiatives openly disregarded due process, cunningly delayed contract award to PALMERON, resulting in the country losing out in the benefits of the high crude price,” it added.
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SSRG further claimed that the delay was to create room for the availability of Noble Corporation Drillship (Gerry de Souza) to complete a project in the Gulf of Mexico by December 2022.
It stated that Noble Corporation emerged as the 4th lowest bidder in the commercial evaluation process, noting that the delay cost Nigeria millions of dollars and opportunity for the country to own a deepwater drillship.
“NNPCL and their partners specifically waited over 12 months for Noble Corporation Drillship a foreign drillship (Noble Gerry de Souza) availability to start a drilling campaign, when PALMERON presented five modern drillship of which one of the Drillship – (DVD) ex Bolette Dolphin was inspected and accepted by TotalEnergies in October and November 2021.
“A complete rig drill safe audit was also carried out by TotalEnergies personnel from France and was certified technically and readily fit for their drilling campaign planned for April 2022,” it added.
SSRG stated that PALMERON is the first indigenous company to win a competitive tender against multibillion dollars international companies that for many years had profited from Nigeria’s oil and gas operations deep offshore drilling campaign, “without owning facilities in the country as they focused on developing their own countries which is Europe, America etc.”
While noting the past indictments of Noble Corporation in Nigeria and in America including “The America Securities and Exchange Commission Vs. Noble Corporation, Case No. 4:10-cv-4336(S.D.Tex.) for which it paid $19.6 million in fines and another guilty plea for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) over a bribery scheme in Nigeria”, SSRG expressed outrage that the same company was now being used to undermine the country’s local content law.
Recalling the interactions between PALMERON and TotalEnergies following the bidding scheme won by the Nigerian company, SSRG said that the condition listed in the Letter of Intent that will precede award of the contract to PALMERON was closed out with enough time to meet TotalEnergies drilling campaign initially planned for April 2022.
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