…As JP Morgan admits knowing ex-Minister linked to $800m Malabu transfer
Indigenous Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Company, Oilserv Limited, has sealed a two-year contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the Ajaokuta Kaduna Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project after a rigorous bidding process.
The 614km x 40-inch gas pipeline, which spans from Ajaokuta in Kogi State to Kano through the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, will have Oilserv/Oando Consortium handling the Lot 1 section, a 200km stretch from Ajaokuta to Abuja.
The contract was consummated on April 5 at the NNPC Towers in Abuja between Oilserv/Oando Consortium represented by the Chairman/Group CEO, Emeka Okwuosa, and the Managing Director, Gbite Falade, and the NNPC team led by the Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru.
Okwuosa expressed delight at the signing saying, “this is indeed a landmark achievement in Nigeria and the project, which is part of the Nigerian Gas Masterplan will ensure adequate supply of gas to the North, improve the gas infrastructure expansion within the domestic market and boost power generation in the region.”
He added that, “it is a gas infrastructure revolution, which has never been witnessed in the country. This is a cause to believe that the nation is on the path of a major economic revolution. All thanks to the GMD NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, hard-working Nigerians in NNPC and its contractor companies who are working tirelessly to deliver projects.”
The scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing, and commissioning of a 40” x 614km class pipeline system from Ajaokuta to Kano, with associated valve stations, intermediate and terminal gas facilities.
Okwuosa reiterated Oilserv’s resolve to be not only a leading indigenous EPC company in the pipelines and facility business but also the company of choice. “The journey of Oilserv as the leading indigenous EPCIC company in this sector has its roots in a number of many first achievements,” he said.
Meanwhile, Investment
banker, JP Morgan Chase, over the weekend acknowledged it knew Nigeria’s former oil minister convicted of money laundering would benefit when it transferred over $800 million of government funds to a company he controlled.
It made the acknowledgement in its legal response to a lawsuit filed by Nigeria over transactions made by the U.S. bank when Royal Dutch Shell and Eni bought offshore oilfield OPL 245 from Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011.
The $1.3 billion deal has spawned legal cases spanning several countries and involving Nigerian government officials and senior ENI and Shell executives, a number of whom face trial in Italy on corruption charges next month.
Malabu is controlled by Dan Etete, who was Nigeria’s oil minister at the time of the deal and was convicted of money laundering in France in 2007.
The lawsuit against JP Morgan accused the bank of negligence over the transfer of funds from a Nigerian government escrow account into which Shell and Eni had deposited money to secure OPL 245.
In its written defence, filed in a British court last week, JP Morgan said Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), now renamed the National Crime Agency, had approved the transfers to Malabu and denied negligence.