In its determination to entrench transparency and accountability in the downstream sector, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has hammered NIMEX Petroleum Ltd, an oil trading company from Switzerland.?
The Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr Reginald Stanley, confirmed the sanction in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
Stanley said that the Swiss firm refused to submit important documents on its operations in Nigeria.?
It will be recalled that Stanley last November, vowed to enthrone a regime of transparency in the downstream, warning petroleum marketers “to shape up or ship out of the industry”.?
He said that NIMEX was sanctioned for failing to provide documents relating to its shuttle vessels, which loaded from the mother vessel as well as its documentation on the cumulative load-outs.?
He said that NIMEX was therefore, “suspended from supplying cargoes to Nigerian marketers under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) scheme, pending the provision of the necessary documents’’ by NIMEX.?
The PPPRA chief said that independent cargo inspectors, who superintended the receipt of the products from NIMEX, would also be sanctioned, if found to be culpable.?
Stanley said:? “all marketers are hereby warned that with effect from May 3, 2012, all purchases of premium motor spirit from Messrs NIMEX Petroleum shall not be processed for PSF claims. ”?
In a related development, Swift Oil and Gas Ltd, Lagos,? was directed to provide required documentation on “originals of discharged documents’’, known in the industry as shore-tank certificates.?
“Swift Oil was also required to make available detailed truck-out of its oil discharges as well as a comprehensive bank statement, detailing lodgments in respect of the sale of the discharges. ’’?
Stanley said that Swift Oil would be sanctioned if it failed to provide the documents.
He pointed out that the sanction would send “a powerful signal to all operators that a new regime of transparency and due process in the industry is here to stay’’.?
President Goodluck has on assumption of office, introduced a transformation agenda to reposition key sectors of the nation's economy and set Nigeria on course to become a key player in the global economy in the years ahead.