July 19, 2015/The Will

President Muhammadu Buhari has banned 113 crude oil vessels from Nigerian oil facilities and territorial waters.

The ban was conveyed via a memo to oil terminal operators by the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Gbenga O. Komolafe.

Though the memo was silent on the reason for the ban, which became effective on July 15, 2015, THEWILL gathered from oil insiders that the ban followed discrepancies in the volume of crude lifted from Nigerian terminals and the volume eventually discharged abroad to buyers.

“The NNPC has had issues in shortages between what these vessels lifted from Nigeria and what they have delivered to buyers abroad. Sometimes, the difference in volume is outrageous that the NNPC is certain that the vessels have been stealing crude oil,” one source told THEWILL.

President Buhari has met severally with the management of the NNPC and top bureaucrats at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources since he took office as President, with government sources telling THEWILL that a close scrutiny of all NNPC’s operations is being conducted.