THE REVENUE MOBILIZATION Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the agency responsible for monitoring Nigerias oil incomes, has asked the federal government to stop funding the joint venture cash call requirement of the state-run Nigeria National Petroleum Corp from the governments account.
p>THE REVENUE MOBILIZATION Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the agency responsible for monitoring Nigerias oil incomes, has asked the federal government to stop funding the joint venture cash call requirement of the state-run Nigeria National Petroleum Corp from the governments account.
Ajibola Fagboyegun, the Commission's vice-chairman, Indices and Disbursement Committee, said in Abuja that the NNPC should be able to fund the cash calls from the income it generates from crude allocated to the Corporation.
Cash call refers to NNPC's equity contributions to the funding of its average 57 per cent stakes in oil joint venture businesses with western multinationals namely Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Eni and Total.
"By implication they (NNPC) should stop funding the JVs from the federation account. They are not entitled to take any money from the federation account since they are not beneficiaries of the account,"Fagboyegun said.
"By virtue and nature of their (NNPC) operations, they are given crude oil on daily basis, which they now refine and sell thereby generating revenue for the country. This does not entitle them to take money from the federation account," the newspaper quoted Fagboyegun saying.
The federal government proposed $5 billion cash call in the 2010 budget although subject to approval by the parliament, which is higher than the $4.9 billion voted for 2009.
Fagboyegun said the government would need to review the amount paid for the cash call in such a way that it would not affect revenue accruing from the sale of crude oil to the federation account.
Nigeria provides funds for the oil joint ventures directly from the government's account to avoid delays that bogged down projects.
The five multinationals have cited insufficient cash-call payments as one key reason why they had been unable to meet targets regarding oil reserves addition and deadline to stop gas flaring.
