In what appears to be a brewing scandal, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, has balked and admitted to under-reporting the volume of crude oil it takes out of Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta and shortchanging the federal government in the process, THEWILL can authoritatively report.
Two authoritative government sources familiar with the development told THEWILL that Shell admitted to the discrepancy following a lengthy probe by industry regulator, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, into the volumes of crude oil it reported to the agency that it lifted between 2016 and 2018.
The sources further told THEWILL that the DPR had become suspicious of Shell’s reporting and opened an independent investigation into its metering system on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), which it suspected to be “irregular, rigged and unapproved.”
Following pressures by the DPR and overwhelming evidence, according to our sources, Shell admitted to the infraction and pledged it would refund over 2 million barrels of crude oil to the federal government and pay a penalty for its sins.
Shell has severally been accused of sharp practices in the Niger Delta where its operations are located in Nigeria. A few weeks ago, a news report indicted staffers of SPDC of orchestrating damages to crude oil pipelines so they can profit from funds expended on cleanup operations.
Source: thewill
