Another Oil Deal

The Governments of Liberia and Nigeria have entered into an another oil deal, this time an agreement for the supply of 20,000 barrels of crude oil here by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or NNPC on a daily basis for a period of one year, beginning September this year.

The agreement in two parts had the Liberian government to also sign another agreement in the form of a management service contract with Sahara Energy Resource Limited, a Nigerian petroleum company, to handle logistical aspect, programming, loading, lifting and transportation to Liberia as well as the trading of the crude oil in Liberia.

If the deal goes well in consonance with the agreement between LPRC and NNPC, the supply of the crude oil to Liberia, could be renewed for two years continuously.  

The Managing Director of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Corporation (LPRC), T. Nelson Williams II, made this known at a press briefing yesterday in Monrovia, where he was joined by members of the Corporation’s Board of Directors.  He said the arrangement with Sahara will enable the nation to accrue about US$ 120,000 to Liberia on a monthly basis.

“The revenue collected from this deal,” Nelson Williams pointed out, “will be accounted for under the Public Financial Management Act through an LPRC special account to be used for identifiable reconstruction projects including rehabilitation and upgrading of tanks at the corporation.” 

Nelson Williams said four companies including J and S, and Sahara were selected for the biding process, and Sahara was declared winner based on best performance in other West African countries including Sierra Leone and Ghana.

Madam Christiana Tarr Minister of Justice of Liberia, stressed “the arrangement was fixed to suit Liberia’s incapability to do straight forward cash purchase of the crude. Even if we had money to buy the oil, we don’t   right now have a refinery and storage facilities therefore we can’t handle the crude oil at the LPRC here”. 

The contract which according to the Board Chairman of LPRC Prof. Wilson Tarpeh is not meant for the consumption of the public due to the legal implications and the bargaining agreed upon by all the parties.

Therefore the contract could not be made available to the press, while at the same time the grade of the crude oil expected in the country was not specified.  Prof. Tarpeh noted that the agreement was different and was not an extension of the 2006 one signed by the previous Managing Director.

Liberia was represented at the signing ceremony held in Nigeria on July 19, by LPRC Managing Director T. Nelson Williams II and Madam Christiana Tarr, the Minister of Justice.