NOCAL dismisses lavish travel claims

-Says JOC trip no cost to company

 The National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) has rebutted any and all allegations of misappropriation or mismanagement of public funds. 

In a press release distributed to media houses in Monrovia Wednesday, the company said contrary to recent media reports and rumors regarding a Joint Operating Committee (JOC) meeting scheduled to be held in the United States, NOCAL would like to clarify that its delegation to the three JOC meetings with ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Anadarko, included 9 members and not 20, as was erroneously reported in the press.

Additionally, the release said as a cost saving measure, and in the interest of being efficient and fiscally responsible, NOCAL coordinated with the three International Oil Companies (IOCs) to hold the JOC meetings in the same place and on three consecutive days, so that NOCAL could fulfill three of its contractual obligations in one trip, instead of having to take multiple trips to the USA.

“Under the terms of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with each of the IOCs, expenses for three NOCAL representatives each to a JOC meeting are paid for by the IOC hosting the meeting. Therefore, the trip would have been at no cost to NOCAL. This in our view is “prudent spending,” because its saves the company money and by extension the Government of Liberia”, the NOCAL release added.

Meanwhile, NOCAL wishes to clarify that the meetings were not called off by the President, nor is there an investigation underway.  Rather, they were rescheduled based on a request from the Chairman of the Board of Directors so that management would be available to address some unforeseen urgent matters at home at the same time of the meetings.