Lagos — In defence of claims by oil marketing and trading companies, OM&TCs that the Sovereign Debt Notes, SDNs, given to them as reimbursement for petroleum products importated are not backed by cash, the Federal Ministry of Finance said it has paid about N338.24billion as at August 22, 2012.

The Ministry in statistics made available to Vanguard, yesterday, titled: "Update on Payments to Oil Marketers Whose Claims Have Been Verified", said that a whopping sum of N259.34billion were paid the OM&TCs as subsidy arrears for 2011, while about N78.9billion have been paid for 2012 verified claims.

YOU WIN--From left: Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Zainab Maina; Vice President, Namadi Sambo; President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during the Presidential Launch of 2nd Edition of Youth Enterprise With Innovation In Nigeria (You Win), yesterday, at the State House, Abuja.

"Please note that of the total amount of N78.9 billion paid so far under this category, N34.6billion was paid on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 following a thorough process of claims verification. This is in line with the commitment of the Federal Ministry of Finance to continue the payment of marketers whose papers have been processed and cleared," the update read in part.

It further observed that, "some claims were settled before substantive implementation of the Aig-Imoukuede Committee's Report, which led to the suspension of payments of all 2012 claims to oil marketers under investigation for serious infractions."

Banks are not funding importation

However, some of the marketers who spoke in confidence to Vanguard, complained that the invalidity of the SNDs has made it impossible for them to continue to import products, as "no bank is willing to finance the importation of new cargoes," thus heightening the fears of impending fuel scarcity.

The OM&TCs told Vanguard exclusively that some of them had been carrying around the debt notes for upwards of four weeks without cash back up.

"If you have the SDN and you cannot turn it into cash, then you cannot import products because banks are not willing to finance it. So as it is two things will happen: scarcity will set in because most of the existing stocks have been exhausted, and scarcity will naturally lead to nationwide strikes," they opined.

The development raises questions about Nigeria's liquidity if its debit notes are no longer cashable, even as Finance Minister/Coordinator of the Economy put foreign reserves in excess of $38billion

But in a quick response to Vanguard's inquiry, the Finance Ministry released the names of the OM&TCs, whose claims had been verified and paid accordingly.

List of marketers paid

It would be recalled that Vanguard had earlier exclusively reported that the marketers had dared the ministry to publish the names of those that have been paid. Apparently pushed to the limit in view of the claims and counter claims that have tried the subsidy hoax, the ministry is being forced to call their bluff, to state as follows:

Please note that the Federal Ministry of Finance makes payments based on submitted batches by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

LATEST PAYMENTS MADE BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE TO OIL MARKETERS IN 2012 AGAINST 2012 CLAIMS

NO. OF COMPANIES: 24

NO. OF CLAIMS: 43

S/NO.

NAME OF OIL MARKETER

1.ASCON OIL COMPANY LIMITED (3 Claims)

2.BODEJ INVESTMENT LIMITED (1 Claim)

3. BOVAS AND COMPANY LIMITED (2 Claims)

4.CHANNEL OIL AND PETROLEUM LIMITED (1 Claim)

5.DEE JONES PETROLEUM AND GAS LIMITED (1 Claim)

6. DOZZY OIL AND GAS LIMITED (1 Claim)

7.FIRST DEEP WATER DISCOVERY LTD (1 Claim)

8. FOLAWIYO ENERGY LIMITED (1 Claim)

9.HEYDEN PETROLEUM LIMITED (1 Claim)

10.HONEYWELL OIL & GAS LIMITED (1 Claim)

11.INTEGRATED OIL & GAS (1 Claim)

12.MASTERS ENERGY OIL AND GAS LTD (1 Claim)

13.MOBIL OIL NIGERIA NIGERIA PLC (3 Claim)

14.MRS OIL & GAS LIMITED (1 Claim)

15.NIPCO PLC (4 Claims)

16.OANDO PLC (2 Claims)

17.RAHAMANIYYA OIL & GAS (3 Claims)

18.RAIN OIL LIMITED (5 Claims)

19.SAHARA ENERGY RESOURCES LIMITED (2 Claims)

20. SHORELINK OIL AND GAS SERVICES LIMITED (2 Claims)

21. SWIFT OIL LIMITED (1 Claim)

22. TECHNO OIL LIMITED (3 Claims)

23.TOTAL NIGERIA PLC (1 Claim)

24. ZALEX ENERGY RESOURCES LIMITED (1 Claim)

Grand Total: N78,899,342,509.65

TABLE 2:

PAYMENTS MADE BY THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE TO OIL MARKETERS IN 2012 AGAINST 2011 ARREARS.

S/NO NAME OF OIL MARKETER

1 ACORN PLC

2 AITEO ENERGY RESOURCES

3 AMG PETRO-ENERGY LIMITED

4 ANOSYKE GROUP OF COMPANIES

5 ASCON OIL COMPANY LIMITED

6 AX ENERGY LIMITED

7 A-Z PETROLEUM

8 BAYWOOD CONTINENTAL LIMITED

9 BRITANIA .U. NIGERIA LIMITED

10 CAADES OIL & GAS LIMITED

11 CAH RESOURCES ASSOCIATED LIMITED

12 CAPITAL OIL & GAS INDUSTRY LTD

13 CARNIVAL ENERGY OIL & GAS LTD

14 CEOTI LIMITED

15 CHANNEL OIL & GAS SVS

16 CONOIL PLC

17 CRUST ENERGY LIMITED

18 DEE JONES PETROLEUM & GAS LIMITED

19 DOWNSTREAM ENERGY SOURCE LTD

20 DUPORT MARINE LIMITED

21 ECO-REGEN LIMITED

22 ETERNA OIL & GAS PLC

23 EURAFIC OIL & COASTAL SERVICE LIMITED

24 FARGO PETROLEUM & GAS LIMITED

25 FIRST DEEP WATER DISCOVERY LIMITED

26 FOLAWIYO ENERGY

27 FORTE OIL PLC

28 FRADO INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

29 FRESH SYNERGY LIMITED

30 GEACAN ENERGY LIMITED

31 HEYDEN PETROLEUM LIMITED

32 HONEYWELL OIL & GAS LIMITED

33 IBAFON OIL LIMITED

34 INTEGRATED OIL & GAS

35 KNIGHT BRIDGE OIL

36 LLYODS ENERGY LIMITED

37 LOTTOJ OIL & GAS LIMITED

38 MASTERS ENERGY OIL & GAS LIMITED

39 MATRIX ENERGY LIMITED

40 MOB INTEGRATED SERVICES

41 MOBIL OIL NIGERIA NIGERIA PLC

42 MOMATS OIL & GAS LIMITED

43 MRS OIL & GAS CO. LIMITED

44 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC

45 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC

46 NADABO ENERGY LIMITED

47 NASAMAN OIL SERVICES LIMITED

48 NATICEL PETROLEUM LIMTIED

49 NIPCO PLC

50 NORTHWEST PETROLEUM & GAS CO LTD

51 OAKFIELD SYNERGY NETWORK LTD

52 OANDO NIGERIA PLC

53 OBAT OIL & PETROLEUM LIMITED

54 OIL BATH NIGERIA LIMITED

55 ORIGIN OIL & GAS LIMITED

56 PETROL TRADE ENERGY LIMITED

57 PHOENIX OIL COMPANY LIMITED

58 PINNACLE CONTRACTOR LIMITED

59 PINNACLE OIL & GAS LIMITED

60 PRUDENT ENERGY & SERV. LTD

61 RAHAMANIYYA OIL & GAS LIMITED

62 RAINOIL LIMITED

63 ROCKY ENERGY LIMITED

64 RYDEN OIL LIMITED

65 SAHARA ENERGY RESOURCES LIMITED

66 SEA PETROLEUM & GAS COMPANY LTD

67 SHORELINK OIL & GAS LIMITED

68 SIFAX OIL & GAS COMPANY LIMITED

69 SIRIUS ENERGY RESOURCES LIMITED

70 SOMERSET ENERGY SERVICES LIMITED

71 TECHNO OIL LIMITED

72 TONIQUE OIL SERVICES LIMITED

73 TOP OIL & GAS DEVELOPMENT LIMITED

74 VALCORE ENERGY LIMITED

75 VENRO ENERGY LIMITED

76 VIVENDI ENERGY NIGERIA LIMITED

77 XALON PETROLEUM LIMITED

78 ZALEX ENERGY RESOURCES LIMITED

79 ZAMSON GLOBAL RESOURCES LIMITED

TOTAL AMOUNT SETTLED: N259,339,041,657.85

Processing of claims/SDNs

OM&TCs under the subsidy regime, file for claims for reimbursement of the difference between the landing costs for petrol and kerosene and the domestic pump prices.

Thereafter, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, will verify the documents and send to the Ministry of Finance, who in turn, invites external auditors to counter-check the documents and then forward to the Debt Management Office, DMO.

The DMO, based on the auditors' recommendations issues the Sovereign Debt Notes, which the marketers take to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN for cash validation through their respective banks.

However, if the debits notes cannot be turned into cash, they remain "as good as a tissue paper."