Photo: Chevron

An offshore oil rig.

The Chief Executive Officer and President of the National Oil Company of Liberia Dr. Randolph McClain has clarified his relationship with his former employer American chemical giant DuPont.

Speaking during a news conference called by his entity on the matter Dr. McClain told reporters that contrary to media reports he (Dr. McClain) without notifying the NOCAL board unilaterally single sourced a US$731,100 contract to DuPont without the approval of the Public Procurement Concessions Commission (PPCC), the PPCC along with the Justice and Finance ministries gave approval to the deal after the laws were followed.

Dr. McClain said NOCAL's decision to single source his former employer with whom he worked for twenty years was made in the interest of Liberia for the safeguard of the environment and its people.

"In the final analysis it had to be reviewed seen by the minister of finance and the minister of justice. To the final conclusion of it, because that was the evidence required by PPCC and now we are in the position to do well as these explorations drilling starts," he said at the Friday news conference.

"That doesn't say there are no other companies out there, but when you are dealing with urgency, then you will go to the PPCC and say look I've got a years of competence situation here, this thing can happen any time overnight, I need to go for this particular company. They look at your merit; they look at the company's credibility and on that basis, they make their move; so that's how it works."

He said NOCAL followed all the rules of the game and that the contract in question was not out of Dupont's area of expertise and one the Liberian oil sector was in urgent need of.

"We want to now do it at the right time for the right reason to safeguard our nation and the environment and the health of our people," said Dr. McClain.

"I don't want to come here to answer to the question, how come there is oil spill and all the beaches are destroyed and the marine life is destroyed, I don't want to be answering to that kind of question."

The NOCAL boss also noted that contrary to media reports that the company had received 50% upfront payment on the contract, the payments would instead be made as the work progresses in the specified phases.

"That is not true (50% payment), there are three work streams in the program and each one has an attached amount to it and the company will be billed as a function of the work stream," he said.

"The value in the contract is US$731,000; it is an intense program over eight months that will involve training and setting up the system and all of the international standards and not only training for auditing but training for auditing such that after they leave, our people are self sufficient in auditing these companies from a safety and environmental standpoint."

Dr. McClain responding to the alleged conflict of interest he has been accused of in the local press as a result of the perceived ongoing ties with the company Dr. McClain noted that he has been retired from DuPont more than a decade ago and has no ties with the company as is being reported.

"Well there is no question and it is on the website. I've worked for the DuPont Company before; I am a DuPont Retiree now since about twelve years," he said.

"I have no share position in the company. We are doing it because ladies and Gentlemen it is the right thing to do for our country."

EPS in the know

The NOCAL boss told reporters at the news conference on a wet Friday at NOCAL's office on Randal and Ashmun streets that the Environmental Protection Agency was fully aware of the workings of the deal and is in partnership with seeing that the process moves forward for the good of the country and its people.

"EPA is very involved; when we approached them on something like this they were very excited. They are a part of it and they've been involved in all of the preliminaries that we've had leading on to the time that the program has started," he said.

When asked why DuPont he noted that the company is the most qualified to entrust exploration safety with because they have a track record of success adding that if there was a Liberian company with the same technical capability that company would have been chosen.

"It is not the function of an American company, it is a function of how we look at a situation; when you're leading an organization, when you have people you are responsible for and when you have a country you are responsible for, one of the things that people at this level worry about most is that kind of a risk," he said.

He said Liberia cannot afford to wait for environmental disasters to occur before taking action but with the DuPont deal the country stands ready to respond in the event of an oil spill.

"A year before now, we had no protection at all out there to monitor this thing from coming one day. These things happen overnight, you cannot predict it, they're almost like a fire, it's going to come and then it's over; but if you put in some preventative measures, we have a good chance," said Dr. McClain.

"So now, you're going to be trying to choose the best to save your country if you know who they are and as quickly as possible when the drillings are increasing. When those drillings are intensifying and the top companies are coming here, you have to be careful about how you go about this kind of thing."

DuPont, is an American Chemical Company founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthere du Pont. The company was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009 and has a stock price component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.