Reps gives oil firms two weeks’ ultimatum to remit $250m to FG

The House of Representatives Committee on Oil and Gas has given 10 indigenous oil companies in the country two weeks to remit 250 million dollars oil royalty to Federal Government’s coffers.

The Chairman of the committee, Jerigbe Agom, gave the ultimatum at the ongoing sitting over unremitted funds in the industry.

He said that Nigeria could no longer condone unbecoming acts of the operators, which were capable of strangulating the nation’s oil and gas industry.

He named Aiteo Group, Dubri Oil Limited, Atlas Energy, Frontier Oil Ltd., Oriental Energy Limited, Express Petroleum, Walter Smith Oil Limited and Neconde Group as the company yet to remit their funds.

Wielding the big stick

Agom said the committee would have no choice than to wield the big sticks on the companies that refused to meet the deadline as part of its mandate to ensure sanity in the nation’s oil and gas industry.

Meanwhile, members of the committee said the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was not proactive enough to ensure that indigenous oil companies complied with rules in the nation’s oil and gas sector.