The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ajjampur R. Ghanashyam, has revealed how the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation used intermediaries in the annual $14 billion deal instead of just signing a long-term agreement with New Delhi, Nigeria’s Number One oil buyer.
Daily Trust reports that the Indian High Commissioner said that aside the lack of long-term agreement between the two countries on crude oil purchases, in 2006, an Indian company, Oil & Natural Gas Commission Videsh Limited (OVL) and Mittal Energy International, which is a joint venture between OVL, an Indian government company, and Mittal Energy a private firm, applied for oil concession. The Signature bonus sum of $25 million was paid, however, neither was the oil concession granted nor the money paid returned to the Indian companies.
