Senate Disputes PMS Import Data, Demands Agency Heads

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts has rejected petroleum importation records submitted by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for 2022 and 2023, citing significant differences with data provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Following the rejection, the committee decided to summon the heads of NMDPRA, NNPCL, and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) for a joint meeting to address the conflicting figures and investigate potential fraud.

The discrepancies were revealed when NMDPRA responded to queries from NEITI’s Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report covering 2021 to 2023. NMDPRA reported 3.29 billion litres of PMS imports in 2022 and 6.02 billion litres in 2023, while NNPCL provided 6.27 billion litres and 3.88 billion litres for the same periods.