Has Nigeria Lost $37 Billion in Oil Underpayments?

Bloomberg reported that Goodluck Jonathan, the president of Nigeria, received a report that indicates that over the last ten years the country may have lost $37 billion or more in revenue due to underpayments for oil. Jonathan plans to launch an investigation to get to the bottom of the matter.

As quoted in the market news:

The losses were from crude sales, royalties and signature bonuses for oil-exploration concessions through collusion between government officials, Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. and people working for its partners, who include Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), according to the report.

The report, obtained by Bloomberg, was prepared by a team set up by the Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke in February. Tony Okonedo, a spokesman for Shell, and Nigel Cookey Gam, a spokesman for Exxon, said their companies will comment after they’ve seen and studied the report.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.