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Abuja has designated state Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) as a commercial entity in a bid to head off a financial crunch with its joint-venture partners brought about by last month's Supreme Court ruling on oil revenue entitlements and allocations (EC Apr.12,p5).
The ruling stopped the federal government from deducting money at source from oil and gas revenues to cover NNPC's cash calls and other key federal outlays. The system's abolition would have left the company without the money to honor obligations to joint-venture partners Royal Dutch/Shell, Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco, Total Fina Elf, and ENI.
Although details of the new plan are sketchy,...