The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has distanced itself from the crude oil lifting deal with a firm called Lavi International Corporation, just as it raised the alarm over the circulation of fake letters of authorisation purportedly from it to buy and/or sell Nigerian crude oil.

The corporation in a statement in Abuja signed by the group public affairs manager, Ohi Alegbe, urged members of the public to be wary of persons with fraudulent intentions circulating letters authorising the lifting of Bonny Light crude oil from Nigeria.

According to him, a paragraph in one of the fake letters of authorisation in circulation reads, “We hereby confirm that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has entered into contractual arrangements directly with Lavi International Corp to supply Bonny Light crude oil to the Lavi International Corp Associated Refineries and or Global Traders, and that the Lavi International Corp has the power and authority to sell or otherwise deal with the Bonny Light crude oil, the subject of those contractual agreements.”

Alegbe, however, stated that Lavi International Corp is not one of its crude oil off-takers for the 2014-2015 term contract period and therefore has not been allocated any crude oil volume as speculated in the fake letter of authorisation.

He further noted that the list of local and international companies duly approved as NNPC’s crude oil off-takers for the 2014-2015 term contract period has been widely publicised and called on members of the public to avail themselves of such information to avoid being duped by unscrupulous elements