Category: Forex

Tags: Press TV, Africa Today, Africa Politics, Nigeria Oil, western tankers, corrupt government officials, Big Oil

Nigeria's "official" oil production figures show about 3 million barrels a day being pumped from their oil fields into the holds of western tankers. Now informed observers have estimated up to one third of all Nigerian oil is actually stolen and secretly loaded onto oil tankers after bribes are paid to corrupt government officials. If 4 million barrels of oil are being shipped out of Nigeria daily at $100 a barrel, times 30 days a month, times 12 months, you arrive at almost $150 billion a year in potential oil revenues for Nigeria. The problem is not just theft but the fact that the western oil companies are literally looting Nigeria's oil, paying as little as a 9% royalty. Do the math, 9% of $150 billion minus the one third oil that is stolen and the Nigerian government only receives about $10 billion a year of this amount. Simply put, at $100 a barrel, the western oil companies get $91 and Nigeria only gets $9. Or more shockingly, Big Oil makes $140 billion a year vs. Nigeria's $10 billion. Nigeria's environment has been a victim with a large swath of the coast lying under a toxic blanket of oil, mainly as a result of the criminal failure of Big Oil to do even basic maintenance on its pipelines.

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