The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – NNPC – allegedly withheld $49.8 billion of oil revenue from the Nigerian government and recently sought to explain what happened to $10.8 billion of that sum. Corruption has long plagued the Nigerian oil industry and the country ranked 144th out of 177 nations analyzed in Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perception Index.

With regard to this latest issue, NNPC claims no money is missing and the situation is a misunderstanding.

NNPC’s General Manager, Media Relations Department, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim said: “The issues surrounding the allegation of unremitted $49.8 billion against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, have since been explained but it appears the initial dust raised in the process is yet to settle,” according to Sweet Crude Reports, A Review of the Nigerian Energy Industry.