[miningmx.com] — A FUEL-supply contract between Glencore and Namibia’s state-owned petroleum firm Namcor, which plunged the parastatal into bankruptcy in less than a year, was negotiated in bad faith to mask the ambition of the commodities giant to take over Namibia’s oil industry. This is according to a news report, which quoted government documents (to read the full report, click here).
“Glencore has been negotiating with Namcor in bad faith and seems to have undisclosed ambitions to control the local oil industry in future,’ read a cabinet report dated September 23 last year, quoted by daily news journal The Namibian.
A copy of the paper made it to President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s desk four days later.
The revelation coincided with the start of a disciplinary hearing of suspended Namcor managing director Sam Beukes on Tuesday.
A forensic audit cabinet ordered last year found that Beukes and the Namcor board neglected their fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the state-owned enterprise, said The Namibian.
The confidential paper – part of documents filed in the high court application where Glencore opposed cabinet’s decision to suspend Namcor’s fuel import mandate -highlighted Glencore’s plans to boost its presence in Namibia to get a foothold in the region, read the report.
The UK firm apparently offered Namcor N$300m to build a storage facility in Walvis Bay.
“This might have sparked controversy on ownership of the facility later on because Glencore has revealed its ambition to become a major supplier of petroleum products to SADC’s (the Southern African Development Community’s) land-locked countries in the near future, using Walvis Bay terminal as its source of supply,’ read the report.
“This can also reflect Glencore’s ambitions to become South Africa’s main rival in supplying petroleum products in the region,’ it stated.
Namcor has been in a financial mess since entering into an agreement with Glencore five years ago, with auditors declaring the state-owned enterprise technically insolvent.
Glencore Energy, together with Russian PetroNeft International, has been supplying 50% of Namibia’s petroleum requirements through myriads of off-shoot companies of which the principal company is a joint venture between Namcor and Glencore, which executes the actual fuel supply services to Namcor.
Namibia’s government earlier terminated Namcor’s mandate of importing half of the country’s fuel requirements, but a high court ruling has set the decision aside.
The government is appealing against the ruling.
