Stolen Saltpond Offshore crude intercepted in German waters

The International Police in Germany has intercepted an oil tanker, MT Ceilo Di Milano that was carrying stolen crude from Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SOPCL).

According to a correspondence between Addo Atuah & Company, Solicitors of SOPCL, and the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department of Ghana, General Shipping & Trading Services Ltd, acting per its Chief Executive , one Justice Asare took out 24,332 barrels of Saltpond crude valued at $1,237,647 through Imperial Energy Ventures Limited of Accra.

The document made available to Ghana News Agency said per to the arrangements, the vessel Mt Ceilo Di Milano was to set sail only after full payment had been made through letters of credit.

However, Asare 'managed to sail out of the territorial waters of Ghana with the crude having used "spurious documentation to enable the vessel to leave Ghana, albeit, unlawfully".

The correspondence said "there has been an issue of forgery of documentation or uttering forged documents as well as the issue of stolen crude from Ghana.    It is to be noted that Ghana National Petroleum Company is also a shareholder of Saltpond Offshore Producing Company and the crude as taken out thus involves the swindling of the …Government as well".

The correspondence, therefore, appealed to the Director- General to appeal to his counterpart in Germany "to intervene in order to arrest the vessel and to halt the discharge of the stolen crude".