They alleged that despite the abundant deposits of barite in Nigeria and the Federal Government’s local content policy, the IOCs had continued to import the mineral as a component of ‘drilling mud’, a combination of chemicals used in drilling oil wells.
The miners asked the Federal Government to isolate barite from contracts given out by the IOCs for importation of drilling mud, so as to create opportunity for local supply of the commodity. “If the barite produced in Nigeria is utilised effectively, it will save a lot of cost in oil production. Barite importation is economic sabotage, as it leads to capital flight. Besides, they import from their parent countries.
He disclosed that the IOCs spent about N148,000 to import a metric tonne of barite, while barite of the same quantity and quality is available locally for about N45,000.
Gold diggers
Ifb