- The Central Bank of Nigeria has officially expanded the monitoring oversight of Swede Control Intertek Limited by assigning them two additional primary crude oil export terminals.
- The newly allocated Cawthorne and Okwok terminals will be strictly monitored by the pre-shipment inspection firm to independently verify exact export volumes and protect crucial foreign exchange earnings.
- This dynamic administrative readjustment comes on the heels of intense legislative investigations by the House of Representatives into persistent revenue leakages and the non-remittance of crude proceeds.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has taken a strategic step toward strengthening the nation’s crude oil export monitoring framework by officially allocating two additional major export terminals to Swede Control Intertek Limited.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the regulatory development was formalized through an official operational circular signed by Aderinola Shonekan, the Director of the Trade and Exchange Department at the apex bank.
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The directive, aimed at expanding independent oversight across Nigeria’s lucrative energy export value chain, requires immediate, absolute compliance from all authorized dealer banks, customs formations, and key petroleum sector operators.
Under the newly approved fiscal arrangement, the Federal Government has formally transferred the statutory pre-shipment inspection responsibilities for both the Cawthorne Terminal and the Okwok Terminal to Swede Control Intertek Limited.
As a specialized pre-shipment inspection agent, the firm plays a highly critical defensive role in Nigeria’s macroeconomic stability by independently verifying exact volumetric measurements of crude oil exports and certifying all accompanying shipping documentation before commercial tankers depart territorial waters.
This independent tracking process serves as the primary technical anchor for federal revenue assurance, export proceeds tracking, and strict compliance with national foreign exchange regulations.
The distribution list attached to the regulatory circular reflects the multi-agency nature of modern maritime trade enforcement.
Copies of the directive were transmitted to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, alongside various private oil and gas exploration firms.
The apex bank explicitly instructed these strategic stakeholders to adjust their logistics structures to accommodate the new inspection oversight, noting that tightening oversight at the terminals is crucial to eliminating operational accountability gaps.
This regulatory expansion comes at a time of intense administrative pressure on the country’s export monitors.
The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating Pre-Shipment Inspection of Exports and the Non-Remittance of Crude Oil Proceeds has recently stepped up its institutional probe, demanding exhaustive data logs from the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Lawmakers have repeatedly expressed severe anxieties over massive revenue leakages and systemic under-remittance to the Federation Account, making the assignment of these new terminals a timely intervention to ensure that every single barrel of crude leaving the country is fully accounted for and financially remitted.
