At least two oil tanker owners said their vessels will not be coming to Nigeria over fear of the ships being arrested, Bloomberg reported.
This comes after the Federal Inland Revenue Service sent backdated tax bills to companies totaling millions of dollars.
The tax bills which range from $400,000 to $1.1 million per vessel, cover the period from 2010 to 2019, according to the report.
According to a law published by the FIRS in July 2021, to which many of the tax bills referred to, any vessel carrying crude oil, gas or refined fuels from Nigeria is liable to pay tax.
Some claims are in tens of millions of dollars, hence the decision by the two ship owners whose identities were not revealed to steer clear of Nigerian ports over the fear that their ship would be confiscated.
Bloomberg said that tanker earnings from West Africa to Europe have risen over 42% in three days so far this week due to reduced number of vessels on the route.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
