Clive Mullings, the Opposition spokesman on mining, energy and telecommunications, wants the government to retain an international oil consultant to audit all Jamaica-Nigeria oil trading transactions since 1999 when the services of US firm GoodWorks International was acquired.

“The country must know what role does GoodWorks plays in these transactions and what it has cost to date,” Mullings insisted, as he made his sectoral debate presentation at Gordon House on Wednesday night.

GoodWorks International is an Atlanta, Georgia-based consulting firm which has retained the services of former Prime Minister PJ Patterson since his retirement.

An allegation by the leader of the opposition, Bruce Golding, that it was involved in the sale of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to Mirant has been denied by GoodWorks. Mirant bought a 90 per cent stake in JPS during Patterson’s tenure as prime minister.

Mullings told the House that prior to 1999, the oil arrangement between Jamaica and Nigeria was handled by a joint venture between the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) and international oil trading company Vitol SA Inc.

“This joint venture partnership allowed PCJ to share 50/50 in the profits,” Mullings said. “PCJ was indemnified against losses and the partnership was audited frequently by an international oil consultant.

“We are advised in a letter to Mr Audley Shaw (the Opposition spokesman on finance and the public service), under the signature of the permanent secretary, that ‘The absence of a Jamaican high commissioner in Abuja, Nigeria during 1999 was one of the reasons that led PCJ to acquire the services of GoodWorks International, an Atlanta-based firm, to assist in the process of acquiring new liftings of Nigerian oil’.”

Mullings said he wanted to know what qualifications GoodWorks had in the oil industry that could have prompted their involvement in the government-to-government negotiations.

He said that a three-way arrangement now exists between PCJ, GoodWorks and a new oil trader, Trafigura Limited, and questioned why those arrangements were not being audited.

Added Mullings :”One wonders whether this was the reason why the Ministry of Finance and Planning instructed the PCJ that, with effect from April 1, 2005 the net income from the Nigerian oil facility was to be paid into the consolidated fund?”