Page 8 - DMEA Week 30 2022

DMEA COMPANIES DMEA

Dram Oil contests Deloitte’s

due diligence claim

AFRICA A private operator in the Ghanaian downstream undertaking the audit in May 2018 after a previ-
petroleum industry, Dram Oil, has contested in ous audit firm had failed to do so.
court claims made by Deloitte and Touche that it Dram Oil now alleges that Deloitte and
performed its responsibilities according to estab- Touche had relied on “irrelevant, misleading and
lished accounting practices, Joy News reports. egregiously defective fictions.” Deloitte, however,
Lawyers for Deloitte and Touche, a Lon- argued that its appointment to audit was not on
don-based auditing firm, led by Ace Ankomah the basis of any facts established in a court judge-
had filed fresh documents making changes to ment, Joy News reports.
their defence. The audit firm has since then made changes
Dram Oil is seeking $187mn from Deloitte to its defence, further arguing that the terms of
over the latter’s alleged violation of duty of care reference (TOR) given to it by the High Court
and negligence. did not include the facts and findings as estab-
The case originated from a 2013 commercial lished by the Court, adding that it carried out
dispute between Dram Oil, which happens to be its job diligently as per established accounting
the 7th Defendant, and Cal Bank, for which the practices.
former obtained a favourable judgement. Consequently, Dram filed documents
The court also made some orders requiring through its lawyer, Gasper Lyle Nii- Ampon-
an audit firm to “audit the books, records and sah, making changes to its response, accusing
inventory of the 7th Defendant relating to the Deloitte of displaying a “wanton, intentional,
subject matter suit, particularly with respect to careless and reckless disposition in the meth-
payments receivables, emergency cargo under odology and manner in which they conducted
recoveries received by 7th Defendant under the the audit and arrived at its conclusions, thereby
“Tripartite Agreement.” establishing Deloitte’s gross negligence,” the
Deloitte and Touch were then tasked with court document read.™

SUPPLY & PROCESSING

Turkey confident of

extending gas deals

MIDDLE EAST TURKEY intends to extend its natural gas pur- by pointing the rising availability of liquefied
chase agreements with key suppliers Russia, natural gas (LNG) deliveries. It has also pushed
Azerbaijan and Iran, Fatih Donmez, the coun- for more competitive pricing and flexibility
try’s energy and natural resources minister, told in deal renewals, but booming gas prices have
Haber Global on July 26. undermined that strategy.
Problems with gas supplies were unlikely to Turkey imports gas from Iran under an agree-
afflict Turkey this winter as the country would ment signed in 1996 for up to 10bn cubic metres
contractually secure its interests in the runup to (bcm)/year until July 2026. It commenced in
winter, he said. The comments come as countries 2001 and was later reduced to 9.6 bcm/year.
across Europe are set to ration gas as they fear Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber on July
Russia will not provide enough for their winter 25 reported Turkish President Recep Tayyip
reserves in a tactical attempt at exerting pressure Erdogan, who a week ago met with his Iranian
on the EU for its opposition to its war in Ukraine. counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran, as saying
“Our main suppliers are Russia, Azerbaijan Turkey has every intention of importing more
and Iran,” Donmez continued. “We intend to Iranian oil and gas.
extend contracts with them for a new period. Raisi, meanwhile, said after his meeting
We strive to meet our energy needs.” with Erdogan that Tehran and Ankara believed
In recent years, Turkey has attempted to gain they could boost their annual bilateral trade to
more leverage in its negotiations for pipeline gas around $30bn.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 28•July•2022