Nigerian Offshore Rigs: Identifying the Bribe Taker

• Author: Cecil C. Kuhne III
• Pages: 97-103

97

16

Nigerian Offshore Rigs:

Identifying the

Bribe Taker

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jackson

908 F.Supp.2d 834 (S.D.Tex. 2012)

Noble Energy is an international corporation that provides oshore

drilling equipment and services around the world. Bet ween 2003 and

2007, one of the company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries operated a num-

ber of drilling r igs o the coast of Nigeria, where the law requires rig

ow ners t o eith er pa y per manen t imp ort du ties or els e obt ain a tempo rar y

import permit (TIP).

TIPs allow drilling rigs to operate in Nigerian waters without pay-

ment of permanent import duties, and the Nigeria Customs Service

grants these permits for rigs that will be in the countr y for up to a year.

e customs service may, in its discretion, grant up to three 6-month