The Nation Newspaper

Category: Energy

  • Govt has not paid our subsidy arrears, say marketers

    The Federal Government is yet to pay marketers subsidy arrears owed them, contrary to speculation in some quarters that the government has paid marketers money owed them in the course of importing fuel from abroad, the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) Executive Secretary, Mr Femi Adewole, has said.

    He said inability by the government to pay subsidies to the marketers, unfavourable foreign exchange rate caused by the declining value of the naira to dollar, the rise in the interest rates charged by banks, and other factors in the nation’s macro economy have compounded the woes of the marketers.

    Speaking to The Nation on phone, he said the government owes marketers billion of naira as subsidy arrears, adding that failure of the government to pay the money means that many marketers would be forced out of business.

    Adewole said: ‘’ The government has claimed on several occasions that it has paid the subsidy arrears to the marketers. At a point, the government directed Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other relevant agencies to provide detailed figures/ amount of the subsidies owed by the government, while at the same time, instructed them to pay the subsidies. Of note is that stakeholders were made to believe that the subsidies have been paid. Often times, the claims were not substantiated.”

    According to him, DAPMAN has verified the claims that the government has paid subsidies owed marketers, and often times, discovered that marketers have not  been paid. Going by the records of transactions at the disposal of DAPMAN, the subsidies owed marketers are huge.

    He said DAPMAN is performing its obligations to the consumers, by supplying fuel to retial outlets across the country, whether the government pays the debts owe  it  or not.

    ‘’DAPMAN has initiated and conducted many transactions with the government.  The organisation cannot on the basis of debts, owed by the Federal Government, stop doing business with stakeholders in the oil value chain. This could be the reason why the money owed marketers in form of subsidies accumulate over the years. ‘he added.

    However, NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndu Ughamadu, said he would not be able to comment on the subsidy arrears owed the marketers.

    He said he must check the  records first before he was able to speak on the issue.  He said the aim is to ascertain the amount of money, which the government owes marketers as subsides, as at press time.

    He said NNPC has transacted businesses with marketers in the industry, adding that he would not be able to state the actual amount of money owed the marketers by NNPC.

    ‘’NNPC follows due process in whatever its does. We at the (NNPC) believe in verifying our transactions well before we make our positions on an issue known to the public.’’ He said.

  • Nigeria exports N7.3trn crude oil in six months

    Nigeria’s crude oil export appreciated by 17.38 per cent to N7.308 trillion in the first six months of 2018 from N6.226 trillion recorded in the last six months of 2017, according to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    The NBS, in its Second Quarter 2018 Foreign Trade Statistics, stated that first half 2018 crude oil export figure represented an increase of 52.25 per cent compared with an export of N4.8 trillion recorded in the same period of 2017.

    Giving a breakdown of Nigeria’s crude oil export on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the NBS report stated that in the first and second quarters of 2018, N3.58 trillion and N3.729 trillion worth of crude oil was exported respectively, compared to N2.97 trillion and N3.255 trillion recorded in the third and fourth quarter of 2017 respectively. In the second quarter of 2018, the NBS report noted that India emerged the highest importer of Nigeria’s crude oil, with the purchase of N635.25 billion, representing 87.9 per cent of its total import of N722.58 billion from Nigeria.

    The Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, United States and Italy purchased Nigerian crude oil valued at N421.28 billion, N372.91 billion, N359.17 billion, N303.7 billion and N214.58 billion respectively. Others in the top ten category are France, Sweden, Brazil and Thailand which imported Nigeria’s crude oil worth N134.81 billion, N175.03 billion, N139.38 billion and N90.25 billion respectively. The report showed the total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade was N6.569 trillion in the second quarter of 2018, which was a decline of 8.89 per cent compared to N7.211 trillion recorded in the first quarter of 2018, while it represented an increase of 14.56 per cent from N5.73 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2017.

    The report indicated: “In the reviewing quarter, mineral products accounted for N4.275 trillion or 95.8 per cent of the total export from Nigeria. This category of export was dominated by crude oil exports which contributed N3.728 trillion or 83.5 per cent of total exports. “The second largest component of export in second quarter 2018 was vegetable products, which recorded N65.45 billion or 1.5 per cent of the total export in the reviewing quarter.

    “The value of crude oil exports recorded in second quarter 2018, N3.728 trillion, was 4.2 per cent higher than the value in first quarter 2018, which was N3.579 trillion and 53.7 per cent higher than the value in second quarter 2017, which was N2.425 trillion.

  • Fix Liquidity Issues in Power Sector – Nestoil CEO urges FG

    Director of Nestoil Limited Dr Ernest Obiejesi said Power sector holds the key to stimulating growth in the domestic market.

    Dr Obiejesi spoke at the 4th Nigeria Gas Conference which held in Abuja.

    The Nestoil boss said the gas supply industry in Nigeria will experience a boom if the liquidity issues in the power sector were fixed. He explained that the Power sector accounts for over 80% of the domestic gas off take market.

    According to him, liquidity issues in the Power sector means that gas producers are owed huge sums of money for gas they have supplied. Dr Obiejesi said this situation is a huge disincentive for gas producers to invest heavily in any form of gas gathering infrastructure.

    The Nestoil Group Managing Director commended the Federal Government for the recent Gas Flaring Regulation embedded in the 2017 Gas Policy, which he described as an audacious and innovative step by Government to discourage gas flaring.

    He said this initiative was however not far reaching enough. According to him, a permanent solution would be to address the liquidity issues in the downstream and power sectors to encourage much needed investments in gas gathering infrastructure that would eliminate gas flaring.

    “Everyone agrees that a willing-buyer-willing seller arrangement is what will ultimately unbundle the Gas industry in Nigeria and across the West Coast but Government must be ready to make the right seed-investments and take the tough decisions that will enable the gas supply market grow into maturity,” said Dr Obiejesi.

    The Group Managing Director of Nestoil urged Government to continue to encourage indigenous players in the Oil and Gas industry. “OML 42, which we acquired in 2011 was fraught with a lot of challenges at the time it was sold by the IOCs. We are proud to announce however that Gas production of 40MMScf per day is set to be introduced to the domestic gas supply network by the end of this week with another 40MMScf per day being targeted for end-November 2018 for a total of 80MMScf per day by the end of this year”.

    Nestoil is Nigeria’s largest indigenous Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) Company in the Oil and Gas sector and has been a significant contributor to the industry since inception in 1991.

    With over 1,500 direct employees, Nestoil continues to redefine industry standards in Pipeline Construction, Repairs and Maintenance with associated facilities for Dredging, River Crossing and Shoreline Protection. Its sister company Neconde is an Oil exploration and production company.

  • Nestoil appoints new Executive Director

    Nestoil Limited has appointed Mr. Obinna Ufudo as Executive Director, Operations.

    A statement by the firm on Tuesday quoted Nestoil’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Ernest Obiejesi, saying “Nestoil is quite pleased to welcome Obinna Ufudo to our team.

    “His career experiences bring further depth to our work force and will support our continued push for excellence and improved performance in our businesses”.

    Ufudo, a seasoned financial services and corporate management professional joins Nestoil with over twenty years experience across multiple industries, having held senior level positions in Trading, Investments, General Management and Financial Advisory capacities.

    He was the Group President/Chief Executive Officer of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) from 2011 to 2014, where he led the turn-around and repositioning of the company. He had supervisory responsibility for Transcorp’s Power, Hospitality, Agriculture and Oil & Gas businesses.

    The statement added that Ufudo, who is a British Chevening Scholar, holds a Master of Science degree in International Securities, Investment & Banking from the University of Reading, UK.

    “He also holds an Executive Master in Business degree from the IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona Spain and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology.

    “He is an alumnus of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria,” it noted.

  • NCI Fund: Firm acquires security vessel

    Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Executive Secretary Simbi Wabote has commissioned a new security vessel, MV Tamuno-Dein II, acquired by BGAM Services Limited, the first oil and gas company to access the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund).

    The ceremony was performed at the Naval Shipyard, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. MV Tamuno-Dein II is a multi-role ballistic security vessel, with protective machine gun panels, electronic fuel monitoring system and deck command centre for security personnel. It will work with the Nigerian Navy to secure offshore oil and gas operations.

    Speaking at the event, Wabote said: “The NCI Fund is part of our initiatives to increase Nigerian content in the oil and gas sector to 70 per cent within the next 10 years. We launched the Fund about a year ago with five products, all at single digit interest rates.”

    He stressed that an important condition for accessing the NCI Fund is that applicants must be contributors to the one per cent statutory Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF).

    He said BGAM Services benefitted from the Fund because it was faithful in its contributions to the NCDF, kept its accounts correctly and met the corporate governance requirements of the Bank of Industry (BOI).

    “You do not need to know any official of the NCDMB or BOI to access the loan. You just need to meet the criteria,” he said.

    He urged BGAM Services to repay the loan as planned and expressed optimism that other companies will benefit from the Fund in the coming months.

    BGAM Services Chief Executive Officer, Lucky Brown, confirmed that it took the firm less than two months to process its NCI Fund application. He noted that the acquisition of MV Tamuno-Dein II had increased the company’s fleet to three vessels of different sizes and modes of operation.

    Brown advised other companies seeking to access the NCI Fund to be methodical in their accounting and applications and seek help when they have difficulties.

    Naval Shipyard Limited Managing Director, Commodore Abolaji Oreduru, in his goodwill message, commended the Board for promoting oil and gas operations in the marine sector. “We are into ship repairs, ship building and major fabrication. When people buy ships, they will come to us for maintenance and we are in business,” he added.

     

  • Innovation in energy storage wins NLNG’s $100,000 Prize

    The Advisory Board of the Nigeria Prize for Science has announced Nanostructured metal hydrides for the storage of electric power from renewable energy sources and explosion prevention in high voltage power transformers as the winning work for this year’s Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited’s (NLNG) Prize for Science worth a $100,000.

    The work done by Dr. Peter Ngene was announcement by the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Science Prize and a science prize laureate, Prof. Akpoveta Susu, at a press conference in Lagos.

    The “Nanostructured metal hydrides for the storage of electric power from renewable energy sources and for explosion prevention in high voltage power transformers” is a new type of energy storage with implications on renewable energy development. The work also contributes to surmounting challenges in Nigeria around power transformers explosions due to degradation of insulators in the transformers.

    Commenting on the award, Manager, NLNG Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department Andy Odeh, said: “With each passing year, our belief grows stronger that there is a place for The Nigeria Prize for Science in the quest to develop our country through science research and technology.

    “The current reality in today’s energy world is a trilemma. The world population is growing very fast that it is projected to increase by an extra two billion by 2050. It is like adding a new China and India to the world’s population. On the back of this increase in population and improving fortune of people globally, is a corresponding increase in energy demand. Where will this energy come from? Also on the back of all these growth is the increasing clamour for clean energy as a result of climate change.

    “Aside from gas being a significant player in the future’s energy mix, renewable energy will take up a big part of the energy mix in the future. We are already seeing this in some European countries planning to eliminate carbon emissions.  Countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway and many other countries are making moves to significantly reduce their carbon footprints.

    “Take for example, India, which aims for 40 per cent renewable energy by 2030. UK has joined France to ban fossil-fuel cars by 2040. Norway aims for all new passenger cars and vans sold in 2025 to be zero-emission vehicles while Sweden has committed to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2040.

    “We can see the direction the world is moving.  This work by Ngene can be one of the keys to the renewable energy jigsaw. We believe this is an opportunity to secure a niche market in Nigeria for energy storage, riding on the back on this new type of batteries developed from the synthesis of nanostructured composite materials used as solid state electrolyte. The implications on solar and wind energy and on the use in long driving range electric vehicles are evident. This award shows how NLNG is helping to build a better Nigeria.”

     

     

     

  • MAPs will achieve 30% local content input in metering

    Only genuine electricity consumers will get meters when the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs)  start operation in January 2019, Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company (MEMCOL) Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kola Balogun, has said.

    By so doing, MAPs will comply with the 30 per cent local content directive given by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

    In an telephone interview with The Nation, Balogun said meter asset providers have agreed to meet 30 per cent local content requirement in order to ensure a seamless operation when the new metering regulation comes into effect in 2019. According to him, the 30 per cent local content requirement also includes the inputs into a meter. This means 30 per cent of the materials must be sourced locally.

    Balogun said: “To meet the  30 per cent local content requirement as contained in the regulation that set up meter asset providers,  an agreement has been reached by the parties involved (meter asset providers), to be more arithmetical in the ways and manners they distribute meters to consumers.

    “For instance, if a meter asset provider signed an agreement with a power distribution company (DisCo) to supply 10,000 meters to customers, what MAP will do in this situation is to divide 10,000 meters by 30 per cent. This will give us 3,000 meters, which is the 30 per cent the government asked us to provide.”

    Balogun said the regulation is flexible and simple as  a firm can apply to be a meter asset provider for one or three power firms.

    “If a meter asset provider is having two or three DisCos as clients, it means more jobs or profits for that organisation. If everything goes according to plans, local production and sales of meters have been encouraged by the government. This is good for the power sector, which has 4.1 million metering gap to cover. This is achievable, once the power firms, meter asset providers and other stakeholders follow the rules and regulation of the industry, “ he added.

    Also, a meter asset provider, who does not want to be mentioned, said the issue of meeting the 30 per cent local content requirement is not a task for meter asset providers, especially meter manufacturers among them.

    He said firms approved by NERC to play such roles would meet such requirement as they would not want to go contrary to NERC stipulation.

    In addition, Meter Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ( MMAN) Executive Secretary, Mr. Muhideen Ibrahim, said the new metering policy, which emphasised the use of a third party for distribution of meters to consumers, is a good one capable of reducing meter deficit in the metering sub-sector.

    He said complaints about lack of meters by consumers would end as there are many firms that will engage in the distribution of meters to them.

    The firms approved by the Federal Government to produce meters locally, he said, would improve their operation and contribute to the growth of the power sector, adding that the sector has refused to grow, due to problems such as shortage of gas, poor supply of electricity, inability of consumers to access meters for growth, among others.

     

  • NIPCO increases investment in capacity building

    NIPCO Plc said its investment in capacity building has surged despite the challenging business environment. “The huge investment in capacity building is a part of our growth strategy, the Managing Director of the company,” Sanjay Teotia, has said.

    Teotia, who declared this at the performance management workshop for NIPCO workers in Lagos, added that the surge in capacity investment was to “awaken and cultivate  new learning culture in the workers not only to enable the company survive in the challenging business environment, but grow in an organic manner and stronger.”

    He stated that performance management is a crucial tool in employee performance. Teotia maintained that the learning programme, which cuts across all cadre of the workforce with the theme” Building effective performance culture to overcome future challenges” is part of the company’s human capacity development programmes.

    “We had realised that prioritising continuous learning and development of human capacity is imperative for the success of our organisation, hence our decision to always put together a refresher programme on performance management programme (PMP),” he said.

    The NIPCO boss said: “A  joint and collaborative effort between the employees and their bosses will generate positive and constructive feedback that will improve an employee accomplishment, which will in turn increase efficiency, productivity, improve balance sheet and increase employee satisfaction.”

     

     

     

  • Marketers urge govt to improve fuel infrastructure

    The Federal Government should try and deepen activities in the downstream sub-sector of the nation’s petroleum industry by creating a more conducive environment and infrastructure for operators, especially marketers, Vice Chairman, Southwest chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Debo Ahmed, has said.

    The development, Alhaji Ahmed said, became necessary in order to drive the growth of the oil industry, which has been at the mercy of crude oil refining companies abroad.

    Many companies, he said, desire to establish refineries in order to improve local production and sales of fuel, but they are discouraged by poor operating environment in the country.

    In an interview with The Nation, he said problems such as instability in the foreign exchange market, huge taxes collected by the governments and rising import duties, among others, are deterrents, which operators are running away from in the industry.

    Ahmed said: “Fuel marketers are struggling to stay in business because of the fuel landing cost, which keep on increasing. Added to this, is the rising cost of dollar to naira, which is now over N320. By the time the marketers buy fuel from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) fuel at between N140 and N142 per litre and sell it to consumers at N145 per litre, how much would be left for the marketers?

    “Marketers would not have much problem selling the fuel if they are getting the product from the local refineries. It is absurd to hear that the country finds it difficult to operate the four state-owned refineries years after they were set up by the government.”

    Still on importation, Ahmed said fuel is imported with dollar, adding that any country that has weak currency is always at disadvantage when it comes to importation.

    “It is because the value of naira is very low when compared to dollar that is why the Federal Government is complaining about the money being spent on fuel importation. When the  government considers the money it pays as landing cost of fuel, the cost of fuel will be higher,” he added.

    He said the level of infrastructure is poor, noting that the government has refused to repair it. Issues such as vandalisation of petroleum pipelines and bad roads, he said, compounded the poor infrastructural facilities, which the government is struggling to fix. He argued that the government will find it difficult to record meaningful progress in the midst of these problems.

    According to him, fuel price is increasing in Nigeria, while the product is sold at affordable price to consumers in other countries such as South Africa because it has good infrastructure in place to aid the processing of crude oil into petroleum products, among others.

     

  • NNPC, Shell’s Cradle-to-Career scholarship beneficiaries hit 375

    Another 108 Nigerians have been awarded secondary education scholarship under the NNPC/SNEPCo National Cradle-to-Career (NC2C) Scholarship scheme, launched in 2014. This is bringing the beneficiaries in the last four years to 375.

    The scholarship, administered by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), offers full boarding and tuition-free support to the beneficiaries throughout their education in top-rated private secondary schools across Nigeria.

    “This is part of our wider social investment programmes to support Nigerian youths, particularly the less-privileged, to attain the height of their potential notwithstanding their socio-economic background,” said the Managing Director of SNEPCo, Bayo Ojulari, at the award ceremony at Grundtvig International Secondary School in Onitsha, Anambra State.

    Ojulari, who was represented by the company’s Bonga Asset Operations Manager, Elohor Aiboni, said SNEPCo, with the support of the NNPC and its co-venture partners was committed to providing opportunities for Nigerian youths not just in education, but in entrepreneurial training and empowerment as demonstrated by SNEPCo’s other social investment programmes across the country.