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Tag: DPR

  • Alleged $8.4m oil theft: DPR debunks marketers’ low AGO quality claim

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has told an Ikeja Special Offences Court that  Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) worth $8.4million allegedly stolen by Trafigura Beheer BV and six others, sometimes in 2008, met set standard of regulation agency in Nigeria.

    Its  Chief Technical Officer,  Mr Samuel Shuaibu stated this in his evidence-in-chief while being led by the lead counsel to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN).

    The witness denied claim by the defendants in the matter that the AGO was of low quality.

    Trafigura PTE Limited, Yusuf Yahaya Kwande, Mettle Energy and Gas, Rendbrandt Limited, Osahon Asemota and Jil Engineering and Oil Service are standing trial before Justice Mojisola Dada.

    They are facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, forgery and stealing of over 6000 metric tons of AGO belonging to Nadabo Energy Limited.

    The defendants were alleged to have committed the offences between October 22 and December 15, 2008.

    At resumed proceedings yesterday, Shuaibu told the court that the vessel carrying the AGO – MT Oxy 6 berth at Ibru jetty in December 2008.

    He said the product was tested and confirmed to be suitable for Nigeria market.

    He said when the product was tested, it met the primary parameter of DPR adding, “the implications of this is that the AGO is normal and suitable for consumption in Nigeria market.

    “I know the vessel called MT Oxy 6. In December 2008, the vessel berth at Ibru Jetty, and the captain of the vessel declared quantity on board based on documents submitted by him.

    “The vessel was engaged by Jil Engineering Services. Analysis of the product showed that it met the primary parameter of specification of normal AGO. The AGO that did not meet the primary parameter will be rejected by the DPR.

     

  • FEC approves N1.4b for DPR building design

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC)  meeting yesterday approved N1.4 billion for the design of 12 floor building design for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He was with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of Trade and Industry, Okechukwu Enelamah after six hours meeting.

    The contract, he said, is for the design of the head office of DPR in Abuja, which is currently situated in Lagos State.

    ‘Today we got the approval to begin the process to relocate them to Abuja.” he said

    When asked if the sum was not too much for designing the building, he said that it only represented about 2% of the proposed N35 billion cost of the building.

    He said: “FEC approved 1.4 billion for the design of DPR Head office in Abuja. The contract was awarded to Messers Arteck Practice Limited to design a 12 floor building at a plot which has already been allocated to by the FCT.

    “They are currently based in Lagos and are the regulatory and supervisory arm of the Ministry of Petroleum, and is instrumental in terms of income generation. It will enable DPR move to Abuja.” he said

    On the seeming high cost of the design, he said: “The contract was awarded to DPR tenders board, their bid was the lowest, the highest bid  was about N3 billion. The total projected potential cost for the building when it is done is about N35 billion.

    “So if you look at that as a percentage of the work, it is absolutely insignificant, in international terms it is very very justifiable, it is less than two per cent.”

    He added “The FCT did mention in our deliberation that because of the new zoning policies, the previous plan which was to build a car park of another five floors along with the 12 floors  have to be changed a little bit because they are taking possession of additional green area that were assigned to them.

    “So they will build a lot of parking … within the building. So I think because of the amount of work to be done and in line with international practice, it is quite frankly very reasonable.

    “Let me also say that part of the programmes we have pursued in the ministry, is how to get a lot of our parastatals to become independent and self financially generating agency and so get out of federal budget. …. has done that, DPR is the one to do that next.

    “So a lot of funding for this development is going to come out of DPR itself not out of federal budgeting.

    “The plan is that if we continue the way we are doing, a lot of federal agencies will be out of federal budgeting and be self-reliant. Be it PPPRA, DPR, PEF, that is the game plan. So far we have exited NCMB and we are near existing DPR and then PEF.” he stated

    Enelamah said that FEC also approved N1.55billion  consultancy contract for the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which is part of the Federal Government social investment programs.

    Read also: FEC approves N1.3bn contracts to reposition NAN, NTA, FRCN

    He said: “We got an approval from the Federal Executive Council to award a contract to engage a Program Management Office Consultant and System Provider, for the GEEP at N1.556billion.

    According to him, the contract which is for providing services for 4.6 million people, is a viable contract.

    He also pointed out that the program has provided credit for over 1.5million Nigerians

    Enelamah also said that FEC approved the establishment of a Committee to come up with alternative ways to add to what government is doing in financing infrastructure.

    He said that it will be a committee of Ministers and ICRC, NSIA, Africa Finance Corporation and some private sector players.

    Stressing that he will Chair the committee, Enelamah said that other members include Minister of Finance, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Minister Transportation, Minister of Water Resources and Minister of State for Aviation.

  • DPR seals 21 petrol stations over non-renewal of licence

    The Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR ) said it had sealed 21 filling stations without licenses and non-renewal of licences in the month of March in the state.

    The Operations Controller of DPR in Akwa Ibom, Mr Tamunoiminabo Kingsley-Sundaye disclosed this to newsmen on Monday in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom.

    Kingsley-Sundaye however, said that among the 21filling stations sealed, eight of the stations who were operating without licenses had applied to renew their licenses in the state.

    “In our aggressive surveillance of filling stations in Akwa Ibom, 21 filling stations were sealed and their offences committed were mostly operating with expired licenses and without DPR’s licenses”.

    He added that four filling stations had also complied and their applications is under process.

    “We found out that four filling stations took over from the former management to a new company platform,” he said.

    The operations controller further said the department clamped down on four illegal Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), refilling points in Uyo metropolis in the same month.

    “People just rent two rooms apartment and connect some pipes to 50kg cylinder and do constructions that are unknown to any engineering standard,” he said.

    Kingsley-Sundaye explained that the constructions was dangerous to the public and described such business as criminal offence.

    He said that the department in collaboration with sister agencies had dismantled three out of the four illegal LPG refilling points in the state.

    “One is still under sealed; we will dismantle it because such business is illegal construction. I don’t know where they got the idea from, we can’t even call it technology,” he lamented.

    He warned the operators or people who want to venture in such illegal business to desist from it or face the wrath of the law, saying that anyone caught would be taken to court to serve as deterrent to others.

    “We must make sure that we insist that the right thing should be done in this state, there is no safety device, no engineering design and no environmental safety in such business.

    “If we don’t act fast, it will be like the one we experienced in our neighbouring state. We will not allow it to degenerates to that level that is why we are clamping down on them.

    He called on the public to report such illegal business to security agencies and DPR for persecutions.

  • NEITI lauds NNPC, DPR others on compliance

    The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has applauded its stakeholders in the oil, gas and mining sectors of the nation’s economy for implementing the principles of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). It said this had led to the ranking of the country’s as making “Satisfactory Progress”.

    Its Executive Secretary, Mr. Waziri Adio, expressed delight over cooperation extended to NEITI by government agencies including the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and its agencies like the Mining Cadastre Office, Mines Inspectorate Department, were outstanding.

    In a statement, Adio also expressed appreciation to the companies under the canopies of Companies Forum, Miners Association of Nigeria and Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) operating in the extractive sector that had given NEITI  support during the validation.

    In addition, the civil society organisations including Publish What You Pay (PWYP), Media Initiative for Transparency in Extractive Industries (MITEI) and the Media among others had contributed in no small measure towards the ranking in the highest category of Nigeria by the EITI.

    “This highest ranking by the EITI is a major milestone for Nigeria and the invaluable roles of relevant millennium development agendas (MDAs), Companies and civil society organisations (CSOs) working to push for reforms in the sector are hereby duly acknowledged and deeply appreciated by NEITI,” he said.

    He said the current trend of reforms in the country’s extractive sector made possible by the determination and commitment of its stakeholders to see change happen in a sector that is considered for now to be the life wire and mainstay of the economy was one of the determining factors for the ranking of the country.

    Adio, who had earlier personally written letters to the different stakeholders to officially inform, congratulate and thank them about Nigeria’s achievement of the highest status in EITI implementation noted their support during the validation exercise which saw Nigeria make history again was  phenomenal and should be sustained.

    He reiterated the commitment of NEITI to continue to work closely with its stakeholders to push for reforms and enthrone transparency and accountability in the extractive sector in Nigeria.

    “On our part, we are committed to keeping Nigeria in this leadership position in the EITI community which our country voluntarily joined in 2003 and we will continue to crave your support to us as an organisation and to the full actualization of the NEITI mandate as enshrined in the NEITI Act 2007,” Adio said.

     

     

  • DPR outlines achievements

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has unveiled its achievements targeted at boosting the industry and making its operations transparent and accountable.

    The achievements include the establishment of technologies that will track online/real time of production volumes from the oil fields, terminals, the vessels taking them out for exports and their destinations.

    DPR monitors 19 oil fields online.The technology enables the Federal Government to know oil production. It also tracks movement of vessels bringing in petroleum products and ensuring there is no round-tripping of imports and sharp practices which substantially push up the estimated daily fuel consumption in the country and the subsequent subsidy payment.

    Some of the achievements include early oil lease renewals and recovery of royalties as well as reduction of cost of crude production to make Nigeria be at the same level with other oil-producing countries that have reduced their cost of oil production, among others.

    Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who unveiled the achievements in Lagos, said the technologies introduced by the DPR include the Crude Oil and LNG Tracking (COLT), adding that the achievements were worth celebrating.

    Kachikwu said the achievements were part of the results of reforms in the industry. He said: “I intervened with the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to steward and supervise a lot of the interventions and changes in the oil and gas sector and the DPR and others have worked collaboratively with me in the last three and half years to see to some of the steps I have taken both the time I was the Group Managing Director of NNPC, but now I’m largely focused on the regulatory aspects of the sector.

    “My clear mandate when I became the Minister of State was to change the oil industry because we were deeply worried by what seemed like a value dip in the industry and the corruption that was all over the place and to track our resources, among others.

    “Therefore, we have launched a series of computer-based applications which will enable us to track volumes of crudes produced from various terminals and how those volumes or products are moved, whether they are going to vessels and where those vessels are going to. It is a vessel-tracking mechanism so that at any given point in time, you can tell on real time basis what the country has produced for the very first time. These applications will tell where the vessels have gone to in terms of export and say whether they discharge at the given points. We will also be able to say on forensic basis whether there are some suspicious movements of the vessels when they have products in them. We have also extended it to the downstream sector to capture everything that is brought into this country in terms of importation of refined products and track how they are distributed within the country. So, for the first time in this country, we have holistic IT data-based applications that enable us to do that.

    “We also launched the benchmarking system to track expenses and see how we can continue in our process to pull down the cost of producing oil in this country which is a major challenge for us. Given the oscillating price of oil globally unless we are able to do this, we produce all the oil and no make no money out of it. So, this is very helpful to us and we will be able to challenge the oil companies to match the very best practice internally and collectively match the best practices externally in terms of oil pricing. We have explained to you what we have done in terms of early renewals of oil leases and what we generated both in terms of forcing people to be concurrent on payment of outstanding royalties and what we generated in terms of current licences and early renewal basis.’’

    The minister added: “The few interventions that we have had include National Production Monitoring System (NPMS) which focus includes using online to gather data. We have been able to track online/real time data of what our productions are and so we are now in the position to say what the country’s production is. We have also had the COLT, which is basically tracking of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).”

  • Abide by rules, FG tells oil sector operators

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Thursday charged operators in the oil sector to play by stipulated regulations.

    According to them, an industry player’s simple mistake could finish the entire business in the value chain.

    Specifically, the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, noted non-compliance to regulations by operators in the sector was the biggest challenge confronting the industry currently in Nigeria.

    The DPR said it allowed illegal stations and gas plants three weeks of grace to regular isle their facilities or face justice.

    Baru, who was represented by a Group Executive Director of the NNPC, Henry Ikem-Obih, spoke at the DPR Annual General Stakeholders Meeting in Abuja.

    Read Also: INEC signs MOU with transport unions on improved logistics

    He said: “We all remember that over the years we’ve learnt from a lot of very regrettable mistakes that led to incidents that transformed the way we do business in this industry.

    “It is important that we always remember that one mistake in the oil and gas industry is sufficient to wipe out the entire business. It is as bad as an aircraft crash.”

    Continuing, he said: “As operators, we have a responsibility to support the efforts of agencies like DPR, PPPRA (Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency), PEF (Petroleum Equalisation Fund) who daily drive compliance in the industry.”

    The NNPC boss also stated it was important for regulators to always enforce regulations, because without enforcement they will never achieve full compliance.

    Abuja Zonal Operations Controller for DPR, Abdul Abba, said the gathering was meant to bring together major players in the downstream oil and gas sector to review 2018 operational challenges and set out new plan for 2019.

    He noted: “We have seen where lack of compliance to the statutory regulations with respect to depots, filling stations and LPG outlets has led to huge losses in investment, lives and degradation of environment.”

    Abba also stated that the agency had taken measures to ensure that illegal retail outlets were regularised.

  • DPR warns against price hike during festive period in Cross River

    THE Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Cross River State has warned marketers against hiking the pump price of petroleum products during the festive season. DPR Operations Controller in the state, Mr Bassey Nkanga, who spoke during the fourth quarter meeting with Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in Calabar, disclosed that the Federal Government has ensured that the depots have adequate product for consumers during and after the yuletide period. He said this was to prevent scarcity of the product and panic buying by Nigerians during the period.

    “As we all know, we are approaching the festive period and the DPR in the state have noticed some sharp practices by some marketers. “We have intensified surveillance activities across the state with a view to making sure that marketers operate according to the stipulated guidelines. “Government has done so much within this period to ensure the free flow of petroleum products and the depots have been adequately stocked to avoid scarcity and panic buying. “I wish to appeal to marketers across the state not to take advantage of the festive period to cheat Nigerians in anyway.

    “Anyone caught going against the rules of operation and the government stipulated guidelines will face the consequences,” he said. He urged marketers who have not renewed their operating licenses to do so, adding that anyone caught operating without a valid license will be sanctioned. Nkanga warned marketers in the northern district of the state to desist from selling a litre of petrol above N145, saying that any further violation may lead to a revoke of their operating license.

    He also warned marketers against under-dispensing, selling adulterated products and violating the DPR seal whenever they are sealed for violating the operational guidelines. IPMAN Chairman in the state, Mr Lawrence Agim, commended the Federal Government for the adequate supply of petroleum product to depots. According to him, several cases of gas explosion had been recorded in the state, adding the DPR was intensifying surveillance activities with a view to curb further explosions. He said that the government has demonstrated efforts in making sure that gas is extended and sold to residents in the rural areas due to its affordability. The Operations Controller charged the retailers to report anyone operating a gas centre illegally to the DPR.

  • DPR urges surveillance on marketers ahead of Yuletide

    …vows to sanction creators of artificial fuel scarcity

     

    Ahead of the Yuletide season, the Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR ) has written a memo to all its operational locations across the country to beef up surveillance on petroleum products marketers to prevent a creation of an artificial scarcity in the country.

    The move, according to the Deputy Director on Health Downstream, Mrs. Ijeoma Onyere, the move is to curb the in kind of fuel scarcity that attended last year Christmas and New Year season in Nigeria.

    Speaking on the activities of the Downstream of the DPR during the DPR Half Hour on Radio Nigeria, she warned that the organization will not hesitate sanction any culprit that attempts to hoard the products, under-dispense in order to create a man made scarcity of petrol.

    The Nation monitored the Programme, where Onyere said “We are working as a team to ensure that there is a hitch-free Yuletide season by making sure that petroleum products are supplied to every nook and corner of this country.

    “As I am talking to you right now I have put notification to all the operational locations of DPR scattered all over the country. And we have told them to exercise surveillance to make sure that marketers are abiding by the rules and regulations of their filling stations.

    “And again to make sure that these products are available at the depots. They are going to make sure that there is surveillance throughout this Yuletide season so that what happened last year will not happen again this year.

    “In fact, as I tell you now any infraction like hoarding, creating artificial scarcity, under-dispensing of pump, is a very huge infraction and the penalty will be meted out to any defaults marketer found guilty.”

    Meanwhile, the Deputy Director, Products Depots and Jetties, Mr. Bashir Sadiq, explained that the organization always check the documentation that the importers of petroleum products submits before the arrival of the cargo is the same with the one presented at the refineries.

    Read Also: ‘Protest against Obi’s VP nomination suspicious’

    He noted that before the refineries begin loading, the DPR begins a quality check to ascertain that what the refinery that exports the product to Nigeria claims, is the same with what will be discovered in Nigeria.

    This check, according to him, is to be “sure that only products of good quality are sent into our country.”

    He said that when the product is below specification, “you will be forced to go back with the product at a cost.”

    On safety of petrol stations, Onyere said that DPR is working to ensure that any investor in filling station follow the guidelines.

    The guideline, she said, is that “you are not supposed to site your filling stations at public places like churches, under the high tension, schools and residentials.”

    The Deputy Director, however, noted that most of the petrol stations that are now under high-tension, in residential quarters and churches were there before the structure.

  • DPR targets 800bcf/d from modular LNG plants

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) yesterday announced plans to produce about 800 Billion Cubic Feet (BUF) per day from the flared sites in the Niger Delta.

    The target, The Nation learnt, is part of the strategies that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, will deploy to evacuate gas from flared sites in the region with the development and operation of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) modular plants and trucks.

    A team of the DPR that spoke on gas made this disclosure on the DPR Half Hour on Radio Nigeria were the Assistant Director Gas Operation, Mr. Abubakar Idris and Assistant Director Domestic Gas, Mr. Eboh Nsa, Assistant Chief Engineer, Gas Operation, Mr. Tambari Zayan.

    At the end of the programme, Eboh Nsa, who was asked to give the listeners his parting message on gas consumption and the market generally, said: “I want to say in one sentence that you will see a phenomenon growth in the gas mid-stream sector. You are going to see a new industry entirely: innovative industry, for instance modular technologies, modular LNG plants. When you are talking about LNG, people are talking about we are not looking at very big LNG commercial plants. You are going to be seeing LNG trucks, you are going to be seeing a lot of things happening in the Niger Delta, which is actually the destination of flare.

    “Trucks are going to come in because we are going to take out close to 800bcf of gas per day out of the flare site. It is the fundamental reason to bring a lot of growth and it will grow the economy.”

    The team noted that in the last 10 years, the LPG market has grown by over 700% in Nigeria as the country was producing 257,000 per annum, and now generating over 500,000 metric tonnes per annum.

    The DPR said that it has the potential to double the feat in the next five years and triple the achievement in the next 10 years.

    The per capita consumption in Nigeria, according to the team, is two kilograms per person per annum, while Ghana’s per capita per person is seven kilogramme per annum.

    Commenting on the what government LNG market in Nigeria today, Abubakar said that the Federal Government was making efforts at making the Liquified Petroleum Gas ((LPG) available through its stake in the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) in Bonny.

    He noted that the increase and security of NLNG supply has sustained the growth in the sector in the last one decade.

    He said that regulator and government agencies, according to him, has introduced many initiative to support the sector in setting up an LPG facility and infrastructure across the value chain.

    The initiative, said Abubakar, has made LPG available, accessible,  and affordable to many Nigerians.

    He revealed this is the first time in Nigeria that there is a high level LPG in terms-ministerial council on gas, which the Vice President  chairs to monitor the implementation of government initiatives of deepening LPG consumption in Nigeria.

     

    The Nigerian gas, said the DPR, is an associated gas that comes with the crude oil, and it can not been used in its raw form except it is processed.

     

    The team noted that this chain of production is accountable for its high cost despite that Nigeria is endowed with the raw gas.

     

    The DPR noted that efforts are being made to encourage investments so that more companies will set up gas processing plants.

     

  • DPR raises alarm over adulterated engine oil

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), yesterday expresssed concern over the infiltration of adulterated lube oil (engine oil) into the petroleum market.

    Speaking on the DPR Half Hour on Radio Nigeria monitored by The Nation, DPR Zonal Operations Comptroller, Wole Akinyosunye, said the callous act is of concern to the organisation due to the effects of fake lubricants on machines.

    He said DPR was not resting on its oars, as it is always raiding the illegal facilities of the adulterated lube with the assistance of the Nigeria Security And Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC).

    He called on consumers of engine oil to insist on purchasing their lube from licensed outlets and petrol filing stations, instead of patronising roadside retailers.

    Akinyosunye said the petroleum body was doing its utmost to curb the menace, saying the DPR operatives  could not  be in all the over 5,000 outlets in Lagos and Ogun at the same time.

    He said DPR has always sanctioned and revoked the the licenses of offenders.

    His words: “I can tell you that one of the major challenges we have today is the adulteration of lube oil. You could find  that unscrupulous persons also have business of how they adulterate  lube oil, or what is popularly called engine oil.

    “They have even perfected how they package it as real, and some time they sell them under popular brand of unsuspecting consumers.

    “So, DPR regularly raids such illegal facilities with the assistance of the Civil Defense Corp and put them out of operation .  The adulteration of lubes are particularly of great   concern to DPR because of its harmful effects on machines and the environment.

    “And we therefore advise consumers to ensure they purchase products that are from only licensed outlets, petrol filing stations, especially.”

    The DPR, he said, is still experiencing issues with quantity delivery at the pump as unscrupulous dealers adjusted their meters to under dispense to customers.

    Akinyosunye however said that the organisation was ensuring that customers get full value for their money by accurately dispensing petroleum products.

    The DPR, according to him, “ensures that any dealer caught under dispensing is penalised. It ranges from fine to total closure of station and revocation of their operating licenses. ”

    He called on the dealers to ensure proper calibration of their meters.