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Tag: Dr. Ibe Kachikwu

  • Omo-Agege caused APC’s loss in Delta – AVM Ajobena (Rtd)

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, ), has alleged Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s wrestle for “power” led to the party’s gross failure in the recent gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections in the state.

    The former military administrator, in a statement on Tuesday, also labeled former Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu as “moles” who put their individual interests before those of the APC.

    Decrying the party’s woeful performance in the 2019 polls, Ajobena whose daughter sought the Okpe House of Assembly seat and lost, claimed the Delta Central Senator “conspired against Ogboru” to hijack the party’s structure for his alleged 2023 governorship ambition.

    According to him: “Senator Omo-Agege for his selfish and pretentious support role for Ogboru’s governorship conspired against Ogboru and actually has had a hidden agenda to takeover/hijack the House of Assembly that would emerge should APC win the election.

    “The people in the NWC saw through this evil scheme and advised Ogboru to identify persons that would be loyal to him to replace Omo-Agege’s handpicked candidates for the House of Assembly.

    “This opened another front in the grand conspiracy as to who would be in charge of Delta State’s affairs should APC win the election.

    ‘’This was the background to the internal rift in the Prophet Jones/Ogboru led camp.

    “With the open endorsement of Ogboru’s candidacy and his handpicked would be House of Assembly team, Senator Omo-Agege went back to re-strategise on how best he could position himself to be in charge.

    “It was against the background of these internal undercurrent of power struggle that I admonished that we go into the election as a united APC team while we wait for the court to decide who should be on the driver’s seat in managing the affairs of an APC government which all long suffering Deltans were looking forward to,” AVM Ajobena stated.

    READ ALSO: You have no moral right to claim Omo-Agege’s seat, ex-Milad tells Emerhor

    Recalling events leading to the party’s primaries last year, the retired AVM described Kachikwu and Uduaghan as “moles” in the party

    He added the minister made no or little efforts “to intervene,” in the disunity among party stakeholders despite the national chairman, Adams Oshiomole’s, directive to reconcile all factions last June.

    “The outcome of the primaries was predictable and our party was heading on a course of self- destruction.

    ‘’Again, on October 11, 2018, I reached out to all our party leaders calling for a political solution to the crisis rocking the party, again the call was ignored.

    “When all INEC doors and windows had been tightly shut, the Minister started pretending that he is doing a great job of trying to broker unity within the party. Are we fools?

    ‘’For avoidance of doubt we know where the Minister’s interest lies. Fortunately, for him he has found an ally for the pursuit of that interest with the entrance of Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan into the party,” Ajobena alleged.

  • 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).”

  • 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).”

  • 3 modular refineries to begin operations in 2019 — Kachikwu

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has said there are strong indications that three out of the 40 planned modular refineries would come on stream by end of 2019.

    Kachikwu disclosed this at the three-day Biennial International Conference for Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) organised by Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Lagos on Monday.

    “Out of the 40 licenses issued, only 10 have shown progress by submitting their programmes and putting something on the ground.

    “ By end of 2019, we are assured that three private modular refineries would come on stream,’’ he said.

    The minister said that the conference was a forum for pooling ideas and research findings for the incubation of enduring and game-changing oil and gas policy initiatives.

    “Perhaps this edition of the conference could not have come at a better time, first to allay the popular fear that the days of oil and gas as an international commodity and energy source are over.

    “And secondly, to stimulate new ideas on sustainable ways of developing this resource in a manner that will both prolong its acceptability as an energy source and also help the nation reap optimal benefits,’’ he said.

    Kachikwu said that environmental sustainability was a key component of the Seven Big Wins initiative of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for the oil and gas industry.

    He urged the DPR to come up with new initiatives to end the menace of gas flaring to truly incentivize the flare-out policy by creating the new National Gas Policy.

    He said that the policy was aimed at ensuring that all currently flared gas, including those previously considered as non-technically feasible and non-commercially viable, is gathered and utilised for various economic utilities that are financially rewarding to the producers.

    He added that the collectors and interested investors converted it for power generation, petrochemicals and other beneficial uses.

    “ Aggressive efforts are being made within the ambits of HSE sustainability to convert more gas to LNG through new and existing investors to retain Nigeria in its currently threatened fourth position as an LNG exporter.

    “Our push for the increased investments in modular and conventional refineries is not only targeted at helping the nation benefit from its resources by providing products to the entire West African sub-region.

    “But also essentially to stop the scourge of local unconventional artisanal refineries that have led to massive oil spills that have been hard to manage for nearly a whole decade,” he said.

    The Director of DPR, Mr Modeccai Ladan, urged stakeholders to galvanize efforts at maximizing Nigeria’s production and minimize wastage.

    Ladan said that the oil and gas industry seemed to be under a new threat of renewed dislike and global war against fossil fuels and the quest for renewable and cleaner energy, purely for environment considerations, including global warming.

    “Over the years, the threat against fossil fuels had always been on paper, but today, it is more real than ever, based on some clear evidence I like to draw our attention to.

    “Three among the biggest technology companies have made attempts at electric cars to replace gasoline and diesel engines.

    “While the attempt of Apple may not have made it to production yet and that of Google was suspended after clearly successful street trials that of Tesla actually took the world by surprise.

    “Not only did the first two releases of Tesla outsell sales forecasts, they were actually oversubscribed, and the demand keeps rising while new models are being added,’’ he said.

    Read also: Fed govt secures US$500million loan from China for modular refineries

    Ladan said; “As we speak, some of the big International Oil Companies (IOCs) here seated are funding gigantic researches into alternative fuels, which include the use of cheap, common algae.

    “ As sweet as Nigeria’s crudes are renowned to be globally, we have recently lost our most valued customers and our gas buyers are themselves now competing with us in the same market space as suppliers.

    “Ladies and gentlemen, all of these points to one fact, namely, if Nigeria is to continue to benefit from its vast petroleum resources, now than ever is the time to build sustainability into its prospecting, drilling, production, transportation and usage.

    “As well as management of its wastes. And this task rests on the shoulders of not only the DPR but all stakeholders.

    “Little wonder then that we have chosen a befitting theme for this current edition of the conference, which is: “Driving Sustainability in the Oil and Gas Industry through Improved Stakeholders’ Environmental Stewardship,” he added. (NAN)

  • Pipeline explosion: ‘don’t sweep anything under the carpet’

    Residents of Aba as well as indigenes of Umuimo and Umuaduru in Osisioma Local Government Area of Abia State have urged President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and heads of security agencies to investigate the cause of Osisioma Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol explosion.

    Over 50 persons were reportedly feared killed in the October 12 pipeline explosion in two Abia communities of Umuaduru and Umuimo.

    The residents urged President Buhari, Kachikwu and heads of security agencies investigating the incident to question NNPC workers at Osisioma depot, especially those in-charge of petroleum distribution and supply in the facility.

    Some of the villagers, who did not wish to be named for security reasons, queried how a product that was meant for Aba alone found its way into an abandoned pipeline.

    A resident said: “The product (PMS), which we learnt came from Port Harcourt (Rivers State), is not even enough to satisfy the demand of Aba residents. Go to the depot and see a lot of tankers waiting to be loaded. Not everybody was able to get the product. Yet, somebody somewhere had the temerity to sabotage the government.

    “The product, in the first place, is not meant to leave the depot for either Enugu or Kaduna. So, if they are saying it is not sabotage, let the police and others tell us from their investigation of people controlling entrance and exit of products from the depot, on whose order did they push the product from the depot?

    “They should not sweep anything under the carpet if they know that this act must be stopped. The world is hearing this because it went the wrong way on Friday. We are going to open cans of worms of shady deals going on in that depot, if those investigating the incident want to sweep their findings under the carpet. We are watching and would make our position known in due time.”

  • Gas flaring: FG vows to begin revocation of licenses next year 

    …to launch Programme to attract $30b investments

     

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu’ Monday vowed that the Federal Government would from 2019, withdraw the licenses of oil firms that refuse to stop gas flaring in Nigeria.

    He dropped the hint at the 2018 Buyers’ Forum/Stakeholders’ Engagement that the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN) organized in Abuja.

    Read Also:NNPC sets 2020 deadline for zero gas flaring

    He added that the Government would launch the infrastructure improvement programme in November, which has the potential of attracting between $20 billion and $30 billion of investments into the petroleum industry and also help address the infrastructural deficiencies in the industry.

    The minister explained that there has been a Cold War between the Federal Government and the upstream oil companies as a result of gas flaring.

    He noted that while the government has been eager to bring the menace of gas flaring to an end, the oil firms are full of excuses for continuing the flaring.

    According to him, the bottom line of the disagreement the oil firms had with the government on ending gas flaring was cash call and money.

    He said, “Government wants to end flare, oil companies still give lot of reasons why flare cannot be ended. Bottom line is cash call and money. But the reality is that whether or not we deal with cash call issues, it is not an optional agenda, it is a compulsive immediate agenda. It is destructive to the populace; it is intolerable in developed country and it should not be tolerable here either.

    “Any oil company that cannot find a way to ending its flare ought not to be producing. And I have said to the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, beginning from next year, we are going to get quite frantic about this and companies that cannot meet with extended periods — the issue is not how much you pay in terms of fines for flaring, the issue is that you would not produce. We need to begin to look at foreclosing of licences. This is very urgent.”

    Kachikwu stressed that the quest to discourage gas flaring led the Federal Government to initiate the gas flare commercialisation programme.

    In addition, the minister disclosed that future renewals of oil and gas licences would involve the assessments of the gas components and gas flare rate of each company seeking renewals.

    “Some of the ones that have come recently for renewals have insisted that they are building massive gas processing plants  and we are going to follow this right through so that the supply obligation, the processing facility, the treatment of gas; their submissions  are very accurate and very aggressive,” he noted.

    Kachikwu further emphasized the need for a critical implementation of the Domestic Supply Obligation, which would be extended to Domestic Supply and Processing Obligation for both gas and crude oil, stating that the country needed to move away from the point of just producing these commodities, throwing it into the vessel and shipping it out, to the point of processing as much of it locally as much as possible.

    According to him, only through this would we be able to create more jobs, create better profit and returns on investments, achieve better pricing and address the challenges of local industries and industrialization.

    Also speaking, Managing Director of GACN, Mr. Morgan Okwoche, called for increased support for the company, while he highlighted the need for optimum collaboration among industry players in the development of the gas sector.

    He called on the DPR to expedite action on the issuance/renewal of the five-year rolling Domestic Supply Obligation, DSO, volumes which will help in effective project planning.

    In addition, Okwoche said, “I would like to see the non-existence of a Gas Distribution tariff model which is encouraging arbitrariness and monopolist behaviours which may hamper effective implementation of the network code is not addressed ultimately.”

  • Delta APC Crisis: Ogboru, Omo-Agege’s group shun Kachikwu’s reconciliation meeting

    A peace meeting convened by the Minister for State, Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, as part of processes to bridge the division in the Delta state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was Tuesday night frustrated by the failure of the Senator Ovie Omo-Agege/Chief Great Ogboru faction to honour invitation to feuding factions.

    The peace meeting, called by the Minister for selected leaders of the party, was schedule for 9pm at Kachikwu’s home in Abuja, according to our source, was to find a middle ground in the leadership crisis rocking the party in the state.

    It would be recalled that Dr Kachikwu was quoted in the media to have said, after he paid a courtesy call on the National Chairmen of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, that he is not vying for the governorship of Delta state, but that his preoccupation is to ensure that the party unites in the state, ahead of 2019 election.

    “I have said that many times, I don’t know why people think I am going to talk about this thing. I don’t want to be governor, I am not running for governorship, I want to make sure the party unifies and selects a candidate we can work with. That’s my position on that”, the minister had said.

    He added that the issue was not about taking party structure, but wining elections because “if you take the structure, people do not support you, and then you are going to lose. Our business is to deliver the President and deliver the governorship. We are going to do it in a way that it will be contentious and in all inclusive”.

    According to a source at the meeting, who spoke on anonymous conditions, “the Ogboru and Omo-Agege camp said they are not willing to enter into any form of reconciliation until the outcome of its consent judgment is implemented by the party national leadership.”

    The source added that following the minister’s discussions with Comrade Oshiomhole, he called the meeting to broker peace, “but Ogboru and Omo-Agege, in the usual manners of snubbing every other person in the party, shunned the meeting, leaving party leaders wondering what could be their motives”.

    The content of the text message for the meeting obtained by our correspondent stated: “Good morning all. Please kindly attend a select meeting of APC Delta tonight at 9pm at the home of the honorable Minister of State Dr Kachikwu.

    “I have been directed by party and Presidency to wade into our issues and commence a reconciliation meeting. Today’s meeting is to flesh out the basis for this reconciliation and you are invited strictly in your capacity as one of the leaders of the state APC.  Please be prompt”.

    A former Military Administrator, AVM Frank Ajobena (Rtd.), an APC leader in Delta state who attended the meeting confirmed the absence of leaders from the Ogboru and Omo-Agege group, adding that the meeting will be called again until the party is able to harmonize the warring factions.

    According to him; “what you heard is true, Ogboru and Omo-Agege didn’t show up, but we will meet again until the crisis is resolved.”

  • Up Stream Summit: Kachikwu calls for improved collaborations among SSA countries

    …Says theme for Upstream Oil and Gas Summit apt

     

    The Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries need to continue to cooperate with each other to achieve the desired success stories in the industrialisation and developments in the resources, especially in the Oil and Gas sector, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has said.

    Kachikwu said this in a keynote speech at the fourth edition Sub-Saharan African Upstream Oil and Gas Summit and Exhibition held on April 11-13, 2018 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria, highlighting that the SSA as a geopolitical zone is attracting considerable attention as human capital and natural resources provide building blocks of a sustainable economy.

    Dr. Kachikwu represented by Mr. Gbite Adeniji, his Special Technical Adviser (STA), extolled the Summit for providing veritable platform for intellectual discourse, knowledge sharing and showcasing giant strides made by the industry as well as the theme: ‘Gearing Up for Growth: Sub-Saharan Africa Oil, Gas and Power Value Chain’.

    The Minister rated high the current reform of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation, championed by Nigeria as a major key collaborative effort that must be pursued to achieve the Continent’s lofty aspirations as a geopolitical bloc.

    “Oil, Gas and Power yield a variety of benefit to our countries, ranging from revenues for governments, nations’ development, to employment opportunity for our citizens;

    “The different segments, upstream to downstream, undoubtedly bring benefit to our nations. As such realization of the entire value chain of these petroleum resources within our countries, presents a virile opportunity to alleviate socio-economic challenges and foster sustainable growth in our countries”.

    He said there was no better time than now to take all necessary actions that would facilitate the realisation of these potentials for desired success stories.

    The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Roadmap ‘7 big wins, Dr Kachikwu said, reflects the country’s efforts towards realization the value chain of oil, gas and power.

    “The 7 key initiatives entail interplay of innovative technology, economics and public policy,” he added.

    Speaking further, he said the present administration has deployed framework for the value chain of gas to be extended. “The Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Programme (NGFCP) targets to eliminate flares by ensuring that these currently unexploited gases are converted into benefits using proven technological innovations, while also perpetuating socio-economic benefits for the Country”, the Minister explained.

    On the state of the local refineries, he said, “Our refinery initiative drive is yielding result, as numerous investors/licensees are presently at advanced stages of modular refinery establishment with planned commissioning of at least two modular refineries before the end of the year”.

    Security-wise, the keynote Speaker said that the state of security in the local communities in the Niger-Delta has improved due to constant engagement with the oil producing regions. “The most glaring result is the rise in GDP (to 1.40%), partly attributed to the stable and sustained level of petroleum production.

    Earlier, ‘Dapo Ayoola, Managing Director & CEO of Zenith Professional Training (ZPT) Limited; the managers of the Summit, said that the platform was conceived as means for exchange of ideas on the mutually beneficial opportunities by oil, gas and power sectors.

    According to Ayoola, the theme was carefully selected to deliver the maximum returns to all participants hence the addition, for the first time, an investment forum dubbed ‘Invest Energy Africa’ and a session dedicated to women in petroleum.

    “Africa is the last true oil and gas frontier with more than 4,200 oil and gas blocks identified. Almost half of these blocks are open, subject to force majeure or in the application phase.

    “More that 80% of the 1,300 blocks in North Africa are licensed, while in Sub-Sahara Africa, it is estimated that only about 30% of 2,900 blocks are licensed. It is evident that many new opportunities still exist, especially for the exploration and production companies that are willing to take risks,” he said.

    Participants at the three day event were drawn Government/policy makers, investors in the oil, gas and power sectors in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, among others.

    Read Also: Nigeria needs $100b oil investments in five years – Kachikwu

  • Nigeria’s under-recovery petrol importation hits N1.4tr

     

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Thursday disclosed that Nigeria currently records about N1.4 trillion yearly as under-recovery from its importation and sale of Premium Motor Spirit at N145 per litre.

    He spoke at a meeting in Abuja where stakeholders in Nigeria’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) sector met to review the challenges of the LPG market and find ways to mainstream it into the country’s fuel market, Kachikwu, explained that it was time Nigeria began to look at alternative fuel sources like LPG which are clean and less expensive for the country.

    He also stated that the President, Muhammadu Buhari, would in the next two months launch an infrastructure rebirth plan with which the country would leverage to attract private finance to upgrade her oil and gas infrastructure.

    His words: “Clean energy is very essential and we need to move away from complete utilisation in our transport sector of only PMS which is creating a lot of under-recovery of N1.4 trillion per annum of exposure to the government.”

    The minister said that : “At the end of the day, we begin to go into other components of cleaner fuels and rely less on the PMS that is gotten from out of the country.”

    When asked to clarify if the current figure on petrol under-recovery was annually and how the federal government felt about it, the minister said: “Yes, currently. That is being addressed at a very high level and I don’t want to go into that.”

    In March, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), disclosed that its current expenditure on petrol subsidy was N774 million daily, and that the 50 million litres of petrol was consumed across the country every day.

    NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, described the amount as “under-recovery,” adding that the huge fund was due to the proliferation of filling stations in communities with international land and coastal borders across the country.

    Kachikwu, also indicated that the government would launch an infrastructure rebirth plan for the oil and gas industry. The rebirth plan he noted would enable private investors put in money in key infrastructure assets across the entire value chain of the sector.

    “I think government is focused in all the areas. We are hoping to launch an infrastructure rebirth map for the oil sector over the next two months, and I hope his excellency, the president will launch that.

    “The effect is that it will be to open up tariff and create policy positions that will enable people to actually go in and invest in critical infrastructure that is needed because anywhere you go, whether it is distribution of petroleum products massively through trucks and rather than through pipelines, whether it is been able to take crude into refineries or distribute gas throughout the country, infrastructure is so key.

    “There are lots of stranded gas and power everywhere. Distribution is key, infrastructure is key. We need to find a way of finding enough incentives to enable the private sector go in very bullishly and put the money where it is supposed to be,” he explained.

    On the significance of the LPG meeting, he said: “Coming from this meetings we are having, we will come up with recommendations of what DPR needs to do to deepen licensing issues and enforcement issues, but over and above just going after individuals who have done it wrongly; what are the incentives, schemes and structures we need to put in place, and it just goes to tell u where the storage capacities for the gas we have been buying; where are the official distribution and sales centers. If we deepen the regulation, deepen the licensing and enforcement, we should be able to get there.”

    He added that “But like you know, we already have a gas policy which was approved at FEC and all of this is in there. What this group is going to do is to take a piece of that as it concerns LPG and say how we can take that policy document and expand and activate the whole LPG.”

    Read Also: NNPC declines Falana’s request for information on ‘proposed’ petrol price

  • Kachikwu, others to speak at 2018 Sub-Sahara Oil and Gas Summit

    The 2018 Sub-Sahara Africa Upstream Oil & Gas Summit and Exhibition, is gathering momentum with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu together with the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, (NNPC), Maikanti Baru expected to lead other speakers.

    The summit will hold in Abuja, from 11th to 13th of April under the themed, “Gearing up for Growth: Sub Sahara Oil, Gas and Power Oil Chain’’, and it is expected to attract many key industry players from across Africa and beyond.

    Speaking during a press conference in Lagos to announce the programme, the Chief Executive Officer of the Sub-Saharan African Oil and Gas Summit and Exhibition, Mr Dapo Ayoola, said the exhibition will provide a veritable opportunity for established oil and gas companies, government agencies, service providers, equipment manufacturers and new entries to interact and showcase their possibilities.

    Speakers lined up for the Summit include: the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu; the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, (NNPC), Maikanti Baru; Mr. Bayo Ojulari, MD, Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company (SNEPCo); Dr. Joe Asamoah, MD, EnerWise Africa; Mr Powell Maimba, President, East Africa Petroleum Institute, Barrister Egbert Faibille Jnr., Acting C.E.O, Petroleum Commission, Ghana; Mr. Modestus Lumato, Tanzanian Petroleum Corporation; Mr. Tune Lemo, former Deputy Governor, CBN and Malam Mele Kyari, Group GM, Crude Oil Marketing Division, NNPC.

    Others are: Mr. Chimezie Emewulu, MD, Seamfix; Mrs. Oyeyemi Ladepo, Group GM, HR, NNPC; Mr. Ahmadu Sambo, Group GM, Finance, NNPC; Adewale Ladenegan, MD, Kaduna Refining & Petrochemical Company (KRPC); Mr. Paul Arinze, GM, Public & Govt. Affairs, ExxonMobile Nigeria, amongst others.

    According to him, Africa is the last true oil and gas frontier with more than 4,200 oil and gas blocks identified. Almost half of these blocks are open, subject to force majeure or in the application phase.

    “More that 80% of the 1,300 blocks in North Africa are licensed, while in Sub-Sahara Africa, it is estimated that only about 30% of 2,900 blocks are licensed. It is evident that many new opportunities still exist, especially for the exploration and production companies that are willing to take risks,” he said.

    He further stated that they also want to inspire young ladies in the Universities and Polytechnics to see the oil and gas industry as one that is encompassing for everybody.

    “So we have women in petroleum day where successful female practitioners based from HR or technical backgrounds, geoscientists, finance or petroleum engineers would come together and talk to the upcoming ones that there is an opportunity for everyone in the oil and gas. The women in petroleum section is a lovely one and we have invited top women across the continent,” he added.

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