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Tag: Dr. Ibe Kachikwu

  • Buhari’s new vision will develop Nigeria – Osinbajo

    Buhari’s new vision will develop Nigeria – Osinbajo

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said that the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is promoting a new way of thinking and engagement that will secure the development of the Niger Delta and the entire country.

    The new approach, he said, involves an active and effective collaboration between the government, the private sector and the communities.

    He also assured that the new approach would ensures that the government finishes whatever is started in the region.

    Prof. Osinbajo spoke during a meeting with members of a delegation from Bayelsa State regarding the $3.6B Brass Fertilizer & Petro-Chemical Company that is expected to come on steam soon.

    The delegation which included executives of the company was led by Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State.

    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo lamented that only 12% completion rate was recorded in several of the projects undertaken by the Niger Delta Development Commission in the past years, while the rest were abandoned.

    According to him, some of the projects were not designed to succeed, but just for some people to make money.

    Stressing that a new way of thinking is emerging, he gave instances of effective collaboration with the private sector, as he recalled the example of the NLNG being effective collaborations.

    “The Buhari administration, this government is committed to finishing whatever we start. At the end of the day, we shall ensure that,” he affirmed, adding that the oil-producing communities have tremendous potentials.

    While commending the Bayelsa State Governor for his proactive efforts, the Acting President commended the collaboration that is ongoing regarding the Brass company.

    He said “This is what we describe as the New Vision: partnership between the Federal Government, the States, the communities and the private sector. This is the new way of thinking that is emerging, the New Vision.”

    In his comments, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu described the idea of the Brass Fertilizer & Petro-Chemical firm as “a game changer that we need to encourage, “

    He said that such ideas have the potential to change the economic model in the Niger Delta.

    The Acting President also received a delegation from the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria, SEEDAN led by its President Mr. Richard Olafare and the Director-General of the National Agricultural Seed Council, Dr. P.O.Ojo.

    In his remarks, Prof. Osinbajo assured the delegation that the Federal Government would do much more in the area of Agriculture, stressing that fertilizer and seed inputs are vital for the “agricultural revolution” that the Buhari administration is delivering.

    He told members of the association, “your visit and contributions are very important to us. The President has said we must grow what we eat. We must be able to grow everything we eat. This is very important to us, we are very committed to food security. It is important to hear your views as we shape policy.”

  • Striking Mobil workers shun Ministers’ peace meeting, directive

    Striking Mobil workers shun Ministers’ peace meeting, directive

    The striking workers of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) at the weekend shunned peace meeting called by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige and rejected a directive by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu to suspend the strike.

    According to a source in the petroleum industry, the action of the striking Mobil workers is discourteous and lacks decency in all ramifications. He said the Minister of Labour called them (Mobil workers) for a meeting on Thursday and they failed to show up, not even with an explanation. The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources directed them to suspend the strike while the peace talks continue, they also refused, he added.

    To confirm his statement, he allowed The Nation to sight the letter written by members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Mobil Producing Nigeria Branch to the national body of PENGASSAN rejecting Kachikwu’s directive.

    The letter dated May 12, 2017 and entitled “The Mobil/PENGASSAN/] staff dispute – A directive on resolution,” signed by the Secretary PENGASSAN, MPN Branch, Anitie David Udoh and addressed to the General Secretary PENGASSAN, copying the National President PENGASSAN, Comrade Francis Johnson and Chairman, PENGASSAN MPNU, Comrade Paul M. Eboigbe, pledged total loyalty to PENGASSAN’s decision.

    The letter said: “Please be informed that the Branch received a ministerial directive on the ongoing Mobil/PENGASSAN industrial dispute from the Hon. Minister of State, Petroleum Resources directing the immediate suspension of the ongoing industrial strike action amongst others.

    “Please note that as a Branch under the supervision of the National leadership and a subset of the PENGASSAN NEC we hereby restate our absolute commitment to the NEC resolution dated May 2, 2017 and National President’s directive; consequently PENGASSAN MPN Branch rejects in totality the ministerial directive in the referenced letter and assure you of our total commitment to the NEC resolution and further directive (s) from the National Secretariat.

    “Please be rest assured of our utmost regard and loyalty.”

    The striking workers had threatened to shut down Mobil operations nationwide starting from Friday night to compel MPNU management to reverse its decision and reabsorb sacked staff. They also threatened to their members in other oil firms to down tools should MPNU management fails to comply. However, as at the time of filing this report, the striking workers have not started implementing their threat to shut down operations.

  • ‘$10b yearly investment in oil, gas coming’

    ‘$10b yearly investment in oil, gas coming’

    • First part of PIB passage for March

    The Federal Government plans to attract $10 billion investment  into the oil and gas industry yearly to bridge infrastructure gap.

    The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu stated this yesterday at the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja while presenting his paper titled: Reforming and Repositioning the oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria.

    The minister said the investment will address the challenges currently facing the entire oil and gas industry covering pipelines, refineries, gas and power, facility refurbishments and upstream financing. He added that the objective is to bridge the infrastructure funding gaps in the sector.

    He said: “Time has come to bring down the cost of crude oil production and put the right incentives in place. Currently, we have cost and technological issues. Between 2015 and 2016, we took drastic measures on how to moderate prices while from July 2016, there have been lots of stability in the downstream economy. There are still some challenges but there is work in progress.”

    Kachikwu highlighted the problems in the upstream sector to include the $6billion Joint Venture (JV) funding debt and other litigations, cost of production per barrel, which is currently between $27 and $28. The government he said wants to bring it down the production cost to $18.

    He said the government has reached an agreement with the international oil companies (IOCs) in JV with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to cut down the cash call debt to $5.1 billion, which he noted would be paid by government over the next five years through incremental oil production volumes.

  • Contractors who abandoned projects must return to site – Osibanjo

    Contractors who abandoned projects must return to site – Osibanjo

    The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, has directed contractors who abandoned projects in oil-bearing communities of Imo State to return to the site with immediate effect.

    Osibanjo gave the directive on Tuesday in Owerri during a stakeholders’ forum held at Imo International Convention Centre.

    He said that from the list submitted to him by various groups, Imo had over 40 abandoned projects awarded in oil-bearing areas apart from numerous roads projects that were abandoned.

    He warned political office holders not to divert projects meant for oil bearing communities.

    He added that diversion of projects contributed to restiveness and cry of marginalisation in oil producing communities.

    He said that the federal government was committed to injecting fresh ideas to fast-track the development of the Niger Delta region.

    According to him, the idea will entail the federal government, oil firms, corporate bodies and the host communities coming together to step up development of the area.

    In his remarks, the Minister of State Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, assured that his ministry would investigate reports of allocation of oil wells owned by Imo to other states.

    Gov. Rochas Okorocha, who thanked the acting president for the visit, said a lot was still needed to be done for Imo people to carry them along in the scheme of things.

    He appealed to the federal government to site more projects in Imo and include the state in projects meant for oil producing states.

    Chief Jones Uzoka, an indigene of oil-bearing communities of Imo, who spoke at the meeting, alleged that some oil wells that belong to the state were allocated to other states while some were shut down for no reason.

    He said that as a result of the development the state does not get its right share as oil-bearing state and called for a redress of the injustice.

  • Fed Govt loses $1b yearly to gas flaring

    Fed Govt loses $1b yearly to gas flaring

    The  Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr.  Ibe Kachikwu yesterday said the Federal Government  loses between $500million and $1billion yearly to gas flare data falsification in the country.

    He spoke at the Gas Competence Seminar in Abuja, which had: Towards ending gas flaring and unlocking gas potential in Nigeria as its theme.

    According to him, the Federal Government will set up an independent tracking mechanism next year to ascertain the actual volume of gas that was flared in the country, as the commodity is being priced in the United States (U.S.)dollar.

    Kachikwu said: “There is an urgency of yesterday to drive the policy that would enable us get out of gas flaring. I hear you talking about 10 per cent non-compliance, meaning that we have achieved a 90 per cent factor. My feeling is that these numbers are very mistaken.

    “Beginning next year, we will be putting up an independent tracking mechanism, not relying on figures from the IOCs (International Oil Companies)and from DPR (Department of Petroleum Resources), to find out really what is the flare volume. My feeling is that there are a lot of management of those figures to suit the cap of the penalties that are being charged.

    “My take is that we lose over half a billion to a billion of government revenue looking at the basis of the present penalties position. Nobody is effectively monitoring the volume, so when you actually go for the real effect of what is flared, in terms of statistics, it is much higher than that figures. However, we must appreciate the efforts that have been done in the past, efforts to increase penalties among others.”

    The minister also noted that the marginal rise in the price of crude oil in the past few days was not an indication of an imminent boom in the cost of the commodity in the nearest future.

    He explained that the decisions by the Organisation of Pteroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non- members of the cartel to cut down production may have warranted the marginal rise in crude prices, but stressed that further increase in prices could not be guaranteed as this may not last.

    Kachikwu said: “Now, as good as all these may be, the reality is that in the world, the era of high priced oil is gone. In fact, it is going to take a lot of work to sustain the $60 per barrel price and it is going to take a lot of discipline and concerted effort as well.”

    He emphasised the need for the country to commercialise its gas resources, stating that crude oil alone cannot sustain the economy.

    According to him, ensuring gas commercialisation, utilisation and transportation would go a long way in buoying the economy and wondered why Nigeria was still facing electricity problems despite producing a lot of gas.

    Earlier in his address, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said Nigeria’s perennial power problems were man-made and not as a result of technical challenges.

    He stated that in the last couple of days, gas flaring and most especially, sabotage had deprived most of the country’s critical gas power plants of gas, thereby, leading to a significant decline in power supply all over Nigeria.

  • Govt to pay $5.1b cash call debt in five years

    Govt to pay $5.1b cash call debt in five years

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu yesterday said the Federal Government will pay off the discounted $5.1 billion cash-call debt it is owing International Oil Companies (IOCs) within five years.

    Though he did not state when repayment will start, he said its timeline was part of the concessions Nigeria got from the IOCs for discounting  $1.7 billion from the cash-call arears.

    The minister had, at the 72nd National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, said through negotiations with the IOCs, the $6.8 billion past  cash-calls burden on the federation was reduced to $5.1 billion, to be paid on an improved oil output.

    But speaking yesterday after declaring open the inaugural meeting of the National Council on Hydrocarbon in Abuja, Kachikwu also said in the agreement, the payment from incremental oil production will not affect Nigeria’s budget production benchmark of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd).

    He added that the discount translated to almost N8 billion in savings to the country.

    “The first concession obviously is the fact that the country got a discount of $1.7 billion, and that is going to be paid over a period of five years and it will be paid from incremental volume of production. So we are not lynching into our 2.2mbpd to be able to pay for that.

  • Kachikwu charges hydrocarbon council on speed, efficiency

    Kachikwu charges hydrocarbon council on speed, efficiency

    The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has advised the newly-inaugurated council on hydrocarbons to speedily formulate policies that will address challenges in the oil and gas sector.

    Kachikwu gave the advice in Abuja on Tuesday at the resuscitation of the council.

    The Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Oct. 5, gave the nod for the resuscitation of the council which had been in existence for some time.

    According to him, the council acts as an ombudsman that meets once yearly to review policies in the sector, bringing together ‎people from business, oil sector, oil communities and relevant ministries.

    Kachikwu said: “As you put together this hydrocarbon council, I urge all of you to take cognizance of so much that is going on in the Ministry of Petroleum.’’

    “It is one of the most challenging, exciting times we have in creating, develop the right policies, right principles to address frustrations that are in the system.’’

    He said there was so much to do in the industry.

    According to him, these include growth of the upstream through policies on oil and gas, passage of the long-sought-after petroleum industry bill and issues of Niger Delta security among others.

    “We’re setting for ourselves very comprehensive goals that we want everybody to participate in. We are taking the bull by the horn for every little problem that we have.

    “Those solutions shouldn’t stop at the ministry.

    “It should first begin with you, your various undertakings in the sector whether it’s as scholars, ministry representatives, investors, policy formulators, traditional rulers who provide framework.

    “Whatever capacity, everybody needs to have an input. We will study it. There is nowhere in Nigeria today where there is an urgency of yesterday as the petroleum sector.

    “Like I say, oil got us to where we are today. It is going to take oil to take us out of it.’’

    Speaking to newsmen after the event Kachikwu said the nation was not where it should be as per crude oil production and the bombing of the Forcados pipeline recently further hampered output.

    Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Jamila Shua’ra, said the essence of the meeting was to “engender a bottom-up approach to policy making’’.

    “We had 30 memos presented from the council at its inaugural stage. I think that is a good way to start. Next year, we hope to have a more robust session.’’

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that stakeholders were drawn from oil producing states.

    Hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting of hydrogen and carbon is a primary energy source.

    The majority of hydrocarbons found on Earth occur in crude oil, which Nigeria has large deposits of it.

     

  • FG to realize $15 billion investments from JV cash calls’ elimination

    FG to realize $15 billion investments from JV cash calls’ elimination

    The Federal Government on Thursday disclosed that it plans to end the era of joint cash calls with oil companies by next year.
    ‎
    The move, the Government said would result in investments in excess of $15 billion by oil companies.

    ‎The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu briefed State House correspondents after making presentation to the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.

    The Minister sought NEC’s endorsement for the proposal already approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), towards changing the funding configuration of Joint Venture (JV) for upstream companies.

    According to him, the current cash call arrears in the oil sector over the last five years up until December 2015 was about $6.8 billion unpaid.

    He said that the government had accumulated unpaid cash call arrears of over $2.5 billion as at 2016.

    The debt, he said, became accumulated due to failure to pay the joint cash calls when oil was selling for $110 -$120 per barrel.

    He said: “There really wasn’t any justification why these monies shouldn’t had been paid in terms of the five years arrears.”

    He said that it had become difficulty to pay the debts as a result of militancy and the drop in oil prices from $110 to $40.

    The implication of this, he said, was government’s inability to meet its cash call obligations.

    “When that happens, you find that your reserve begins to deplete, your ability to maintain production at current level will begin to dissipate and cost of per barrel of production at joint ventures continues to rise because of the very little volumes chasing the cost and at the end of the day the investors’ confidence begins to wane. So a lot of the projects that ought to have happened in this country basically abandoned.”

    He said that ‎sometimes this year, government took on an initiative working with NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum to try and find a sustainable solution for funding JV cash call.

    He said: “We have been able to find that solution. What we have been able to put together has enabled us to shave over $1.7 billion savings for the government on the $6.8 billion that was previously owed. So we are going to be owing only $5.1 billion as oppose to $6.8 billion dollars.”

    According to him, the $5.1 billion will be paid within five years interest free and the barrels to pay will come from incremental barrels generated by the oil companies not on the current 2.2 million barrels.
    He explained that if for any reason government did not meet those thresholds, it would not be able to pay the $5.1 and the $2.6billion outstanding for this year.

    He added: “We are trying to cover that through three thresholds: one is to continue to do an accelerated cash call payments between October and December hopefully that will bring the figure down to about $1.5 billion and that $1.5 billion was sinking resources from FG either through some of our reserve or Nigeria LNG or a combination of that and alternative funding to try and train staff that should be completed hopefully by December.

    “Beginning next year, if this goes into place the issue of cash call era would have had disappeared. The effect of what this is that investments in excess close to $15 billion are likely to be announced by the oil companies bringing back most of the projects within couple of weeks once this is signed.

    “For the first time the oil industry will take responsibility for arranging their own funding and being able to produce oil and save the fg the whole nightmare of cash calls every year.

    “So this is a very dramatic move in the oil industry we are still going to make presentation to the National Assembly for them to understand this.” He said.

    The new financing regime, he said, would help to save at least $1billion from 2017.

    According to him, government would be looking at reducing the cost of barrel per production from the current 27 dollars per barrel which he said was one of the highest in the world to figure within the threshold of 18 dollars per barrel over the next two years ultimately to about 15 over the next four years.

    He expected the barrel reserve production to increase to about 2.5million by 2019 and potentially to about 3 million barrels by 2021.

  • Security challenges in N/Delta over soon—Kachikwu

    Security challenges in N/Delta over soon—Kachikwu

    The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has assured Nigerians that the security challenges in the Niger Delta will soon be resolved.

    Kachikwu gave the assurance in Abuja on Friday in a statement signed by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr Idang Alibi.

    The minister, according to the statement, observed that three attacks had taken place in the last two weeks, including Wednesday’s Forcados bombing, in spite of efforts being made to promote peace in the region.

    Kachikwu said he was  saddened that in spite of months of intensive personal and collective efforts to engage all stakeholders in the region and the recent successful meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, these attacks had  continued.

    “I condemn these wanton attacks and reiterate that the path to providing lasting solutions to  the Niger Delta challenges remains dialogue,” the statement quoted the minister as  saying.

    He appealed to all stakeholders in the region to embrace peace and dialogue and shun acts that further create difficulties for the country as well as impoverish and worsen the ecological problems of the region.

    The minister urged the militants to stop all acts of  aggression and give the ongoing dialogue a chance to birth peace in the region.

    He said though distraught, all ministers from the region would continue to work under the president’s mandate to get a complete stakeholder buy-in to the solution programme of the administration.

  • Security challenges in Niger Delta over soon – Kachikwu

    Security challenges in Niger Delta over soon – Kachikwu

    The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has assured Nigerians that the security challenges in the Niger Delta will soon be resolved.

    Kachikwu gave the assurance in Abuja on Friday in a statement signed by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr Idang Alibi.

    The minister, according to the statement, observed that three attacks had taken place in the last two weeks, including Wednesday’s Forcados bombing, in spite of efforts being made to promote peace in the region.

    Kachikwu said he was saddened that in spite of months of intensive personal and collective efforts to engage all stakeholders in the region and the recent successful meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, these attacks had continued.

    “I condemn these wanton attacks and reiterate that the path to providing lasting solutions to  the Niger Delta challenges remains dialogue,’’  the statement quoted the minister as  saying.

    He appealed to all stakeholders in the region to embrace peace and dialogue and shun acts that further create difficulties for the country as well as impoverish and worsen the ecological problems of the region.

    The minister urged the militants to stop all acts of aggression and give the ongoing dialogue a chance to birth peace in the region.

    He said though distraught, all ministers from the region would continue to work under the president’s mandate to get a complete stakeholder buy-in to the solution programme of the administration.