The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dr. Maikanti Baru

  • Baru praises Shell on deepwater operation

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has praised Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), the deepwater arm of Shell Companies in Nigeria, for pioneering the deepwater sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

    NNPC is the senior partner of Shell Joint Ventures in Nigeria and represents the Federal Government in other operations, including deepwater.

    Baru described SNEPCo as a clear leader in deepwater whose performance is exemplary. “SNEPCo is a trail blazer. They set the pace with the Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO), being the first deep water exploration business in Nigeria,” Baru said while recieving ‘In pursuit of Excellence’, a SNEPCo publication, detailing the company’s entry into the offshore exploration in the Gulf of Guinea and how the venture has brought so much benefit to Nigeria. It also entails the development Nigerians’ local capacity and the growth of support industry, among others.

    SNEPCo Managing Director, Bayo Ojulari, who presented the 90-page book to NNPC leadership in Abuja, said the company was mindful of its pioneering role in deep-water exploration in Nigeria and would want others to learn from Shell group technical expertise to make Nigeria a leading oil and gas producing country.

    “We have documented lots of our efforts, which opened up Nigeria’s deep water and have contributed largely to the country’s oil revenue,” said Ojulari, who restated SNEPCo’s continued commitment to positive impact on Nigeria’s economy and the socio-economic welfare of the people through sustained social investments in education, health and sports.

    The company, with over 95 percent Nigerians as members of  staff, has helped to create the first generation of Nigerian deep-water oil and gas engineers and recently celebrated the 800-million-barrel mark in 13 years of operations.

    In recognition of its pioneering initiatives in Nigeria, SNEPCo was in early 2018 honoured as the best Nigerian oil and gas company in technology and innovation at the maiden edition of the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) held in Abuja for pioneering in-country Subsea Tree Refurbishment, a remarkable feat in local capacity potential, which resulted in significant savings. This was the first time in the Nigerian oil and gas industry that a Subsea Tree was fully stripped down and refurbished locally with all its original functionality restored.

    The FPSO vessel’s capacity was upgraded in recent years, allowing SNEPCo to expand the field with further drilling of wells in Bonga Phases 2 and 3 and through a subsea tie-back that unlocked the nearby Bonga North West field.

    SNEPCo is the operator of oil mining lease (OML) 118 under a production sharing contract with NNPC. The co-venture partners in OML 118 are Total E & P Nigerian Limited, Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited.

  • NNPC to woo foreign investors at CERA week, Houston

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, will on Monday address foreign investors at the CERAWeek, an international energy conference taking place in Houston, United States.

    Baru, who will speak during a Special Session entitled “Africa: Foundations for New Investment” will be joined by some African petroleum ministers, heads of National Oil Companies (NOCs) and other global energy industry leaders.

    He is expected to discuss the abundant investment opportunities in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry, particularly providing meaningful insights into key investment initiatives as they affect the country’s emerging capital projects within the oil, gas, power and the renewable energy sectors.

    In the same vein, Dr. Baru will be among African Oil and Gas industry leaders who will join the US Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, in a private Government-to-Government meeting on trade engagement between the US and African countries.

    Organised by IHS Markit, CERA is a global platform on energy trends and public policy where over 4,000 oil and gas experts convene annually to debate the future of oil, natural gas, renewable energy, power and new technologies.

    The 2019 edition has the theme: “New World of Rivalries: Reshaping the Energy Future.”

    The year’s edition will also explore other big issues confronting the energy industry, hosting such speakers as U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo; OPEC Secretary General, Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo and the Crown Princess of Denmark, Mary Elizabeth among others.

  • NNPC seeks investment in $48b oil industry

    The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru has urged investors to take advantage of the over $48billion investment opportunities available in the upcoming capital projects in the country’s oil and gas industry.

    Speaking at a Panel Session on: Insights on Future Exploration Hotspots: Opportunities for Africa’s Oil & Gas Industry under the sub-theme: The New Frontier for Africa’s Oil & Gas at the 2019 International Petroleum Week conference  in London, he said the continent’s energy outlook was looking positive amid difficult operating and economic headwinds.

    In a statement, NNPC said Baru pointed out that over 41billion barrels of oil and 319trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas were yet to be discovered in sub-Saharan Africa alone, while between 2008 and 2017, exploratory success in the sub-region was at about 45 per cent.

    He said there has been a surge in capital expenditure (CAPEX) across Africa’s oil and gas sector, with close to $194billion earmarked to be spent between 2018 and 2025 on 93 upcoming oil and gas fields in Africa.

    “Out of this $194billion, Nigeria accounts for $48.04 billion (over 24.8 per cent) of the total CAPEX coming into upcoming projects in Africa over 2018 to 2025, with over 20 planned projects,” Baru said.

    He said 23.8 per cent of the CAPEX in Africa would be spent in Mozambique, 11.3 per cent in Angola while about 29.2 per cent would be spent in Tanzania, Senegal, Mauritania, Uganda, Egypt, Algeria and Kenya combined.

    Baru said with over 14 oil producing countries, Africa currently accounts for 7.5 per cent (126.5billion barrels of crude oil) and 7.1per cent (488 Tcf of gas) of global proven oil and gas reserves respectively.

    He said in terms of production, the continent accounted for 8.7 per cent (8.1million barrels per day) of global oil production and 6.1 per cent (21.8bscfd) of global gas production, even as it consumed 4million barrels of oil per day and 13.7bscfd of gas (equivalent to 4.1 per cent and 3.9 per cent of global oil and consumption respectively).

    Shedding more light on investment opportunities in Nigeria,  Baru said the NNPC’s Frontier Exploration Service was currently drilling the Kolmani River-2 Well where desktop estimates revealed that about 400Bcf of gas is expected to be encountered.

    He said several new frontiers for exploration opportunities abound in Nigeria, even as offshore discoveries in the country have mostly been limited to between 1,000 – 1,500m of water depth.

     

     

  • Baru speaks in London on Africa’s new oil frontier

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, will today address foreign investors at the International Petroleum (IP) Week taking place in London, United Kingdom.

    Baru, who will speak on the theme “The New Frontier for Africa’s Oil & Gas”, will discuss the abundant investment opportunities in Nigeria’s energy sector, with emphasis on the downstream.

    Read also: Peaceful polls victory for Nigeria, says Buhari

    NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu made this known in a statement yesterday.

    The statement noted  that organisedy by the London-based Energy Institute, the IP Week is a global oil and gas platform where executives and other energy professionals discuss the biggest issues affecting the sector.

  • NNPC seeks investors to unlock $10b barrel deep-water resources 

    Ongoing drive by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase Nigeria’s crude oil reserve was taken a notch higher yesterday with the unveiling of multi-billion dollar investment opportunities in the nation’s deep-offshore frontiers at the 10th World Energy Capital Assembly in London, United Kingdom.

    Delivering an address at the panel session entitled: Spotlight on Africa”, Group Managing Director of the NNPC Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru said that “globally Nigeria has the highest untapped deep water resource of about 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent, in addition to other vast opportunities in the oil and gas value chain”.

    Read Also:NNPC records N32b trading surplus in 11 months

    The NNPC GMD who was represented at the event by the Group General Manager Corporate Planning & Strategy of the NNPC,  Mr Bala Wunti, explained that Nigeria has the largest and one of the most vibrant economies in  Africa with lots of potentials, especially in the gas, refining and infrastructure space.

    The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, who revealed this in a statement Wednesday, quoted him as saying that “I invite you all to a country that has massive opportunities, very good business climate and good returns on investment. Our resilience has been tested, we have been through the booms and bursts and we came out stronger. With our experience, geographical location and capacity, Nigeria is the country of now and the future.”

    He further explained that NNPC has a clear strategy for harnessing these potentials through collaboration and building robust partnerships as entrenched in the Corporation’s 12 Business Focus Areas being aggressively driven by the Leadership of the Corporation.

    The World Energy Capital Assembly is a leading gathering of energy executives, finance and investment professionals to discuss emerging and re-emerging energy investment opportunities, review deals done and chart an outlook of energy related activities across the globe.

    Other participants at the 10-year Anniversary of the event include Lord John Browne, the Baron Browne of Madingley and CEO of British Petroleum from 1995 to 2007; the Global Chief Economist of British Petroleum, Mr. Spencer Dale; the Senior Vice President of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Mr. Abdul Nasser Al Mughairbi; as well as the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of Equinor, Mr. Eirik Wærness, among others.

  • NNPC felicitates with petroleum consumers

    Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Maikanti Baru has felicitated with petroleum products consumers on the occasion of the country’s 58th Independence Anniversary.

    Baru, who spoke in a statement by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said he was pleased with the enviable role the NNPC plays in the national economy.

    He assured that the corporation would continue to surpass the expectations of Nigerians in meeting their energy needs.

    Wishing motorists and other consumers of petroleum products a happy independence anniversary, the NNPC GMD enjoined those travelling during the celebration safe journey, adding that the corporation has emplaced strategies to ensure adequate supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, to ensure their convenience.

    Ughamadu quoted Baru as informing that NNPC had 37-day PMS sufficiency, assuring that the corporation’s depots nationwide have products.

  • NNPC begs labour to avoid pushing nation back into recession

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has appealed to striking oil workers to help sustain the country’s exit from recession.

    He urged the oil and gas workers to sustain the industrial harmony the sector has enjoyed in recent times.

    In a release in Abuja yesterday, NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, quoted Dr. Baru as saying that the Oil and Gas Sector was central to Nigeria overcoming the recent past recession, stressing that oil workers owe the country the duty to ensure that the nation does not slip back to the slum.

    Ughamadu stated that the GMD thanked the two national industry unions, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), for the exceptional maturity they have shown at critical moments on issues affecting the industry.

    The release explained that the NNPC Management under the leadership of the Dr. Baru would continue to partner the unions in the interest of the nation and the industry workers, saying the corporation’s doors are open to the union’s leadership to move the sector forward collaboratively.

    Ughamadu also quoted Dr. Baru as saying that NNPC had 37-day Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, self- sufficiency, assuring that all the corporation’s depots nationwide have abundance of petroleum products to meet the needs of Nigerians even as it added that the depot managers have been put on alert to ensure uninterrupted loading of products in their domains.

    Ends

    Saraki appeals to govt, labour to resolve minimum wage crisis

    From: Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse

    THE Senate president, Dr. Bakola Saraki, has called on the executive to resolve the issue of national minimum wage without furthe delay.

    The senate president made the call yesterday while fielding questions from newsmen in Bamaina town, Birninkudu Local Government Area, Jigawa State, when he paid a courtesy visit to his co-presidential aspirant, Alhaji Sule Lamido, during his campaign tour to the state, saying that the matter was lingering for too long.

    Saraki said in the interest of the economic and social development of the country, it is important for labour and government to get a lasting solution.

    “This issue of minimum wage is long overdue. It has been lingering for a very long time. It is very importan to end the matter once and for all,” he said.

    Sarak said the National Assembly was waiting for the bill on minimum wage and would give it all the necessary consideration.

  • NNPC cautions consumers against panic buying of petrol 

    …says FG, NLC are addressing planned strike

     

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has appealed to motorists and other consumers of petroleum products across the country not to engage in panic buying of products over the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) planned industrial action.

    Read Also:20 ships discharge petroleum products, others at Lagos ports

    Baru said the Federal Government was seriously engaging the NLC on the issues it raised, a release by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated today (Wednesday) in Abuja.

    Ughamadu quoted the NNPC GMD as affirming that the Nation had 37- day petroleum Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, self- sufficiency, assuring that all the NNPC’s depots across the country, including the private ones engaged by the corporation on throughput basis, have an abundance of petroleum products to meet the needs of Nigerians.

    The statement said all NNPC depot managers have been instructed to intensify products loading and other activities in their depots to avert any fallout of developments in respect of the NLC’s proposed strike.

    Baru explained that the NNPC would continue to meet the products consumption needs of all Nigerians wherever they may be within the shores of the country.

  • 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

  • NNPC to work with military in oil exploration in Chad Basin — Baru

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it will work closely with security agencies in its bid to resume oil exploration in the Chad Basin.

    The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru disclosed this on Tuesday in Kano at the 54th annual international Conference and exhibition of Nigeria Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS).

    Baru said the resumption of oil exploration activities was imminent and the corporation would work with security agencies to remobilise to Chad Basin and continue their work.

    “We are going to work with military authorities to remobilise our workers to Chad basin.

    ‎“In terms of the Gongola basin, we have been acquiring data and we intend to start drilling exploration wells in the Gongola basin, particularly around the Golmani river.

    “We are going to ‎go back to that area in shortest possible time , may be before the end of the year,” he said.

    He said that the corporation planned ‎to drill four wells and would continue with the exploration of regional acquisition across the lower Benue.

    According to him, activities have started in Nasarawa and they will be going to Benue state before the end of year.

    Baru said that communal clashes in the area had seriously affected ‎their operations.

    He said that the Nasarawa state governor had promised to provide enough security for them to continue.

    ‎The GMD commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his efforts at restoring peace in the Northeast.

    In his remarks, Kano state governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, said that the state government had trained 44 youths on gemstone cutting and polishing.

    The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the state Government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji said the government would harness the mining sector to boost revenue of the state.  (NAN)