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Tag: NNPC

  • NNPC GMD: Azikel Refinery’ll address local needs

    NNPC GMD: Azikel Refinery’ll address local needs

    The Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru has commended the managment of Azikel Refinery. He said  the refinery will help tackle perennial fuel scarcity in the country.

    He  lauded the President of Azikel Group, Dr Azibapu Eruani for achieving 65 per cent completion of the phase I, II and III stages, of the project stressing that investors such as Eruani deserve encouragement.

    Represented by Managing Director, Port Harcourt Refining Company, Shehu Malami, the NNPC GMD expressed optimism that the refinery construction would be completed soon to begin onward dispensing of refined petroleum product to the public.

    Azikel Refinery foundation laying was performed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Yenagoa.

    Baru said works on the perimeter fencing, loading gantry, security unit and the administrative building have attained appreciable level of completion while the core refining modules of the ISBL fabricated in Houston, US would be freight on skid and coupled at the refinery site.

    He said the 12,000 barrel per stream day (bpsd) hydro-skimming refinery would produce petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and heavy fuel oil.

    Baru lauded the signing of the certificate of occupancy of the land for Azikel Refinery and Azikel Power Project issued by Governor Seriake Dickson and witnessed by  Obasanjo.

    Baru pledged the suport of NNPC  towards the completion of the project and commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the policy that is improving production domestic refining and ensuring availability in all parts of the country.

    ‘’I am optimistic that the combine effort of the NNPC and output from private refineries would impact positively on capacity and improved production of petroleum product in the country,” Baru said, adding that the refinery will increase local refining capacity.

  • Marketers to NNPC: increase petrol supply

    Marketers to NNPC: increase petrol supply

    Executive Secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) Mr. Olufemi Adewole and National Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Alhaji Abubakar Maigadi, have urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase supply of petrol to marketers.

    They argued that the call was due to the persistent scarcity of the product nationwide.

    Adewole admitted that the corporation was giving fuel to marketers, stressing that if there were queues anywhere, it meant that the supply was insufficient and that NNPC should increase it.

    Asked to give an update on the petrol market in view of the unending queues in the country, he told The Nation on phone: “I really don’t have an update about happenings in the last few days now.

    “But I read in the news too. I came into Abuja this morning and I have seen one or two places that have fuel. To the best of my knowledge, NNPC is giving marketers fuel. If there are queues, it simply means they should give marketers more.”

    Also speaking on phone, Maigadi attributed the queues to panic buying. He noted that the scarcity started since last month and it was not easy for it to disappear nationwide immediately.

    According to him, “there has been improvement in terms of loading and supply of product. In Niger State, there are queues but they are not long.”

    NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, who was also called for a reaction to the persisting scarcity, did not pick his call at press time.

    The fuel scarcity and its resultant queues that engulfed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) seemed to have aggravated yesterday. Most of the independent marketers, apart from the Nipco petrol stations in Kubwa, Lugbe Airport road, were shut. Some major marketers as Total in Zone 6, Wuse District, however, sold the product.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Falling crude price: FG may discontinue oil projects

    Falling crude price: FG may discontinue oil projects

    The Minister of State of Petroleum for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu Thursday dropped the hint that the Federal Government was having a rethink about the essence continuing existing oil projects owing to the falling crude oil prices.

    He however allayed fear over declining prices and productions, stressing that there was no cause to panic as no minister in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was looking forwarding to the prices exceed $70 per barrel.

    He pointed out that the low prices have their advantages, which are to compel review high cost of production, stressing that “even for the projects we are doing today, we are looking at it again to see if it makes sense; whether if the oil in the ground is not going to yield money to the Federal Government. We are doing a lot of work on the cost aspect.”

    The minister said that most oil producing countries were already working internally to ensure that they get the best margins from their businesses.

    He made this known in a world press conference at Abuja, where he announced that the Federal Government will be hosting the Nigerian Investment Petroleum Summit (NIPS) from 18-22 February, 2018. The conference, according g to him, will be the equivalent of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) that holds annually in Houston.

    Kachikwu said that in order to save the nation from the embarrassment of fuel queues in the Federal Capital Territory; he will direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to do everything in its capacity to remove petrol queues from Abuja.

    His words: “I will be instructing NNPC to do whatever it takes it ensures that I do not bring visitors here next week and experience fuel queues. They (NNPC) have to do whatever it takes to get this out of Abuja.”

    He said that “Lagos is largely more fuel queues free while Abuja is still struggling because of some of the logistics issues, although there is now a huge amount of improvement.”

    Kachikwu, who foreclosed the possibility of price hike, recalled that the government increased fuel price two years ago and has no intention of doing that again.

    According to him, the fuel queue issue is both a policy and logistic issue, and the government needs to address the fundamental policy issue, especially in the area of pricing differentials to enable a uniform prices of N145/liter.

    Kachikwu said that plans are in place to attain the target of 2.3million barrel per day (mbd) in 2019 and 2.5mpd in 2020.

    Allaying fears, he said that concerning prices, “I do not think we need to be panicky about it. We hit an all-time $70 in December, which surprised a lot of us. And that was because of the huge amount of work done in OPEC. We are not ruffled by it. I know it is coming down to the higher $60s now”

    The minister said that “Shale is going to be active. We know that whenever we are in excess of $65, shale gets very active because the fundamentals become much more supportive to more investments and more production lines.

    “I have always said that two things need to happen. OPEC needs to just focus on itself and on what it needs to do and forget about what is happening in shale. Two is that every OPEC producer must work hard to become a least-cost-producer.

    “The truth is that if shale can produce at $65, there is no absolutely no reason why we should be struggling. The fundamentals of our earnings, how efficient we are, our cost of production is work that we need to do internally.

    “That does not depend on OPEC. If you look at what is happening at Saudi Arabia and UAE, there is a fundamental rejigging of their production models to ensure that they are getting the very best in terms of their prices and their cost is going down. One nice thing about low prices is that it forces everybody to abandon high cost production.

    “Even for the projects we are doing today, we are looking at it again to see if it makes sense; whether if the oil in the ground is not going to yield money to the Federal Government. We are doing a lot of work on the cost aspect.

    “However, we have obviously oscillated between $60 and $70. $70 was a sharp move and we were obviously thankfully receptive of it, but I am not sure that there is a lot of minister in OPEC who would say they were looking forward to a $70 per barrel oil largely because of the effect it has on shale and the effect it also has on laziness in terms of cost management.

     

  • NNPC commences recovery of N100b landed property

    The NNPC Properties Ltd (NPL), the real estate management company of the NNPC, has commenced the recovery of the corporation’s landed property worth N100b across the nation.

    This was disclosed by the NNPC Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ventures, Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, at the maiden edition of NPL Property Festival which held yesterday the NNPC Towers, Abuja.

    Adeniran stressed that the focus of the NNPC Properties Ltd had shifted from the initial lease administration of collecting rents from tenants of the NNPC Properties to “exploring all commercial opportunities available in the real estate market to efficiently position itself as one of the key players of repute that fits the NNPC brand”.

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

    According to him, the current aggressive commercial drive by the NPL was yielding results as the company had recovered a number of the corporation’s landed property which had been lying idle across the country.

    He listed some of the recovered property to include: a 92-hectre parcel of land on Chevron Drive, Lekki, Lagos; Royal Grove Estate, Port-Harcourt, and others in Abuja and Kaduna.

    He said all the recovered property would be developed for the benefit of NNPC staff.

    Dr. Adeniran commended the Management of the NPL for developing the Third Party Home Ownership Scheme for staff with competitive interest rates from reliable banks and affordable deals from credible developers.

  • Fed Govt directs NNPC to fix depots

    The Federal Government has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to repair all the 21 state-owned depots across the country, it was learnt at the weekend.

    The depots are in Aba, Enugu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Ibadan, Ore, Mosimi, Ejigbo, Ilorin and other cities.

    The idea is aimed at repositioning the depots for better performance and to further improve activities at the downstream segment of the nation’s oil and gas industry.

    NNPC Group General Manager, (Group Public Affairs Division), Ndu Ughamadu said one of the loopholes identified at the depots is poor pipeline network, adding that efforts are being made to solve the problem.

    He said NNPC was deploying a new technology to protect the pipelines from attacks.

    In an interview with The Nation at the weekend, Ughamadu said the technology would enable NNPC to detect any attack on pipelines and ward it off.

    He said through monitoring, NNPC would be able to ascertain the capacity of the pipelines to deliver fuel promptly to marketers at the depots.

    He, however, refused to disclose details of the technology, such as its manufacturer, date and where it was produced, on the ground of keeping what he described as a management confidential issue.

    Ughamadu said: “The issue of the identity of the owner of the technology, which NNPC is deploying to secure the depots, is a purely business one. The corporation is withholding the identity of the manufacturer of the technology to the public in order to focus on its goal of ensuring that the depots are fixed.

    “It is not right to disclose the identity of the firm that produces the technology since the process of transforming the depots from the weak and inactive ones to the ones that promote efficiency is still on-going.”

    According to him, the issue of protecting the pipelines with a technological device was part of efforts introduced by NNPC to make the depots more functional.

    He said activities in many of depots have suffered due to poor facilities, adding the issue would soon be a thing of the past. He said Ibadan depot has been rehabilitated and commissioned by the Oyo State Governor, Senator Ajimobi, adding that depots that are located in the Northern part of the country would follow suit.

    “The issue of deploying new technology to the pipelines among other initiatives that are being carried out by the NNPC would help the country to improve fuel supply soon. That is the reason the NNPC is seeking the support of stakeholders in the value chain on the issue of helping to improve activities in the downstream sub- sector for the growth of the industry.” he added.

  • NNPC clampdown on erring marketers, fuel hawkers

    NNPC clampdown on erring marketers, fuel hawkers

    As part of efforts to sanitize the fuel supply and distribution system in the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has intensified arrest and prosecution of erring marketers and fuel hawkers across the nation.

    The NNPC Special Task Force on Filling Stations Monitoring has arrested several people including two filling station managers who diverted 66,000 litres of petrol and six illegal hawkers of petrol in Abuja.

    The two managers of Azman filling stations in Nyanya and Kuje were arrested for diverting trucks of petrol meant for their stations to unknown destinations.

    The NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, disclosed these in statement on Wednesday.

    He said the managers have been handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for prosecution.

    “In addition to prosecution, the filling stations would pay a N250 fine for each litre of petrol diverted,” Ughamadu stated.

     

     

  • Governor makes case for reopening of NNPC depot

    Governor makes case for reopening of NNPC depot

    Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has made a case for the reopening of Benin depot, managed by Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), subsidiary of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Minerals, Oil and Gas, Joseph Ugheoke, spoke during a visit to the Area Manager, PPMC, in Warri, Delta State.

    He said: “Reopening of the depot will address shortage of supply of petroleum products and ease accessing the products.

    “Edo State’s strategic location, with road networks linking parts of the country, requires that petroleum products should be in ample supply, as the state is reputed to be a hub of road transportation.

    “Scarcity of petroleum products experienced in the state in the last two months requires an urgent solution. The reopening of the depot will be strategic in resolving the problem.

    “We will collaborate with PPMC/NNPC to ensure the depot is reopened, as its closure is affecting the supply and availability of the products.”

    The Area Manager, Dogara Gyet, assured the governor that PPMC management was working towards reopening the depot.

    He said: “I was on a working visit to the depot a week ago. I’m concerned about the shortage of petroleum products in Edo, as the state records high volume of transportation activities with vehicles travelling through it to other parts of the country.”

    The Controller, Operations, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Maynard Oriaifo, decried the shortage of products, noting that the daily sufficiency level for the state is between 800,000 and one million litres of petroleum products, but the state hardly gets 500,000 litres.

  • NNPC mulls PPP for gas pipelines

    NNPC mulls PPP for gas pipelines

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has urged the new Board of one of its downstream subsidiary companies, the Nigerian Pipeline Storage Company (NPSC), to partner with the private sector to build more pipelines parallel to the corporation’s existing ones.

    Baru who gave this charge while inaugurating the new Board of the company at the NNPC Towers, yesterday, in Abuja, said such partnership would enhance NPSC’s profitability.

    He said: “Your work also is to look at refurbishing these pipelines and storage along a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement by getting willing private companies to invest in these pipelines. NNPC Management is very much disposed to supporting your efforts in this regard,” the GMD stated.

    Baru further urged the company to double its pipeline network in the next 10 years, stressing that such a target was “absolutely necessary.”

    The GMD described pipelines as arteries of the nation’s Oil and Gas industry, adding that part of the reform process embarked upon by the Corporation under his watch was to birth an NPSC that has a clear focus which sees pipeline storage and distribution as real business.

    “I have a passion for this company and I believe this firm will be a leader in that segment of our operations. That is why we focused our energy on refurbishing, repairing and re-streaming of our storage facilities and pipelines over the last few months,” Baru noted.

    He charged them to also integrate, through their pipelines resources, the various butanisation depots which are used as reception points for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

    “We have a lot of LPG that is being exported. This could be utilized domestically in line with our vision of providing alternative energy sources for domestic and industrial use nationwide,” he stressed.

    Baru tasked the NPSC management to engage the various host state governments towards the restoration of the Products Right of Way (PRoW) to ensure the safety of the citizens and products.

    He added that most of the state governments were ever-willing to support the corporation in preventing infringements on its PRoW.

    He expressed NNPC Management’s readiness to engage security agencies against any act of economic sabotage towards the pipelines.

    Responding, the Chairman of the NPSC Board and Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services, NNPC, Mr. Isa Inuwa, pledged the readiness of the Board to support the NPSC management towards achieving its set targets.

    “It is our vision to transit NPSC to a market-phasing, competitive and profit-making organisation. We are committed as a Board to deliver on this mandate,” Inuwa stated.

    Also speaking, the Managing Director of the company, Luke Anele, an engineer, thanked the NNPC management, saying that although the task before his team was huge, it would nonetheless leave up to expectations.

    Aside Inuwa, the new Board also has Engr. Henry Ikem-Obi, Engr. Luke Anele, Mr. Umar Ajiya, Mr. Ahmadu Sambo, Mr. Abdullahi Gunda, Mr. Ahmed Danladi, Mrs. Betty A. Ugonna and Mr. Victor Omoluabi as members.

     

  • Why NNPC relies on marketers for fuel supply

    Why NNPC relies on marketers for fuel supply

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is relying on members of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) to distribute fuel nationwide due to their reliable and administrative qualities, the Corporation’s spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu, has said.

    Others, he said, are their financial strengths, ability to undertake big ticket transactions and forthrightness. MOMAN members include Conoil, Forte Oil, Mobil, Total, Oando and MRS Oil.

    He said the body possesses qualities that are unique and also endear them to present and existing investors, adding that such attributes are vital to the growth of any business enterprise.

    In a telephone interview with The Nation, Ughamadu said the marketers are capable of delivering petroleum products supplied them by the NNPC, without delays.

    He said the National Oil Company is saddled  with the responsibilities of importing fuel, taking delivery of its cargoes and making it available to consumers across the country, adding that MOMAN has made the job of giving the product to consumers much easier.

    He said: “MOMAN outlets are strategically located in the country and this is a plus for NNPC that wants fuel to be distributed to consumers faster. Our duty as the nation’s sole importer of fuel into the country is to supply fuel and further ease scarcity, which we have been trying to achieve though the marketers and other relevant stakeholders in the value chain.

    “ Besides fuel, many of the firms are into upstream engagements through which they explore oil for growth, coupled with the fact that they deal with natural and Liquefied and  Petroleum Gas(LPG). These improve their records at the end of every financial year.”

    On portfolios, he said the marketing oil companies have huge financial portfolios, as evident by their subsidiaries, reservoirs or tank farms that can store huge volume of fuel, outlets, balance sheets and the confidence, they are enjoying in the downstream sub-sector of the nation’s oil and gas industry.

    He said many of the firms were quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and other Exchanges, adding that their ability to ensure that people invest in business has further boosted  the confidence reposed in them by Nigerians.

    “In view of the fact the oil marketing firms are bringing in profits through their investments, of which listing on floors of the exchange is one of them, the companies are protecting‘’

    He said companies that are quoted on the floors of the Exchange run businesses worth several billions of naira, enjoy international recognition and always mindful of their image, adding that they are not ready to engage in transactions that are only illegal and capable of eroding the public confidence of the investors.

    He further said activities in the downstream sub-sector of the nation’s oil and industry are developing and require investors that can hold their own as evident by the performance of many of the marketers in the recent years.

     

  • NNPC opts for private investment in gas pipelines

    NNPC opts for private investment in gas pipelines

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, on Wednesday urged the new Board of one of its downstream subsidiary companies, the Nigerian Pipeline Storage Company (NPSC), to partner with the private sector to build more pipelines parallel to the existing ones.

    Baru, who gave this charge while inaugurating the new Board of the company at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, said such partnership would enhance NPSC’s profitability.

    He said: “Your work also is to look at refurbishing these pipelines and storage along a Public -Private -Partnership (PPP) arrangement by getting willing private companies to invest in these pipelines. NNPC management is very much disposed to supporting your efforts in this regard.”

    Baru urged the company to double its pipeline network in the next 10 years, adding that such a target was “absolutely necessary.”

    The GMD described pipelines as arteries of the nation’s oil and gas Industry, adding that part of the reform process embarked upon by the Corporation under his watch was to give birth to an NPSC that has a clear focus and sees pipeline storage and distribution as real business.