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  • NNPC to build more depots, says GMD

    NNPC to build more depots, says GMD

    Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday vowed to build more depots across the country.

    NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who stated this in Abuja while inaugurating the board of one of its downstream Companies, NNPC Retail Limited, said the addition to the corporation’s  23 depots nationwide, would ease products supply and distribution.

    Baru, who charged the members of the board to expand the company’s market share from 13 to 30 per cent, said building more depots by the Corporation was  more feasible than acquiring dormant ones.

    The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu made this known in a statement that he issued in Abuja.

    He praised NNPC Retail for its strong intervention to wet the market at a time when other downstream players were playing underhand games to create artificial scarcity.

    The GMD challenged the board to aggressively see to the expansion of the NNPC Retail beyond the shores of Nigeria, adding, “by mid-2019, you should be having plans to go into the sub-region. This board should propel NNPC Retail into a new height,’’ he stated.

    GMD directed the company to venture into lubricants production, marine and industrial services to boost its revenue profile as it was an line with our quest as an integrated oil company

    Responding, Chairman of the board and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Gas and Power, Engr. Saidu Mohammed, said as an NNPC-owned company, the watch word for NNPC Retail should be “efficiency and profitability, especially in a downstream system like ours that is highly competitive”.

    He pledged the commitment of the board and management of the company to the attainment of the goals of the corporation.

  • NNPC deploys 50-fuel-laden trucks in Lagos to end queues at filling stations

    NNPC deploys 50-fuel-laden trucks in Lagos to end queues at filling stations

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday appealed to motorists in Lagos State not to embark on panic buying of petrol because it had increased the fuel-laden trucks supplying fuel  to the city/state by 50 trucks

    Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the Corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, told the  the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the queues at filling stations would soon vanish with the new development.

    He said that the members of the public should not indulge in storing petrol in their homes because additional 50 trucks of petrol had been released to Lagos.

    Read Also: NNPC ‘releases 250 trucks of petrol’

    “About 250 trucks have begun to discharge petrol to Lagos compared to less than 200 trucks allocated to Lagos at the weekend.

    “Motorists are advised to avoid hoarding and panic buying of petrol as the NNPC has sufficient product in stock that will last several days,” he said.

    Ughamadu  attributed the sudden scarcity of petrol being experienced to a slight change in the distribution network in Lagos.

    According to him, Lagos is currently being supplied by members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN).

    The NNPC spokesperson also acknowledged that there was a slight hitch at the Port Harcourt Refinery which he said was caused by power problem.

    “The Port Harcourt Refinery is slightly down for now, pending when the problem will be rectified,” he said.

    Meanwhile, NAN reports that hawkers had begun to capitalise on the situation to sell petrol to the public at exorbitant prices.

    The hawkers had been selling the commodity for  between N200 and N300 per litre.

    At Fadeyi on Ikorodu Road, a hawker sold a five-litre gallon of petrol for N1,500 instead of the official price of N725.

    Also, commercial transport operators had increased their fares by about 50 per cent.

    A trip to Oshodi from Costain now goes for N150 from its former N100 while Oshodi to Sango Ota in Ogun attracts N300 as against the former N200.

    NAN

  • Reps summon Kachukwu, NNPC over subsidy payment

    • Fuel scarcity may worsen over move to scrap PEF

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachukwu and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Maikanti Baru have been asked to appear before the House Committees on Finance and Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to explain the current subsidy payment on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the Corporation.

    In addition, Kachukwu, Baru as well as the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Abdulkadir Umar,  are to appear before the House Committee on Finance and Petroleum Downstream to account for the monies expended on the subsidy payment since January 2017 till date. They are to explain the current Petroleum Pricing Regime.

    The decision of the House followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance raised by Sunday Karimi  (PDP, Kogi), saying  despite the announcement of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal government, the NNPC is still paying subsidy.

    He said there is a need to ascertain the recipient(s) of the latest fuel subsidy since NNPC is the sole importer of fuel into the country.

    He said: “In December 2017, the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Petroleum Minister (State) Kachukwu both admitted that the current landing cost of Petrol is N171 per litre despite the fact that the Federal Government has pegged official rate at N145 per litre at the moment.

    “What this means is that it is the NNPC that is paying for the cost or, deferential of N26 per litre, despite the fact that the Federal Executive has posited that it has removed Petroleum Subsidy and there is no Parliamentary Appropriation for subsidy payment in the 2017 Appropriation Act.

    Meanwhile, the fuel supply  situation may worsen following the National Assembly’s plan to scrap the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF), which the marketers yesterday vowed to reject.

    The National Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi, said plans were underway for the  lawmakers to abrogate the PEF Act, but vowed that members of his association will not support the removal of the Fund.

    He said a joint committee, comprising members of the Senate and the House of Representatives have  reached a resolution to scrap the PEF as part of the strategies adopted to tackle the reoccurring fuel scarcity in the country.

    He said the marketers are against the move because it would aggravate the persistent fuel scarcity, since it would compel marketers not to sell the products at the official pump prices.

    He said that “it is already in the National Assembly. You know there is a committee on the petrol issue in the National Assembly. They have deliberated on it that they should scrap it. And from all indications they want to pass the resolution to scrap it. But what we (IPMAN) say is that we are not supporting the removal of PEF.”

    A source in the National Assembly, who pleaded anonymity said that the marketers were only raising the alarm on mere imagination and suspicion.

     

     

  • Indigenous ship owners to get NNPC, NIMASA nod to lift crude oil

    Indigenous ship owners to get NNPC, NIMASA nod to lift crude oil

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety (NIMASA) are set to allow indigenous ship owners to lift crude oil.

    This will lead to a change in trade terms from Free On Board (FOB) to Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF).

    The deal was sealed yesterday at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

    Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who declared the stakeholders meeting open, welcomed the development, urged participants to come out with resolutions that would be of national benefit.

    NIMASA Director-General Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who presented a paper titled ‘The Imperatives of Changing Nigeria’s Crude Oil Affreightment Trade Terms From FOB to CIF’, said the changing landscape of Nigeria’s maritime sector necessitated the adoption of CIF.

    Peterside said: “The CIF, if implemented, will encourage indigenous fleet expansion, lead to massive job creation for qualified Nigerian Seafarers, create opportunities for mandatory sea time experience for Nigerian cadets and build expertise and competence in international shipping trade.

    “Nigeria is one of the major exporters of oil and gas resource in the world, and she averages an output of 1.92 million barrels of crude oil per day so this volume generates huge freight for carriers. Regrettably, Indigenous shipping operators have insignificant share of the freight earned from the carriage of Nigeria’s crude compared to foreign counterparts”.

    He stated that OPEC nations such as Iran, Indonesia, Algeria, Kuwait, Angola, Venezuela, UAE and Libya allow indigenous operators to participate actively in shipment of the crude oil, stating that with the right policies in place Nigeria can build its own capacity and one of this is the change of terms of trade for Nigeria’s benefit.

    NNPC Group Managing Director Dr. Maikanti Baru said the corporation had no reason not to allow Nigerians lift crude. He added that the NNPC was aware of the benefits in the CIF trade term but processes have to be followed which may include transition period before finally opting for the CIF trade term.

    Shipowners and major stakeholders, who spoke at the engagement, lauded the initiative.

    A former DG of NIMASA, Temisan Omatseye, who is also a ship owner, said the CIF trade term would eliminate crude theft, create employment and compliment the diversification drive of the Federal Government.

    The President of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) and Managing Director of Starz Marine Group, Greg Ogbeifun, said what was needed to make the CIF initiative to grow the Nigerian shipping industry and the economy was government support.

  • IPMAN urges FG to end scarcity, restore operations at Enugu depot

    IPMAN urges FG to end scarcity, restore operations at Enugu depot

    The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria ( IPMAN ) has decried the high cost of procurement of petroleum products by its members in the South-East.

    Chief Ikechukwu Nwankwo, Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Chapter, lamented the development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Awka.

    NAN reports that the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol in Anambra and neighboring states had hovered between N230 and N250 per litre since mid-December 2017.

    Nwankwo said the hike in the pump price of petrol which had persisted in the South-East was because of the scarcity of the product.

    He said the inability of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations (NNPC) to supply the product sufficiently to marketers had contributed to the high cost.

    The chairman also described the situation in South-East, especially those under the Enugu depot as peculiar, noting that the breakdown of the depot was the major cause of the scarcity in the zone.

    He said customers in the area were more vulnerable because marketers from the zone were not protected by the NNPC in other depots in terms of access to the petroleum products.

    “The problem of price hike in the South-East where we operate is because of scarcity.

    “The product is not available, if it was available, there will be competition and naturally nobody will sell above the normal price.

    “Enugu depot has been down for over a decade and all the states in the zone now rely on depots that are supposed to be serving others.

    “Marketers are supposed to be getting PMS at N133.28 kobo at the NNPC depot so that we can sell at government approved price of N145, but all the products were bought from private tank farms at between N195 and N200.

    “If the pipeline to Enugu depot is working and the depot is functional, you are sure of 20 trucks each to Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states which are the major affiliate states at NNPC rate.

    “Now that the Enugu depot is not working, the NNPC should protect customers in the zone by ensuring that marketers from here get at least half of what it should get from other depots.

    Nwankwo absolved members of the allegations of hoarding and diversion, saying it was unwise for a businessman to do so.

    He condemned the clampdown of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on its members when it was obvious that they were not getting products at government approved prices.

    Read also: Loading at Ibadan depot inadequate, says IPMAN

    He said the DPR should work with the NNPC to find out those that procured products at government price for effective monitoring.

    “It is not true that marketers are hoarding but anybody with proof should show it.

    “Why should we hoard it and for whom and how can a businessman invest over N8 million on a product and refuse to sell and make profit?

    “At the moment, we are not happy with what the DPR is doing because it is unjust to dispense our petrol which they did not sell to us at the normal price.

    “The DPR should go and get the manifest of marketers that they sold product to at normal price and monitor those people because if they continue with what they are doing, we are going to shut down.

    “Let the NNPC declare the marketers that they sold product to at government approved price to, this is only how you can get product at government approved price,’’ he said.

    IPMAN urged the Federal Government to do that would be possible to eliminate the current scarcity and restore statutory price, including expediting works at the Enugu Depot, Emene to put it back in operation in the interest of the public.

    NAN

  • Marketers to NNPC: increase petrol supply

    Owing to the persistent scarcity of petrol, nationwide, the Executive Secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Olufemi Adewole, yesterday urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase its product supply to the marketers.

    He said 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 fuel situation, in view of the unending queues in the country, he told Adewole told The Nation on phone that “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.”

    Speaking on phone, the National Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Abubakar Maigadi attributed the queues to panic buying.

    He recalled that the scarcity started since last month and it was not easy for it to disappear from the whole country 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.”

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

    The fuel scarcity and its resultant queues that engulfed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) seemed to have aggravated yesterday.

  • NNPC to enforce N133.28 ex-depot price

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), yesterday said it  has deployed more of its depots and other throughput facilities to enforce the N133.28 Ex-Depot price of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, to marketers directly.

    A press statement signed by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, quoted the Managing Director of PPMC, Umar Ajiya as saying that the measure became necessary to resolve the price differentials between some of its stakeholders.

    He said the throughput facilities, along with some of its coastal depots would go a long way in ensuring that marketers access PMS at the approved government price, saying the Corporation has adequate supply of petrol, and advised against panic buying.

    “As at today, I want to confirm that the NNPC/PPMC has more than 20 days sufficiency both at marine and land depots and we are still operating 24 hours at the depots and all NNPC Retail Outlets to wet the nation with PMS,” Mr. Ajiya reassured.

    He added that the corporation received between one and two PMS laden ships per day, adding that there were days that the NNPC/PPMC took delivery of four cargoes of ship laden with petroleum products.

  • Marketers to NNPC: Increase petrol supply

    Marketers to NNPC: Increase petrol supply

    Owing to the persistent scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol, nationwide, the Executive Secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Mr. Olufemi Adewole, on Monday urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to increase its supply to the marketers.

    He 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 that “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.”

    Speaking on phone, the National Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Abubakar Maigadi attributed the queues to panic buying.

     He recalled that the scarcity started since last month and it was not easy for it to disappear from the whole country 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.”

    The NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, who was also called for a reaction to the persisting scarcity did not receive 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 marketer apart from the Nipco petrol stations in Kubwa, Lugbe Airport road were under lock and key. Some major marketers as Total in Zone 6, Wuse District however sold the product. 

    The NNPC affiliate stations that sold petrol yesterday were besieged by endless queues. The worst hit was the on mega station on Kubwa expressway and the one on Olusegun Obasanjo way, which both recorded long queues.

    At the Nipco on Airport road, it was discovered that the station pegged its maximum sale per vehicle at N3,000 per liter. 

    Although the stations did not alter the prices from a maximum of N145 per, black marketers took advantage of the scarcity to sell petrol in jerrycans on the expressways. They sold theirs for about N200 per litre.

  • Escravos pipeline incident didn’t affect gas supply – NNPC

    Escravos pipeline incident didn’t affect gas supply – NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Friday that routine gas supply for power generation was not affected by the fresh fire incident that engulfed a segment of the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS).

    NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had directed that an alternative pipeline be re-streamed immediately to ensure gas supply to power plants in parts of the country is not disrupted.

    The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Ndu Ughamadu, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.

    The statement said: “Already, gas supply into the network via alternative sources has been ramped up ahead of ongoing repair works on the affected segment as directed by the GMD.

    “The strategic Escravos to Lagos Pipeline System was affected by a fire at a segment along Egbokodo-Omadino, in Warri South local government area of Delta State in the early hours of Thursday.

    “Apart from being the main source of gas supply to some crucial power plants, ELPS feeds the West Africa Gas Pipeline System.”

  • ‘We have enough petrol’ – NNPC tells motorists

    ‘We have enough petrol’ – NNPC tells motorists

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC ) on Thursday in Abuja urged motorists not to engage in panic buying of any petroleum products.

    A statement by the NNPC Spokesman, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, assured motorists that the Corporation had a robust stock of Petroleum Motor Spirit ( PMS ) otherwise known as petrol.

    According to the statement, the PMS stock was sufficient to serve the nation for more than 30 days.

    ”This plea comes on the heels of queues noticeable in some fuel stations, especially in Abuja.

    ”Motorists are advised to report any marketer selling above N145 per litre of petrol or hoarding the products to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which is statutorily empowered to deal with such issues.

    ”DPR has offices located in all parts of the country and law enforcement agencies would mete out appropriate sanctions to operators of fuel stations who engage in hoarding or sell products above the recommended band,” Ughamadu said.

    In another statement, Ughamadu said the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, had directed that repair works be carried out immediately on the Escarvos to Lagos Pipeline
    (ELP).

    Read also: NNPC doubles supply as scarcity bites harder

    The pipeline, ruptured by an explosion today, January 11, along Egbokodo-Omadino, in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.

    ”Dr Baru further directed that gas supply from other sources like Oben, Oredo, Sapele, Ughelli and Utorogu be stepped up to augment any shortfalls as repair works have commenced on the pipeline.

    ”The Escravos pipeline supplies gas to power plants, in addition to feeding the West Africa Gas Pipeline System.

    ”It should be recalled that ELPS-C (downstream) of this pipeline was incinerated by a bush fire Jan. 2, at Abakila, in Ondo State, which
    has since been rectified and brought back to service,” Ughamadu said.

    The earlier fire incident had affected gas supply to customers in Ondo, Ogun and Lagos States with subsequent shutdown of some power plants with a combined generating capacity of 1, 143MW.

    NAN