The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NNPC

  • Refineries’ rehabilitation to cost NNPC $1billion

    Refineries’ rehabilitation to cost NNPC $1billion

    The planned rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries will cost the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) about $1 billion, it was learnt at the weekend.

    The NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the nation’s three refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt would be shut for rehabilitation to make them operate at full capacity.

    The rehabilitation is also part of achieving the Federal Government’s aspiration of fully quitting petroleum products import by 2019.

    Baru said the refineries would come back on stream as new facilities when the NNPC concludes the rehabilitation ahead of the country’s plan to end petroleum products import in 2019.

    The Corporation has set up eight committees that would work on the blueprint on how to make the refineries work at their installed capacities. The committees include the workstations for rehabilitation, stakeholder management, financing, legal, procurement, pipeline and crude oil supply and security, and staffing and succession planning.

    When The Nation contacted the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, for a feedback on the project’s update, he said until the various committees submit their reports, it would be difficult to have an update.

    According to him, the committees will ascertain the period it would take to get the refineries to the expected operational capacities. He also noted that the financing committee will determine the cost of the rehabilitation.

    “The committtees will determine the modalities for rehabilitating the refineries. They will determine the amount that will be involved in the rehabilitation, how long it will last, when it will start and end, among others.

    The Nation’s investigation, however, revealed that the cost of the rehabilitation would be about $1 billion and the funds will be sourced from external financiers as the government doesn’t have money. The financiers at the completion of the project will be paid back from incremental oil production and refining.

    The companies that would handle the rehabilitation would be those that built the refineries, The Nation also learnt. The NNPC’s plan is to enter into agreement with the companies to ensure that refineries work at 90 per cent and above of their installed capacities, it was gathered.

    Baru, on the sidelines of the maiden Nigerian Pipeline Security Conference and Exhibition organised by the Pipeline Association of Nigeria (PLAN), said: “Our intention is to shut down the refineries when we are ready, and then fully bring them back to what they should be as new refineries.”

    “Obviously, it is going to be a complex procedure and as such, we have to breakdown the various work packages to ensure that all the workforce have sufficient focus. This time we inaugurated eight committees on the refineries’ rehabilitation.

    “The work streams are composed of the general managers and those at the executive directors level and they will have a day-to-day look at it, while the steering committee is at my level and that of the chief operating officers all looking at the problems that the workstations have and they will proffer solutions immediately.”

    “Over 28 expressions of interest (EoIs) had been received so far by NNPC from private funding sources for the refineries’ rehabilitation project. The corporation expects more EoIs by the end of the year.

    “I am convinced that the teams we have selected will give the necessary direction towards returning the refineries back to their optimal levels of performance. The committees are expected to deliver well and within schedule because time was of the essence. We want to show everyone that we can fully run the refineries. You must all work together to operate them at 100 per cent capacity, as this is the only way to ensure profitability.”

  • NNPC’s will-o’-the-wisp

    The nation’s oil giant, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has always remained a strange empire which operates only in strange ways. Hardly any salutary reports waft out therefrom; neither are they given to doing any exploits to inspire the citizenry in the manner of great oil giants the world over.

    On the contrary, NNPC is a heart-breaking conglomerate known for huge glass-and-concrete edifices and seemingly adept at dissipating national resources. A couple of examples will suffice here lest Hardball is accused of being on a mission to malign.

    One, gas flaring in the oil-producing Niger Delta has been going on (some billowing non-stop) for about three decades, damaging the people and their environment. Only NNP could achieve this feat for so long. Then there is the strange matter of rechanneling foreign exchange earned from export of crude oil back abroad through the massive importation of petroleum and petrochemical products.

    The list of our huge petroleum products import is long but here are some: PMS, diesel, kerosene, fuel oil, aviation fuel and various grades of polypropylene products for the production of plastic materials. The reason we hurriedly ship back forex to foreign lands where we ship our crude oil is because for over three decades, our NNPC has been unable to manage our refineries nor build new ones.

    In fact, the long retinue of big men may have given up on that most arduous of tasks of refining business. They are now hoping and praying fervently that Dangote Refinery would come on stream on schedule so as to wipe away the veil of shame that has covered their face over these decades.

    But all these are stale reports which have been with us for decades; why would Hardball begin to rake over an old wound? Well this one is provoked by another NNPC boondoggle venture it says it has started a process that will lead to the exploitation of oil and gas in the sokoto basin, northwest of Nigeria.

    The first instinct of any knowledgeable reader of this report is to laugh his head off. After a good laugh, the fellow would proceed to throw a few posers at NNPC.

    First, has NNPC successfully carried out any major project?  No. NNPC has supposedly search for oil in the Chad basin (northeast) for about 25 years without result: how much has it spent so far on the wild geese chase? What capacity does NNPC have to drill for oil? If truly there was oil in the Sokoto and Chad basins, how come no foreign oil giant showed interest all these years?

    It’s a strange place, this NNPC

  • Apapa gridlock: Lagos bars truck drivers

    Apapa gridlock: Lagos bars truck drivers

    The Lagos State Government on Friday directed owners and operators of articulated vehicles/trailers and petroleum tankers to stay away from Lagos for now in order to address the recent traffic bottleneck that has taken over Apapa expressway and its environs.

    In a press conference jointly addressed by officials of the State as well as members of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, the government regretted that the incessant traffic bottleneck had impacted negatively on the commercial activities of the citizenry, adding that the directive would be enforced to eliminate the current hardship being faced by motorists.

    Related: Urgent vacancies in Lagos LG Service

    Addressing the briefing, the State’s Acting Commissioner for Transportation, Prince Olanrewaju Elegushi said investigations revealed that the traffic lockdown was a direct result of the challenges being faced by operators of the ports’ which had made it impossible for them to load the articulated vehicles/trailers that have come from the hinterland to evacuate imported items from the ports.

    He said the gridlock was worsened by the current rehabilitation of some major roads and other minor roads which necessitated the closure of some roads in Apapa, noting that the situation had led to the traffic bottleneck and backflow of the articulated vehicles to as far as Ojuelegba on the Funsho Williams Avenue, Surulere.

    Explaining the reason for the State’s directive, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, said the Apapa gridlock had also become a reoccurring problem due to the constant breakdown of operations at the Ports.

    “Clearly, it is the breakdown of operations at the Port that is the monster causing this reoccurring issue. We keep having this issue of gridlock in Apapa because issues that the Ports Authorities and the concessionaires are dealing with are recurrent and the spillover effect of those issues are causing all these.

    “If the Ports can’t determine how many trucks they are able to deal with on a daily basis; how they are informed about coming in and going out, then it will be a problem to deal with.

    “What we need to do is to keep on engaging with them, we keep on engaging with other states and so on. I mean people who have trucks in other states and already know that there is a logjam in Lagos, why send other trucks to Lagos? While clearing the mess that the Lagos State Government did not cause, can people not consider it logical to wait for few days for us to clear this and this is the reason why we are saying that trucks should stay away from Lagos in the interim.

    “The idea is not to say don’t come into Lagos. It is part of what makes the economy of Lagos what it is but we are saying let us deal with the logjam that we have presently and there is no way we can deal with it, we can only deal with the effect because the causes essentially have to do with the operations at the Ports and that is why we are appealing to them,” Ayorinde said.

    Ayorinde also said that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had been unable to load product from its Mosimi Depot in Ogun State due to vandalisation, noting that tankers hoping to get fuel across to the South West States are stranded in Lagos.

    In the interim, the Government, however, urged the operators to utilise the Ogere Trailer Park and other parks outside the State to avoid further hardship for motorists on the road, assuring that all measures would be deployed to ensure quick resolution of the situation.

    On his part, General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA0, Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu, said the State Government has already instructed the Agency alongside Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Nigeria Police and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) to enforce the order restricting trucks from entering Lagos for now, noting that the enforcement will subsist pending when the spillover of traffic is cleared.

    He urged residents not to hesitate to immediately alert State authorities through the 112 and 767 toll-free lines in the eventuality of any danger lurking.

    Also speaking President of AMATO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi said the present situation was worrisome as it is a time bomb waiting to explode if unchecked.

    He urged the Federal Government to take a cue from the Lagos State Government and collaborate to resolve the crisis as soon as possible.

    While pledging the readiness of members of his association to support efforts geared to restore sanity, Ogungbemi also called for a regulatory system in place to manage call-up of trucks through technology.

  • ULC strike: NNPC cautions against panic buying

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has warned Nigerians against panic buying of petroleum products in compliance to the strike embarked upon by the United Labour Congress (ULC), stressing it has enough stock of products to meet national need.

    This was even as the strike purported to have commenced on Monday failed to make any impact on the masses and businesses as Nigerians went about their activities without any disruption.

    The ULC President, Joe Ajaero, however, said the strike in its first day recorded huge success in the target the centre set for it to achieve.

    The NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement in Abuja, said the corporation had sufficient Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, in stock to serve the nation for 48 days.

    He said: “Similarly, there is in stock, sufficient quantity of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) as well as Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) to serve the country.

    “Motorists are further enjoined to report any challenge they may have in the course of purchasing any of these products to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    “The DPR is statutorily empowered to deal with such issues and has offices located in all parts of the country.”

    NNPC assured that the government was working to arrive at an amicable resolution of outstanding issues with the industry unions.

    The ULC had threatened the Federal Government that it would go on strike from Monday, if its 11-point demand was not met. It demanded, among others, that the Federal Government stopped stationing soldiers and policemen in its workplaces.

  • Tambuwal appeals to NNPC to explore oil in Sokoto Basin

    Tambuwal appeals to NNPC to explore oil in Sokoto Basin

    Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on Wednesday appealed to the Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to activate oil and gas exploration campaign in the Sokoto Inland Sedimentary Basin with a view to establishing the volume and value of hydrocarbon deposits there.

    Leading a high-powered Sokoto State delegation to the NNPC Towers in Abuja, he enthused that based on existing exploration records, it is likely that renewed search for oil in the basin would yield some positive results in the nearest future.

    While commending the current administration for re-invigorating the quest for oil in the new frontiers, Hon. Tambuwal noted that the successful search for hydrocarbon deposit in the basin would go a long way in increasing the nation’s oil reserve with the attendant value addition.

    The NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu that disclosed this in a statement yesterday quoted Baru as saying that: “We are here more on an advocacy visit to your office, Mr. GMD, to kindly request for your intervention and attention for the office in charge of frontier exploration to pay attention to Sokoto basin just the way attention is being paid to other basins in the country.”

    The governor invited the NNPC GMD and top Management to a conference in Sokoto sometimes in October 2017 which is being facilitated by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF in collaboration with the Usman Dan Fodio University.

    He said the conference would thoroughly x-ray the search for oil in the Sokoto basin.

    Governor Tambuwal also commended the GMD for recent successes in the Corporation especially the stability in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.

    Responding, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru explained that the Corporation, without any prompting has since embarked on properly and professional exploration of all inland basins in the country including the Sokoto basin.

    He noted that the NNPC had already procured aeromagnetic data on the Sokoto basin from the Nigerian Geophysical Survey as well as awarded contract for the mapping and procurement of apt samples to further the understanding of the area.

    Dr. Baru informed that the NNPC has contracted its subsidiary, Integrated Data Services Limited, IDSL to carry out various geochemistry investigation to boost the gathering and integration of all relevant data ahead of the planned procurement of seismic 2D data position which would, in turn, determine various prospects.

    The GMD also pledged to attend the forthcoming seminar on the Sokoto basin, noting that the Corporation would use the platform to update and also share its knowledge of the basin with relevant stakeholders. 

    On the noticeably limited disruptions in the supply of petroleum products due to the recently aborted labour strike, the GMD informed that the issues raised by labour have since been settled. He said normal loading activities have resumed in those areas affected by the industrial action.

  • NNPC to support indigenous fabricators to boost capacity

    The Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has assured indigenous companies manufacture sensitive equipment of the corporation’s support.

    Baru spoke yesterday at the Rumuorlumeni Jetty, near Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while kicking off the second batch of six manifolds built by a Aveon Offshore, on behalf of Technip FMC of Norway for Total onward to Egina oil project.

    He said Aveon offshore was one of the companies supported to develop capacity in local fabrication of sensitive oil industry equipment and facilities, stressing that the effort  paid off by the deployment of Africa’s first manifolds, capable of adding 200,000 barrels of oil per day in 2018.

    The GMD stated that Nigeria made history through the launch of six sets of manifolds to sit 1.5 km deep in the sea to suck oil from seabed wells and transfer to pipes that would send to the flow station.

    The NNPC chief, while kicking off the last three manifolds, said: “By yesterday’s  event, we have reaffirmed our commitment to the Nigerian Content Act of April 2010. We celebrate here yesterday, a clear demonstration of the growing efficiency of the Nigerian Content Act.

    “The Aveon Yard now boasts of a dedicated carbon steel workshop, duplex welding facilities and painting workshops of over 8,000 metres and a fully-reinforced quayside, among notable upgrades.”

    Baru assured the management and workers that NNPC will ensure that the specialised yard would have jobs to keep afloat and deepen Nigeria’s participation in the oil industry.

    Aveon built the sensitive manifolds as sub-contractor for Technip FMC of Norway as main contractor for Total, but at the successful unveiling and sail away event, the NNPC announced upgrading of the company to a full-grade contractor, to enable the company play big in the oil and gas industry.

    At the load-off and sail-away event, Chairman of Aveon Tein George said the company invested $250 million in eight years to develop the yard that built the sensitive manifolds, with the partners contributing $30 million to boost investments.

    George said Aveon achieved record-time delivery to boost confidence in local fabrication and recorded zero in lost time and injury, ranking after 5.5m hours, one of the best in the industry anywhere.

    Aveon chairman called for more projects to sustain the big investment.

    Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Simbi Wabote, a former official of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), in his remarks, urged other oil companies to emulate Total.

    Wabote noted that he was happy a Shell manager was on hand to take the message home, while describing Total as a true lover of Nigeria and its drive for local content.

    Deputy Managing Director of Total Musa Kida stated that the company took a huge risk to agree to allow such a project to be built in Nigeria for the first time.

    He said: “We took a lot of battering for such a risk, but we are happy today to record such a feat.”

    Kida added that the manifolds will add 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) next year and that the early delivery of the manifolds also meant early completion of the Egina oil project.

    The Managing Director of Technip FMC, Hans Christie Anderson, noted that the manifolds will sit at the bed of the sea for 25 years, stressing that manufacturing such a vessel in Africa is a huge technological breakthrough for Nigeria.

    Anderson said the Nigerian content was 81.5 per cent, with the official requirement 80 per cent.

    He pointed out that the greatest joy in the international community is the fact that the project was delivered after 5.5 million hours, without any loss of life or injury or event lost time.

  • Oil: Egina to add 200,000bpd to Nigerian production

    Oil: Egina to add 200,000bpd to Nigerian production

    Deputy Managing Director of Total, a principal partner of the Egina Project, Mr. Ahmadu Musa-Kida, said when completed by Q4 2018, the Egina Project would produce additional 200,000bpd to Nigeria’s daily crude oil production.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had said that the corporation will accelerate local capacity development in all its operations within the nation’s Oil and Gas industry.

    He spoke while delivering a keynote address during an occasion to mark the Egina Manifold Sail Away celebration in Port Harcourt yesterday.

    But shedding more light on the Project, Chairman of Aveon Offshore Limited, Mr. Tein George said the project, which gulped over $30m worth of investments, was delivered ahead of schedule with zero Loss Time Injury (LTI) in about 5.5 million man-hours.

    The corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu disclosed this in a statement yesterday.

    The statement said that Sanctioned by the NNPC in 2013, the Egina Project is the first Deepwater Project after the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Content Development (NOGID) Act of 2010.

    Adjudged the first of its kind in Nigeria, each of the 6-slots Egina production manifolds has a lifespan of 25 years subsea. While the load-out of the first set of three (3) manifolds was carried out in July 2017, the load-out of the second and final set of three Manifolds was witnessed Tuesday.

    In crude oil production, the manifold is the gathering point designed to permit the use of pump-down tools, provide for individual well tests, handle injection of chemicals for inhibition of corrosion as well as provide for artificial lift and control.

    As a partner in the Egina Project, the NNPC in 2013, alongside four other companies (TUPNI, SAPETRO, Petrobras, and CNOOC), contracted the construction of the Subsea Production Systems (SPS) module for the project to FMC Technologies (FMC), which later sub-contracted the fabrication and load-out of six manifolds to a fully-indigenous local fabrication company, Aveon Offshore Ltd, a development the GMD said justifieed NNPC’s commitment to promoting local capacity in the nation’s Oil and Gas Industry.

    Baru said : “By getting involved in this laudable feat, NNPC has not only demonstrated the growing efficacy of the Nigerian Content Act, it has also reaffirmed the Corporation’s commitment to local content development.”

    “We are strongly committed to the successful implementation of all provisions of this Act to improve and accelerate local capacity development in all NNPC’s projects,” he added.

    According to the GMD, the Nigerian Content Act has given rise to a number of opportunities within the industry which include the emergence of new local vendors and suppliers; training and mentoring of young engineers; improvement of artisanal and other new skill sets critical to the industry.

     Baru further observed that the NNPC would always support initiatives aimed at domesticating the ample opportunities in the Oil and Gas Industry which promise to improve thousands of lives in the country.

    “There will be room for more of these opportunities in the nearest future as we are fully committed and determined to achieving sustainable domestication of a large percentage of the other modules on the Egina project. We will continue to touch your lives in many more positive ways,” he assured.

     He called on all stakeholders within the local content community to sustain the tempo of promoting the huge impact by replicating similar new projects on a larger scale across the industry.

    He explained that today’s event was a continuation of NNPC’s unflinching commitment to the Egina Project, following similar involvement in September last year where the Load-out ceremony of the Egina Umbilicals, Flowlines and Riser (UFR) module was recorded at the Saipem Yard in Port Harcourt.

    “This event, among others, testifies that our race to first oil from Egina field by Q4, 2018 is guaranteed,” he noted.

    He reiterated that the construction of the SPS module for Egina Project has placed the Oil industry ahead in the quest to promote “Made in Nigeria Goods and Services”, as championed by the Federal Government.

    In his remarks, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote, lauded the Egina Project for promoting local content, stressing that the project was capable of integrating Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) in Nigeria.

  • NNPC: Jetty fire won’t affect fuel supply

    NNPC: Jetty fire won’t affect fuel supply

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday  assured motorists and other consumers of petroleum products nationwide that the fire incident which occurred at Apapa loading jetty at the early hours of yesterday will not affect supply of petroleum products.

    Its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, who gave the assurance, in a statement said already, NNPC has deployed a team of engineers to the jetty while the repair of the affected parts would commence immediately.

    The fire was sparked by the activities of hoodlums who were scooping fuel spilled from ships discharging fuels at the jetty.

    The oil firm’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who has been fully briefed on the incident, described the occurrence as unfortunate, assuring that NNPC has more than 1.6billion litres of petrol, enough to last for 48 days.

    Baru also said the Corporation also had in stock, sufficient quantity of diesel, kerosene, as well as Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) to serve the country.

    NNPC advised motorists not to engage in panic buying, adding that they report any challenge they may have in the course of purchasing 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.

    Meanwhile, the government is working assiduously to arrive at an amicable resolution of outstanding issues with the industry unions.

  • Photos: Denmark, NNPC to invest in joint processing company

    Photos: Denmark, NNPC to invest in joint processing company

     

     

    NNPC

  • Denmark to guarantee 10% of NNPC financing of feeds production

    Denmark to guarantee 10% of NNPC financing of feeds production

    The Danish Government will guarantee a 10 per cent equity financing of a Joint Venture Company involving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and a Danish firm, Unibio A/S Limited.

    The proposed JV Company would be engaged in the production of animal feeds from Nigeria’s abundant natural gas resources through conversion of methane gas into protein and has no negative impact for human consumption.

    The animal feeds industry in Nigeria accounts for N800 billion annually.

    NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who made this known on Wednesday in Abuja when he received a Delegation from Denmark led by the Danish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Torben Gettermann, said such collaboration would have positive impact on the Nigerian economy in the area of revenue generation, food security and job creation.

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

    Represented by the NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Ventures, Dr. Babatunde Adeniran, the GMD said that NNPC was considering partnership with the Danish company to utilize the abundant natural gas resources in the country for the production of animal feeds as part of its diversification agenda into non-oil ventures like other national oil companies to generate additional revenue for the country.

    NNPC signs deal with Denmark
    L: Danish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Torben Gettermann at the NNPC office.

    “This proposal, though it is coming newly, has already started gaining traction in the industry and across the globe especially in Europe. Nigeria being the first point of call in Africa, we can leverage on the opportunity to increase the revenue of the country through local food production,” Dr. Baru stated.

    The GMD described the project as laudable, saying it was capable of making positive impact on the country’s economy, adding that the Corporation would look at the proposal holistically to ensure that Nigeria drives maximum benefit from it.

    Dr. Baru applauded the Federal Government for providing an enabling business environment which has already started attracting investors into the country.

    Speaking at the meeting, the Danish Ambassador to Nigeria, Gettermann, stated that Unibio had revolutionized natural gas conversion into animal feeds.

    “There are huge possibilities in view of the demands for this kind of feeds and it will boost food production in Nigeria tremendously. The benefits are not only in local production and consumption of the feeds but also in terms of revenue generation in foreign currencies through export,” Mr. Gettermann stated.

    He said Nigeria was an important partner to the Danish Government both politically and economically, adding that the Danish Government had established a special office in Lagos to facilitate trade relationship between the two countries.

    Shedding more light on the proposal, the Chief Executive Officer of Unibio A/S Limited, Mr. Henrik Busch-Larsen stated that his company owned the right to a unique fermentation technology known as U-Loop Technology which enables natural gas conversion into a highly concentrated protein product called Uniprotein.

    Busch-Larsen said the product could be used to feed such animals as pigs, poultry, and fish.

    Mr. Busch-Larsen explained that Uniprotein had a raw protein content of at least 72% which is a key component in animal feeds and can conveniently substitute the traditional proteins in animal feeds such as fishmeal and soybeans.

    Multinational food/care products companies as Nestlé, Procter and Gamble, (P&G) and Colgate-Palmolive, he noted, had already started using the products as feedstock.