The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NNPC

  • Oil pipeline vandalism reduces by 12 per cent

    Oil pipeline vandalism reduces by 12 per cent

    The extensive engagement with oil and gas community stakeholders embarked upon by the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has continued to yield positive results with the attainment of 12.77 per cent reduction in downstream pipeline vandalism.
    According to the April 2017 NNPC Financial and Operations report released in Abuja on Monday, downstream pipeline sabotage decreased from 94 pipeline vandalized points in March, 2017 to 82 in April 2017, representing a 12.77% reduction relative to the previous month. 
    The Corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division,  Mr. Ndu Ughamadu that made this known in a statement yesterday said that the April 2017 numbers also indicate substantial progress compared to corresponding period of April 2016 which recorded 214 incidents. 
    In terms of products availability within the period, the Corporation maintained adequate stock of over 1.2 billion litres of petrol sufficient for more than 34 days forward consumption. 
    It was also recorded that during the period, the NNPC in an effort to reduce to the barest minimum the incidences of fire outbreak in the 21 depots across the country, received bids from no fewer than 37 companies to supply six triple agent firefighting trucks for the operation of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), one of the downstream subsidiaries of NNPC. 
    The report noted that NNPC has continued to import Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) to supplement local refining, while the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN continues to make available foreign exchange to marketers to import AGO and ATK. 
    The April 2017 report which is the 21st edition of the NNPC Financial and Operations report also noted that average national daily gas production stood at 242.32 Billion Cubic Feet, BCF or an average of 8,077.19 Million Standard Cubic feet per day, representing 6.79% increase relative to the previous month. 
    Comparatively, the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants slightly decreased to 672mmscfd (or equivalent to power generation of 2,787 MW in April, 2017) relative to 689mmscfd recorded in last month. However, this supply is also 22.85% higher than the corresponding supply recorded in April 2016 of 547mmscfd, the report stated. 
  • ‘NNPC intervention crashes diesel price by 42%’

    ‘NNPC intervention crashes diesel price by 42%’

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it has crashed the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as Diesel, to about 42% nationwide.

    Its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said this in a statement yesterday.

    Ughamadu said the price cut was a huge downslide over the last six months, following key strategic interventions by the NNPC.

    In the first quarter of this year, retail prices of AGO, which is one of the deregulated products, shot to an all-time high of N300/litre in major demand centres across the country.

    He, however, said following strategic intervention efforts by the NNPC towards sustained improvement in the supply of the diesel, the product’s retail prices as at the end of May 2017 ranged from N175 to N200 across the country (a significant price drop of about 42%). Ex-depot prices also dropped to between N135 and N155, Ughamadu said.

    Shedding more light on the achievement, the NNPC spokesperson said some of the corporation’s strategic interventions include improving the supply of AGO and remodeling of the product distribution to address sufficiency issues across the country.

    “Since January this year, we have worked very hard with relevant stakeholders to improve distribution from refinery depots, by implementing a robust loading programme,” he affirmed.

    The corporation was also able to resuscitate its critical pipelines and depots in places such as Atlas Cove-Mosimi, Port-Harcourt Refinery-Aba and Kaduna Refinery-Kano.

    “Efforts are also ongoing to revamp and commission other critical pipelines across the country,” he said.

    Another key intervention that has enhanced supply and distribution of diesel, the NNPC spokesperson noted, was the corporation’s robust engagement with critical downstream stakeholders, where salient issues were raised and duly addressed.

    These stakeholders include: Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) as well as Independent Petroleum Marketers.

    He added that as a result of consistent positive engagement with the Central Bank, NNPC extended the expansion of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) Foreign Exchange Intervention Scheme to accommodate diesel and aviation fuel.

  • Experts back proposed restructuring of NNPC, DPR, PPPRA

    Experts back proposed restructuring of NNPC, DPR, PPPRA

    EXPERTS have endorsed the restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

    It will bring about a profit-driven, efficient and virile petroleum industry, if carried out, they said.

    The stakeholders include former Country Presidents, International Association of Energy Economist (IAEE) Professors Wunmi Iledare and Adeola Akinnisiju.

    They said Senate’s pronouncement  on repositioning the three agencies to achieve growth is a good omen for the industry, adding that the decision will unlock the potentials of the industry after several failed attempts.

    They said the passage of the PIGB and the subsequent restructuring of NNPC, DPR and PPPRA would help in bringing Direct Foreign Investments (DFIs) into the sector and reduce liquidity gaps.

    Iledare said NNPC, DPR and PPPRA are not scrapped by the Senate as Nigerians are being made to believe, noting that the agencies are being restructured for better performance. He said the  Senate had implemented parts of the industry reforms by restructuring the three agencies, stressing that operators have waited patiently for the reforms.

    He said:“The conclusion in some quarters that the Senate has scrapped or outlawed NNPC, DPR, and PPPRA was wrong. The three parastatals are still much in existence even though they are going to operate under new managements and names. What Senate did was to make the agencies stronger and result-oriented.

    “Due to the restructuring, a National Oil Company (NOC) will emerge to replace the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). With NOC, there will be an effective regulatory control in the oil and gas sector. Just as we have the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulating and supervising the banking industry. The petroleum sector will be regulated by the National Oil Company.”

    He said transformation of the industry is long overdue, noting that operators have been expecting the sector to provide growth for the economy.

    Iledare, formerly of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said the restructuring would help in improving regulatory and commercial activities in the industry as NOC would be saddled with facilitating commercial activities in the sector.

    Akinnisiju said under the new arrangement, NOC would be in a better position to drive growth by bringing in more local and foreign investors into the sector, adding that following the restructuring of the sector, NOC and other agencies would generate revenue for the government and other stakeholders in the value chain.

    “I foresee a situation whereby NOC would be operating as a commercial entity like Shell and other multinational oil companies. It would make money and provide dividends to its shareholders and the economy would be better for it,”he said, urging the Federal Government to provide a conducive environment for operators to facilitate the much- needed growth in the oil and gas industry.

  • July deadline for low-sulphur fuel remains unchanged, says NNPC

    July deadline for low-sulphur fuel remains unchanged, says NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is working to meet next month’s deadline  for switching from  fuel with higher concentration of sulphur to fuel with lower sulphur content.

    Its Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu,  said by changing to lower-sulphur fuel, Nigeria wants to start using fuel that creates less toxic fumes as against the current grade of fuel, which produces black smokes with its attendant environmental hazards for the country.

    The NNPC spokesman said the decision to embrace low sulphur fuel was borne out of the need to reduce toxic emission and further join countries that have taken similar steps.

    In an interview with The Nation, Ughamadu said the issue of refining and consuming fuel with low sulphur content is a global initiative and that Nigeria cannot be an exemption. He said NNPC has taken some measures to meet the deadline for conversion into lower-sulphur fuel.

    Parts of the measures, he said, include liaising with reputable environmental protection institutions to ensure proper certification of lower-sulphur fuel and enlightening consumers on the benefits to derive from using the product.

    Ughamadu said: “We, at the (NNPC), are  working with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Ministries of Industry and Environment and other institutions that have quality control as their primary goal.”

    He said fuel has to be examined and certified before being supplied to the market for consumption. “Though the process of converting to lower-sulphur fuel in Nigeria is ongoing, the Corporation is working towards meeting the July deadline set for its introduction into the Nigerian market,” he said.

    He added:“The decision by the Federal Government to change the fuel used in the country from the one that has higher concentration of sulphur to the one with lower sulphur, would bring about a  socio-economic growth. Besides the fact that the idea would help in reducing toxic fumes and improve the wellbeing of the people, it would also assist users and owners of vehicles and other equipment in cutting down wastage.”

    NNPC fuel imports accounted for over 70 per cent of the total fuel Nigeria consumes per day. Also, the Ministry of Environment and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) have declared their intentions to help NNPC achieve its goal of introducing fuel with lower sulphur into the market. The two institutions have promised to ensure a switch to 150 parts per million (ppm) gasoline and 50 parts per million (ppm) diesels. Parts per million, is a measurement used in measuring the quality of the fuel produced in the country. Based on this, Nigeria will be joining South Africa, which currently use low sulphur grade diesel of 50ppm.

  • 29 Ex-NNPC casual staff to protest for pay-off Wednesday

    29 Ex-NNPC casual staff to protest for pay-off Wednesday

    • As corporation says go to court
    29 ex-causal staff of the Nigerian National Corporation Corporation ( NNPC) are set to protest non-payment of their severance package at the Towers in Abuja on Wednesday.
    The assistant spokesman of the disengaged casual workers of NNPC, Mr Okolo Barnabas made this known to The Nation on a phone call.
    “I want to invite you to cover our protest slated for Wednesday at the NNPC Towers,” he said.
    The group had cried out for free legal services from any charity human right activists in order to collect their N4 billion pay-off from the corporation to no avail.
    They said they have become hapless in the pursuit of the payoff as it is obvious that some NNPC management staff are using their might to frustrate them from requesting for the cash.
    Speaking with The Nation, the spokesman and also leader of the disengaged casual workers of NNPC, Mr Eze Ene and his assistant  Barnabas, had last week said they lack the means to engage lawyers to sue NNPC.
    Asked to tell the corporation’s part of the story on phone, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu told The Nation that there is not like that nomenclature ‘casual staff’ in NNPC.
    He described them as daily paid workers that NNPC must have engaged their services that should ordinarily leave when there was no need for their service.
    The NNPC spokesman however advised that  “if you are making claims and assuming that there was something like that in NNPC and you believe that NNPC engaged your services and you were not paid, you go to court. It is as simple as that.”
    The disengaged staff however submitted that “we don’t have the means to engage lawyers and that is why we are calling on human right lawyers to come and help us and if there is anywhere we are found guilty the law should take its course. We don’t have money to take them to court. They have money. They are even saying they will be happy if we will go to court so that they will frustrate it.”
    The spokesman recalled that NNPC engaged them as casual staff in 1998 for its present day corporate headquarters in Abuja, while it was still operating from Lagos.
    According to them, “the then Group Admin Service department engaged some casual workers here in Abuja for them to arrange documents in the different departments. They also engaged people to receive furniture and equipment from suppliers like Julius Berger. Some of us were engaged and put in charge of partitioning. But finally, in 2000, they resumed in Abuja. In June 2000 they gave us to whom it may concern and called us casual staff under group services admin of NNPC.”
    They said following the agitation of some of the senior casual workers NNPC regularised their appointments as contract and permanent staff in 2004.
    The group said that suddenly in 2005, NNPC started saying that it had no causal staff but daily paid workers while we were casual workers. They stressed that the various departments were calling them casual staff in their memo and not daily paid workers.
    Consequently, in 2009, the corporation was already owing the staff for nine months till date they have not been paid.
    Lamenting, Ene said: “They should pay us off for over 15 years because now we don’t know where to start life. In the existence of NNPC no casual staff has been set off without conversion.”

  • NNPC raises gas power to 3,056MW

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday said the daily average national gas supply to gas power plants increased to 689mmscfd or the equivalent to power generation of 3056 mw.

    It’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement yesterday, said the averagae national daily gas production for the period stood at an impressive 226.918 billion cubic feet, bcf, which translates to over 7.319 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, mmscfd.

    The March 2017 figure is an improvement on the previous month’s record which stood at 582 mmscfd.

    The supply is also over 29 per cent higher than the corresponding supply record for March 2016.

    However, pipeline sabotage in the country increased from 49 downstream pipelines vandalized points in February 2017 to 94 in March 2017.

    This represents over 91 per cent increase relative to the previous months despite Federal Government’s and the NNPC’s continuous engagement with the stakeholders.

  • NNPC, ex-workers at war over N4b severance package

    The Nigerian National Corporation (NNPC) and 29 of its ex-casual workers of are at loggerhead over N4 billion severance package.

    The ex-workers have appealed to human right activists and other well meaning Nigerians to get the package.

    But NNPC management disagreed with their claims, advising them to seek legal redress.

    Spokespersons of the disengaged causal workers, Eze Ene and Okolo Barnabas, said they lack the means to engage lawyers to sue NNPC.

    NNPC’s Group General Manager Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu told our correspondent on phone there was nothing like ‘casual staff’ in the corporation.

    He described the disengaged as daily- paid workers that NNPC must have engaged and should ordinarily leave when their services were no longer needed.

    He recalled they were engaged in 1998 for NNPC corporate headquarters in Abuja while it was still operating from Lagos.

    “If you are making claims and assuming that there was something like that in NNPC and you believe that NNPC engaged your services and you were not paid, you go to court. It is as simple as that,” he stated.

    But the disengaged workers said: “We don’t have money to take them to court. They have money.

    “They are even saying they will be happy if we will go to court so that they will frustrate it.”

    They also explained: “The then Group Admin Service department engaged some casual workers here in Abuja for them to arrange documents in the different departments.

    “They also engaged people to receive furniture and equipment from suppliers like Julius Berger. Some of us were engaged and put in charge of partitioning.

    “But finally in 2000 they resumed in Abuja. In June 2000 they gave us to whom it may concern and called us casual staff under group services admin of NNPC.”

    They said following the agitation of some of the senior casual workers, NNPC regularised their appointments as contract and permanent staff in 2004.

    The group said suddenly in 2005, NNPC started saying it had no causal staff but daily paid workers.

    They stressed the various departments were calling them casual staff in their memo and not daily paid workers.

    Consequently in 2009, the corporation was already owed the staff for nine months, which has not been paid till date.

    Lamenting, Ene said: “They should pay us off for over 15 years because we don’t know where to start life.

    “In the existence of NNPC no casual staff has been set off without conversion.”

  • NNPC, EX-workers at war over N4b severance package 

    NNPC, EX-workers at war over N4b severance package 

    Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC) and 29 ex-casual workers of the Corporation are at loggerhead over N4 billion severance package.

    The ex-workers who were relieved of their jobs after working for the corporation as casual staff for hearts are seeking for the interventions of human right activists and other well meaning Nigerians to help them collect their N4 billion. 

    But NNPC management disagreed with their claims and advised them to go to court. 

    While expressing their frustration and haplessness, ex-workers said the Corporation management asked them to go to court, knowing fully well that they don’t have the financial muscle to hire a lawyer.

    Speaking with The Nation at the weekend in Abuja, the spokesman and also leader of the the disengaged causal workers of NNPC, Mr. Eze Ene and his assistant Okolo Barnabas, said they lack the means to engage lawyers to sue NNPC.

    Asked to tell the corporation’s part of the story on phone, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu told The Nation that there is nothing like that nomenclature ‘casual staff’ in NNPC. 

    He described them as daily paid workers that NNPC must have engaged their services that should ordinarily leave when there was no need for their service.  

    The NNPC spokesman however advised that  “if you are making claims and assuming that there was something like that in NNPC and you believe that NNPC engaged your services and you were not paid, you go to court. It is as simple as that.”

    The disengaged staff however submitted that “we don’t have the means to engage lawyers and that is why we are calling on human right lawyers to come and help us and if there is anywhere we are found guilty the law should take its course. We don’t have money to take them to court. They have money. They are even saying they will be happy if we will go to court so that they will frustrate it.”

    The spokesman recalled that NNPC engaged them as casual staff in 1998 for its present day corporate headquarters in Abuja, while it was still operating from Lagos.
    According to them, “the then Group Admin Service department engaged some casual workers here in Abuja for them to arrange documents in the different departments.

    They also engaged people to receive furniture and equipment from suppliers like Julius Berger. Some of us were engaged and put in charge of partitioning. But finally in 2000 they resumed in Abuja. In June 2000 they gave us to whom it may concern and called us casual staff under group services admin of NNPC.”

    They said following the agitation of some of the senior casual workers NNPC regularized their appointments as contract and permanent staff in 2004.

    The group said that suddenly in 2005, NNPC started saying that it had no causal staff but daily paid workers while we were causal workers. They stressed that the various departments were calling them casual staff in their memo and not daily paid workers. 
    Consequently in 2009, the corporation was already owing the staff for nine months till date they have not been paid. 

    Lamenting, Ene said “They should pay us off for over 15 years because now we don’t know where to start life. In the existence of NNPC no casual staff has been set off without conversion.”

  • Northern Threat: Return our oil Blocs, N’Delta militants tell FG

    Northern Threat: Return our oil Blocs, N’Delta militants tell FG

    …Threaten to declare independence on October 1

     

    The coalition of Niger Delta militants on Friday called on the Federal Government to return all oil blocs being controlled by northerners to the people of the region.

    The agitators explained that their action was based on the ultimatum given by some northern youth groups to the Igbo to vacate the North within three months.

    Leaders of the eight militants groups said in a statement that the Niger Delta region shall declare its independence on October 1, 2017 and free itself from enslavement by the North.

    The coalition comprises Niger Delta Watchdogs, Niger Delta Volunteers, Niger Delta Peoples Fighters, Niger Delta Warriors, Bakassi Freedom Fighters, Niger Delta Movement for Justice, Niger Delta Fighters Network and Niger Delta Freedom Mandate.

    The militant leaders are General John Duku (Niger Delta Watchdogs and Convener: Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators), General Ekpo Ekpo (Niger Delta Volunteers) General Osarolor Nedam (Niger Delta Warriors) and Major-Gen. Henry Okon Etete (Niger Delta Peoples Fighters).

    Others are Major-Gen. Asukwo Henshaw (Bakassi Freedom Fighters), Major-Gen. Ibinabo Horsfall (Niger Delta Movement for Justice), Major-Gen. Duke Emmanson (Niger Delta Fighters Network), and Major-Gen. Inibeghe Adams (Niger Delta Freedom Mandate).

    In a statement, which was said to have been issued shortly after their meeting in Port Harcourt, the militant leaders warned all companies operating in such oil blocs to vacate within three months.

    The group said “A coalition of the Niger Delta militants met today in Port Harcourt to review the recent call by the Arewa Youths groups that the Ndigbo should vacate all the Northern states within three months.

    “We see the declaration by Arewa Youths as a well consultative declaration which the northern elders, leaders, political elite, security heads from the North and governors were fully aware.

    “We demand 100 percent control of our resources. We demand that the Federal Government should hand over all oil blocs owned by the northerners to Niger Delta indigenes. All the companies operating in such oil blocks/wells should vacate within three months.

    “The Federal Government should immediately relocate NNPC and all the offices that have to do with oil/gas sector back to Niger Delta states and an immediately replacement of the Group Managing Director with an indigene of Niger Delta.

    “All northern indigenes working in NNPC and any other Board that has anything to do with oil/gas should be sack with immediate effect.

    “We demand an independent and sovereign Republic of Niger Delta. We are tired of living with the North under Nigeria. We are tired of the President’s sentiments to the Niger Delta people.

    “The President can have time to receive the Chibok girls, but could not have time to meet with the Representatives of the Niger Delta agitators. Our money has been used to fund Boko Haram, a problem created by the Northerners in order to use it as conduit pipe to siphon the resources of Niger Delta.

    “On October 1, 2017 we shall declare our independence come rain, come shine. We shall take our destiny in our hands and free ourselves from the slavery of the North as they are tired of one Nigeria.”

    They maintained that all the companies and businesses owned by the northerners in Niger Delta should be vacated within three months, saying, “From 1st October 2017, we don’t want to see any northerner close to Niger Delta; any attempt to penetrate shall meet fierce resistance. This time, we are not going to play defence, but attack,” the statement by the coalition of Niger Delta agitators read.

    They also called on all agitating groups to resume attacks/bombings on all oil/gas pipelines, especially the exporting lines across the Niger Delta region with immediate effect, adding that the measure was aimed at ensuring zero oil/gas production before October 1, 2017.

    They said, “We also demand the Federal government should immediately replace the Inspector General of Police with an indigene of the South West, the Director General of DSS with an indigene of South East, and the National Security Adviser with an indigene of South- South.

    “The Speaker, House of Representatives should voluntarily resign and hand over to an indigene of the South-South.”

     

  • Stakeholders back proposed restructuring of NNPC, DPR, PPPRA

    STAKEHOLDERS have endorsed restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).

    It will bring about a profit-driven, efficient and virile petroleum industry if it is carried out, they said.

    The stakeholders include former Country Presidents, International Association of Energy Economist (IAEE) Professors Wunmi Iledare and Adeola Akinnisiju.

    They said Senate’s pronouncement  on repositioning the three agencies to achieve growth is a good omen for the industry, adding that the decision will unlock the potentials of the industry after several failed attempts.

    They said the passage of the PIGB and the subsequent restructuring of NNPC, DPR and PPPRA will help in bringing Direct Foreign Investments (DFIs) into the sector and reduce liquidity gaps.

    Iledare said NNPC, DPR and PPPRA are not scrapped by the Senate as Nigerians are being made to believe, noting that the agencies are being restructured for better performance. He said the  Senate has implemented parts of the industry reforms by restructuring the three agencies, stressing that operators have waited patiently for the reforms.

    He said:“The conclusion in some quarters that the Senate has scrapped or outlawed NNPC, DPR, and PPPRA was wrong. The three parastatals are still much in existence even though they are going to operate under new managements and names. What Senate did was to make the agencies stronger and result-oriented.

    “Due to the restructuring, a National Oil Company (NOC) will emerge to replace the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). With NOC on ground, there will be an effective regulatory control in the oil and gas sector. Just as we have the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulating and supervising activities in the banking industry. The petroleum sector will be regulated by the National Oil Company.”

    He said transformation of the industry is long overdue, noting that operators have been expecting the sector to provide growth for the economy.

    Iledare, who was formerly with the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said the restructuring will help in improving regulatory and commercial activities in the industry as NOC will be saddled with the responsibilities of facilitating commercial activities in the sector.

    Akinnisiju said under the new arrangement, NOC will be in a better position to drive growth by bringing in more local and foreign investors into the sector, adding that following the restructuring of the sector, NOC and other agencies would generate revenue for the government and other stakeholders in the value chain.

    “I foresee a situation whereby NOC would be operating as a commercial entity like Shell and other multinational oil companies. It would make money and provide dividends to its shareholders and the economy would be better for it,”he said, urging the Federal Government to provide conducive environment for operators in order to facilitate the much needed growth in the nation’s oil and gas industry.