•Oando, Asap, Delsama, MRS, others on the list
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday opened bids from 128 firms that jostled for this year’s crude/product swap otherwise known as Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP).
The bids of MRS Oil, Sahara Energy Petroleum Ltd, Oando, Asap and Delsama and others were part of the bids opened as at press time yesterday.
The exercise, according to its Group Managing Director (GMD), Maikanti Baru, who declared the bids opened in Abuja, would involve a maximum of 800,000 barrel per day (bpd).
“The crude involved in this year’s DSDP is about 800,000 barrel at most,” he said.
He said the primary consideration of the bid was to ensure that Nigerians are not left out of the exercise so long as they form a consortium or made single entities but they must have physical presence in the country.
He said: “The major drive here is to ensure that Nigerians are not left out. And we make sure by ensuring that those that emerge whether it is consortium or single must have physical presence in Nigeria.
“That means that they must have some depots or retail outlets as a minimum or they must be involved with exploration and production of crude oil. So we ensure that most of the proceeds are domesticated in Nigeria.”
He said the DSDP has since its inception helped greatly in the stabilisation of product supply to the nation.
Analysing the benefits that the NNPC has recorded from the operation of the crude/products swap, he said the corporation has saved Nigeria $500million by cutting payments and cost of demurrage.
According to him, the programme has ensured that products supply from the refineries are augmented to meet national supply for the sustenance of 30 days sufficiency, especially in the case of petrol.
“The DSDP is a major component of our petroleum product supply portfolio and since its inception, it has helped greatly in the stabilisation of product supply to the nation. The DSDP programme has also recorded significant cost savings of over half a billion dollars through major reduction in the amount we pay for both demurrage and the products themselves . It ensures that the supply from the refineries are fully augmented to meet the national supply as well as a sustained over 30 days sufficiency particularly for petrol,” Baru said.
He said NNPC has been able to play its role by living up to its obligation as a supplier of last resort whenever the marketers fail to make their supply margin due to prices.
Baru added that the DSDP has assisted the oil firm to intervene in the supply of deregulated products, especially Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) for which there was anticipated scarcity. NNPC brought cargoes steadily on weekly basis to ensure that there was 30 -day sufficiency.
The GMD recalled that the corporation got the nation wet despite the propaganda that there was shortage of aviation fuel, adding that the cause of the shortage was that the operators could not pay for tits cost.
“The programme is very transparent and the major instrument for the partnership between NNPC and products suppliers both local and international. We have, as part of this programme, been able to live to our obligation as a supplier of last resort when products are not being supplied by the marketers on the basis of prices that will not give them sufficient margin,” he said.
He noted that the corporation used DSDP to intervene in the area of making sufficient supply of diesel to the market.
According to him, the programme has led to steady delivery of cargoes of diesel into the country on every four days basis.
Speaking, the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing, Mele Kyria said one basic concern of the DSDP was the availability of products .
He explained that Nigeria is selling its crude in exchange for products but for equivalent of higher of value through the programme.
He said in the last one year, the process has ensured that the products that NNPC received has been of higher value than the value of crude it has given out.
