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Tag: NNPC

  • NNPC to remodel refineries

    NNPC to remodel refineries

    The National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) will remodel the nation’s four refineries, its Group Managing Director, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachukwu said yesterday.

    The Refineries are in Port-Harcourt (two), the Warri Refinery and Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company, KRPC.

    Dr Kachukwu spoke after touring the various units of the Kaduna refinery. He lamented that with what he has seen, the four refineries cannot take Nigeria anywhere.

    He said given the fact that the refineries were built between 30 to 40 years ago, there is the urgent need to support them with new modules and structures that are in tandem with global best practices in terms of new business module, new commercial module and technological approach.

    “In term of how to get the refinery to function,  like I said,  new business module, new commercial module, new approach to how we have to get to where we should be, but what is obtainable is that most of our refineries are close to 30-40 years old.

    “We need to begin to look at building new refineries  in the same land space where they can share facilities, so that you will have something  to lean on when these old ones are beginning to kick out”.

    He said: “That stuff of killing NNPC was historical before I came in, but we are working hard to justify why it shouldn’t be killed, but I am a business man, if we get to a point where we are not doing well enough, and it needs to be killed, we look at what alternatives are.

    “Today, whether we like it or not, lets be realistic here, irrespective of the fact that negative gets alot of more publicity than the positives, this organisation has kept this country going for the last 30-40 years, it has built and sustained the refineries, it has delivered fuel the moment our refineries don’t work, it has delivered retails in a very difficult terrain.

    “So what  I am trying to say is that you don’t throw away the baby with the bath water, there is bath water that need to be thrown away, and we are doing that, but there is a healthy baby sitting there that we are going to nurture it”.

    The NNPC boss said over 200 million dollars was being saved from the cancellation of the oil swap deal.

    [ad id=”403656″]“The essence of crude swap cancellation is that straight away you are saving over 200 million plus dollars by virtue of doing that. You have transparency in the deal  per month and you have transparency that embedded in those processes, the new processes”, he added.

    Dr Kachukwu who commended the resilience and determination of the engineers of the four refineries, assured that the NNPC is commited to making a difference within the 90 days time frame he gave when he assumed the leadership of the corporation.

    Speaking further on the status of the KRPC he said: “Obviously, we need new modules because with this modules it won’t get us to where we need to be very rapidly. Three out of the six units of the plants were down, some of them for a very long  gestation periods, we need to sit down and see what modules, how do you turn around the new refinery. How do you work on emergency basis components of the ones that are there.

    “Without them we are not going to get out of problems of fuel supply, power supply and all that. So we are going to have a gone whole commercial structure, gone whole engineering structure a lot needs to be done different from models we are pursuing right now. For me, it is truth time”.

    “On security of the nation’s pipelines he said: “ we are doing quite a lot on security as you are aware the working with the security forces to enhance the Warri to kaduna point has been tested now for integrity and I think by my  understanding for the last testing is that is fairly ok now to take control if the FCC units are working.

    “So on a short term basis we have been able to deal with that. Medium term basis we are going to work with the security agencies to ensure that the sort of destruction you find on pipelines not just from warri to kaduna but the whole country become a thing of the past.

    “We working on a very enhanced, very robust, very accelerated program to deal with that working with the security forces. We are trying everything that we can and we are sending a body language that the business of messing around with the pipelines is over and I think the message is going round as loud as ever.”

  • NNPC moves to recover $9.6b

    NNPC moves to recover $9.6b

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has begun the process of recovering at least $9.6b for the federal government.

    Part of this is the $7billion over-deducted tax benefits from JV Partners on major capital projects and the $2.46 billion cash due to the government on the strategic alliance contracts entered by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) on behalf of the government.

    The NNPC has engaged a reputable international accounting firm to establish the exact amount due the government on the contracts.

    The NNPC management under the Dr. Ibe Kachikwu as Group Managing Director (GMD) has outlined how it will recover all monies belonging to the government arising from the neglect, inaction or deliberate action under the immediate past leadership of the corporation.

    This is contained in the report submitted to the President Muhammadu Buhari on its activities.

    Dr. Kachikwu has commenced Performance Measurement and Benchmarking as well as Value for Money Review of NNPC and the JV Companies covering the period 2008 – 2013.

    The report indicated that the process may lead to further cost recovery.

    The report also revealed that consequent upon an extensive investigation of the various toxic crude oil for refined products swap contracts, a total sum of $420 million has so far been reconciled in favour of NNPC and is now due for recovery from the legacy OPA/SWAP contracts.

    A source said that out of the reconciled amount, the sum of $277 million has been recovered in lieu of products and the recovery effort is still ongoing.

    According to the report, the GMD of NNPC is committed to continued review of all existing contracts and addressing the ones that are not favourable to the Corporation.

    It was noted that significant cost reductions are also expected to ensure the Corporation remains profitable in the prevailing low crude oil price regime.

    The source added that progress is being made toward bringing back the nation’s refineries to full production, noting that the management of the NNPC is working to ensure that this happens before the end of this year.

    If this is completed, the report said, it is expected to achieve an annual savings of about $1billion worth of foreign exchange from fuel import substitution and additional total saving of over $500 million annually will be made from the petrochemical products of Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company.

    The report also disclosed that efforts at repositioning the NNPC have started yielding result on the nation’s economy.

    It also revealed that gas supply to the power plants that had hitherto been handicapped by the supply of much-needed gas, has improved significantly from about 630 to 861 million standard cubic feet per day, which has resulted in a more steady power supply being witnessed in the country.

    The report showed that gas supply for power and peak generation have in recent times reached a historical high of 876 million standard cubic feet per day and 4,782 Mega Watts respectively.

  • NNPC gets 67,400 litres of petrol from Civil Defence

    NNPC gets 67,400 litres of petrol from Civil Defence

    Lagos State Command of Nigeria Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has handed over 67,400 litres of fuel to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after being tested by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    The products were recovered from oil vandals in the last four months.

    About 1,443 jerry cans of 25-litre each were intercepted around Badagry; 204 kegs of 50-litre each and 81 drums of 250-litre each were also seized within the Ikorodu-Ikeja axis.

    The products were loaded from creeks in Ikorodu, Escravos Apapa and Festac Town. They were to be shipped to the Republic of Benin and Togo.

    NSCDC Commandant Gabriel Abafi said the operations were because of the intelligence gathered by the undercover agents and other members of the society.

    He appealed to Lagosians to always give the corps information to enable it discharge its responsibility.

    Abafi said: “Tanker and trailer drivers have become a discomfort to motorists in the state. But I assure you that the corps will join hands with other sister-agencies to prevent the recurrence of such ugly incidents as recently witnessed in Iyana-Ipaja and Ojuelegba areas of the state in the future.”

    He told drivers not to take for granted what he called the benevolence of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who ordered the release of vehicles arrested by LASTMA to their owners.

  • Warri refinery to resume production November

    Warri refinery to resume production November

    Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Thursday said Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) would resume production in November, 2015.

    He disclosed this during his official visit to the WRPC in Ekpan, near Warri in Delta.

    Kachikwu, who assumed duty in August 2015, said that the refinery stopped production temporarily to enable the authorities to carry out maintenance on some of its facilities.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that production of petroleum products resumed at the refinery about a month ago after it was shut down for more than one year but was stopped two weeks ago for the maintenance.

    The GMD said that there had been no serious maintenance on the plants for about 15 years, adding that it had adversely affected the efficiency of the refinery.

    “WRPC was not shut down because of lack of crude oil supply nor was crude oil not supplied because the refinery was down; the two are different things altogether.

    “It makes no sense to supply crude oil that will be sold in the international market to refinery when it is idle.

    “The Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit had problem and that is why it was shut down. However, they are working assiduously on it.

    “The reality is that for over 10 and 15 years, no serious maintenance has been done on the plants,’’ he said.

    He said that refineries in the country would henceforth be given serious attention, especially in the area of consistent maintenance to enhance productivity, adding that the facilities had ‘’funding, contracting time and emergency proceedings’’ challenges.

    “There is a clear cut focus on the refineries to ensure that they run consistently; we are beginning to take the refineries seriously to bring them to reliability platforms.

    “By the end of first week of November, the WRPC will be back,’’ he said.

    Kachickwu also said that most of the pipelines were weak because they were over 40 years old, coupled with frequent vandalism on them.

    He said aggressive security approach would be adopted in tackling security challenges in the corporation’s operations, remarking that “we will increase internal and external patrol where we have long distance pipelines like the Warri/Escravos route.

    “In the next couple of weeks, we are also going to have tracking device that can track whatever is happening to the pipelines.

    “My major goal is that by October, I like to see crude oil pumped by pipelines, rather than marine vessels transferring products into the refinery.’’

    Kachickwu also said that faulty transmission lines were responsible for the gas supply into the national grid, assuring that there was enough gas in the system.

    He explained that the various ongoing projects on the transmission line would boost electricity when completed.

    “What we are doing right now is to try and maximise the volume of quantity of gas we can get through the existing transmission lines,’’ he stated

     

  • NNPC embarks on recovery measures

    NNPC embarks on recovery measures

    For several years, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was an epitome of corruption as it was hardly accountable and transparent to tax payers. The new management is battling to address these issues, writes JOHN OFIKHENUA.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) now churns out press releases almost every day on its activities; a departure from the past when the corporation’s operation was shrouded in secrecy. Previously, little or no news emanated from the information unit of the corporation, but now the unit is super-active.

    The NNPC made the security of pipeline the responsibility of private individuals for no justifiable reason other than outright shirking of the duty of the police and navy, but according to an analyst, the step was a measure to placate kinsmen and political allies. Now it is no more business as usual.

    Several years of alibi for why the country could not refine crude in its refineries, and undue dependence on imported fuel suddenly seems to be coming to an end as the refineries have become functional.

    The body language of the Presidency and the changes already made, point to how the corporation can flourish in the next four years. President Muhammadu Buhari’s first action to transforming the NNPC, was the removal of a near dormant Group Managing Director (GMD), Dr. Joseph Dawha. It was either the former NNPC boss was bereft of ideas about how to run the corporation or someone weighed him down, and made the office suffer neglect.

    But on August 3, Buhari  returned the corporation to the path of revival , competitiveness and profitability with the appointment of Dr, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the new NNPC and the retirement of eight Group Executive Directors ( GEDs) namely:  Mr. Bernard Otti, GED Finance and Accounts; Dr. Timothy Okon, Acting GED Exploration and Production, who also doubles as Coordinator, Corporate Planning & Strategy; Engr. Adebayo Ibirogba, Engineering and Technology; Dr. David Ige, Gas and Power; Ms. Aisha Abdurrahman, Commercial and Investment; Dr. Dan Efebo, Corporate Services; Engr. Ian Udoh, Refining & Petrochemicals; and Dr. Attahiru Yusuf, Business Development.

    Prior to their retirement, analysts were already clamouring that the Presidency should purge NNPC of all the players that have run it like a personal business. The populace was tired of the mystery that surrounded the operation of the corporation and the deluge of fraudulent allegations.

    The media were awash with various stories of mismanagement and corruption in the Corporation, which made the cleansing of the top echelon necessary.

    The Presidency in a one fell swoop pruned the directorates from eight to four. With the approval of the presidency four new GEDs and Chief Executive Officers were appointed for some of the NNPC subsidiaries. Those appointed were Dr. Maikanti Baru, Group Executive Director, Exploration & Production; Mr. Isiaka Abdulrazaq, Group Executive Director, Finance & Services; Engr. Dennis Nnamdi Ajulu, Group Executive Director, Refining & Technology; and Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, Group Executive Director, Commercial & Investment.

    New Company Secretary/Legal Adviser and Managing Directors were also appointed for the Strategic Business Units (SBUs). They are Chidi Momah, Group General Manager, Company Secratarty & Legal Adviser; Mrs. Esther Nnamdi Ogbue, Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC); Engr. Chinedu Ezeribe, Managing Director, Warri Refinning & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC); Mr. Babatunde Bakare, Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC); Mr. Inuwa Ibrahim Waya, Managing Director, Hyson; Mr. Abubakar Mai-Bornu, Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC); and Mr. Ladipo Fagbola, Managing Director, NNPC Retail.

    Others are: Mr. Rowland Ewubare, Managing Director, Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL); Mr. Modupe Bammeke, Managing Director, NNPC Prpoerties; Mr. Abdulkadir Saidu, Managing Director, Duke Oil; and Mr. Dafe Sejebor, Group General Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).

    Besides his intimidating curriculum vitae, it was evident that Kachikwu’s job was already cut out for him with strident terms of reference. With his private sector background, he has started running the corporation with his eyes on profit for the benefit of the citizenry. His actions since assumption of office on August 4 have shown that he is ready to live long in the hearts of Nigerians. Critics, especially labour economists, may view the reduction of the Directorates from eight to four and the retirement of 38 top management staff as inimical to the economy, especially now that there is global economic downturn. But the GMD’s explanation is that he wants to reposition the NNPC. The new NNPC, according to him, should take a leap from its civil servant orientation to a business-driven entity. With this conception, he has employed 12 personnel from the private sector to jump-start a new business outlook to intensify operational space as a profit-driven business.

    The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe clearly explained this in a statement saying: “the new appointments are in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration to transform the Corporation into a lean, efficient, business-focused, transparent and accountable national oil company in keeping with international best practices.”

    Besides, one thing, however, goes for him, his principal, President Buhari, is also bent on leaving indelible legacies in the country’s oil and gas sector. He has demystified the longstanding politics of turnaround maintenance without results without results. Surprisingly, NNPC on July 29 announced that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries have been successfully re-streamed after a nine-month phased rehabilitation exercise conducted by its in-house engineers and technicians.

    The Corporation said with the successful re-streaming of the PHRC and WRPC attention has now moved to the 110, 000 barrels per day Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company, which is billed to come on stream soon.”

    Kachikwu has also vowed that all Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and Joint Venture Agreements and all other contracts between the NNPC and its various partners would be reviewed to reflect current day realities in the global oil and gas industry. The decision, according to him, is to put in place efficient, transparent and profit-oriented processes and not to embark on a mass retrenchment of the workforce.

    The Corporation has cancelled the current contract for supply of crude to Nigerian refineries due to exorbitant cost and inappropriate process of engagement and appointed NIDAS Marine Limited to handle the job in the interim. It also terminated the Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA), entered into with Duke Oil Company Inc., Aiteo Energy Resources Limited and Sahara Energy Resources Nigeria Limited and the process of engaging new contractors is ongoing.

  • NNPC to unbundle PPMC

    NNPC to unbundle PPMC

    • Says refineries not for sale

    In a bid to ensure lean, efficient and profitable operations, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is to commence the unbundling of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Ltd into three different companies.

    Its Group Managing Director, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu who spoke during an official tour of the Okrika Jetty and the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited yesterday, said the PPMC would be split into a pipelines company that would focus primarily on the maintenance of the over 5,000 kilometers pipelines of the Corporation; a storage company that would maintain all the over 23 depots and a products marketing company that would market and sell petroleum products.

    He said the move would ensure that the right set of skills are rightly positioned and the number of leakages in terms of pipelines break and products loss are reduced to the barest minimum.

    Its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe in a statemnt, explained that the GMD also noted that the ongoing phased rehabilitation of all the state-owned refineries would be given an accelerated  vigour with the aim of reducing petroleum products importation into the country, adding that at full capacity, all the refineries could supply only 20 million litres of premium motor spirit otherwise known as petrol on a daily basis.

    Dr. Kachikwu assured that the refineries would not be sold, adding that joint venture partners with established track records of success in refining would be invited to support the running of the refineries in order to ensure efficiency.

    He said efforts are in top gear to fix all the crude oil and petroleum products pipelines across the country stressing that the Nigerian Airforce would be engaged to provide aerial survey of the pipelines, the Nigerian Army Engineering Corps to fix and police the pipelines. The Nigerian Navy will provide marine surveillance for the network of pipelines.

    Dr. Kachikwu commended NNPC’s engineers for the successful execution of ongoing phased rehabilitation of the refineries and urged them to prepare a replacement programmes for obsolete spare parts of all NNPC’s installations in order to avoid intermittent shut down of facilities.

    Speaking in a similar vein, the Managing Director of the PHRC, Dr. Bafred Audu Enjugu said ongoing phased rehabilitation of the company cost a little less than $10 million adding that the job was holistically carried out by indigenous engineers without any foreign support.

  • NNPC’s drones to monitor oil vessels’ movement

    NNPC’s drones to monitor oil vessels’ movement

    • Vandalism, theft ‘to end in eight months’

    State-run oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it is working towards deploying drones across the nation’s territorial waters to monitor inwards and outwards movement of oil bearing vessels.

    Its Group Managing Director (GMD),  Dr. Ibe Kachikwu gave indication to this yesterday in Abuja, said the oil firm is working on a range of far reaching options designed to end the ugly episodes of crude and petroleum products theft within the next eight months

    He unveiled the plan during a presentation he made  at a special conference on Security in the Gulf of Guinea organised by the Gusau Institute.

    A statement endorsed by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe quoted the helmsman as saying: “ We are launching an armada of approaches which will include incorporation of drones to check movements of vessels within our territorial waters; we are looking at the current logistical nightmares of changing staffing at the loading bay of crude oil export terminals virtually every 90 days; we are trying to equip the navy sufficiently though they are very well-equipped in terms of skill set but not in terms of arsenal for patrols within the maritime area.”

    On the issue of pipeline protection, the GMD explained that though the Corporation is working assiduously with the law enforcement agencies to increase the presence of military personnel in the area, the ultimate security for the critical oil and gas assets lies squarely with the host communities.

    “The best security for these pipelines lies with the communities. We are trying to create enough incentives for them to see these pipelines as their own,’’ he said, lamenting that the untold impact of oil theft on the smooth operations of the nation’s refineries.

    The GMD warned that if left unchecked, the menace could invariably make it impossible for the NNPC to operate the refineries.

    “Most of our product pipelines are ruptured and attacked frequently. For instance between June 2014 and June 2015, we recorded about 3, 500 to 4,000 attempts at the various products pipelines across the country. In addition to that, the pipelines that are supposed to convey crude to the refineries are perpetually hacked, ’’ he said.

    Dr. Kachikwu noted that the resort to the use of marine vessels to convey crude oil to the refineries has been coming at heavy cost to the NNPC.

    “What this means is that no matter what we do with the refineries today, unless that is solved, we really are going nowhere, we cannot operate the refineries,” he said.

    He explained that beyond the loss of crude oil and finished products, the incidents of oil theft have also claimed a huge number of human lives, lamening that over the last three years, no fewer than 350 persons including NNPC workers, police officers and community members have been killed as a result of activities of oil thieves.

    “Today, I ask all of you to join us in this campaign; it is not just a campaign for NNPC but it is a campaign for every Nigerian…. So it is war time, it is business time, it is focus time and there is a lot to do. Everybody is being called to the table and everybody is being put on the state of alert but in eight months, we must be able to deliver an environment that is free from the vices of oil theft,’’ Dr Kachikwu said.

    He said in executing the campaign, adequate support will be sought from the international community, especially from countries that have become host nations to the stolen cargoes.

    Prime Minister, São Tomé and Principe, Mr Patrice Trovoada, urged regional cooperation and integration to end sea piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

    He stressed the need for greater synergy among countries in the Gulf of Guinea to fight poverty and enhance intelligence gathering to defeat Boko Haram in the region.

    “We need regional dialogue to share experience to understand ourselves better. We need to improve on judiciary and build the institution to ensure sustainable development. Nigeria and São Tomé share common principles in terms fight against corruption and promoting good governance, “ he said.

  • NNPC, agency in talks on delivery of crude to refineries

    NNPC, agency in talks on delivery of crude to refineries

    The National Inland Waterways Authority ( NIWA) has initiated discussion with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC ) on how to deliver crude to the refineries through the waterways.

    The Acting Managing Director of NIWA, Mr Danaladi Ibrahim, told reporters in Lokoja yesterday that formal discussions with the management of the NNPC on the proposal would begin this week.

    Danaladi said NIWA was encouraged to initiate the proposal following the decision to stop the delivery of crude by trucks to the refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri.

    He said the NIWA could deliver crude through barges to the refineries, describing the option as cheaper, safe and environment-friendly.

    Ibrahim said NIWA also had the capacity to deliver refined products through inland waterways to all states, except Katsina and Kano.

    He said the organisation had procured enough tugboats to drive the barges, which were of varying capacities from 300 to 800 tonnes.

    The NIWA chief said the organisation had also procured 17 gunboats to guarantee the security of the facilities and personnel involved in the operation.

    Ibrahim hoped the proposal would be considered by the NNPC, saying the organisation had taken steps to protect the banks of River Niger.

    This is to prevent the dredged channel which was undertaken at a cost of N36 billion from being blocked.

    The NIWA chief said the country would reap the benefits of the dredging, saying more companies were ready to use barges to move their products.

    Ibrahim suggested the establishment of an inland waterways trust fund.

    He said the fund would make it compulsory for stakeholders in the maritime sector to pay a certain percentage of their earnings for the development of inland waterways infrastructure.

    Ibrahim said his vision was to unlock the potential of the sector in line with efforts of the government to diversify the economy.

    “Our prayer is that the Federal Government should muster the necessary political will to finance it while we provide adequate manpower,” he said.

    He also spoke of plans to maintain waterways and develop the waterfront in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Asaba and Warri through a public-private partnership arrangement.

  • NNPC cuts crude lifting firms to 16

    NNPC cuts crude lifting firms to 16

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has cut down the number of companies that will handle the contract of lifting Nigeria’s crude from 43 to 16. The drastic reduction is part of the Corporation’s transformation agenda aimed at keeping its operation lean, efficient and transparent to reduce cost.

    Its spokesman, Ohi Alegbe said the decision is a novel move to instill transparency and probity in the award of the annual Crude Oil Term Contract for 2015/2016. He said: “NNPC yesterday mapped out measures to execute the 2015/2016 award of contract to companies for the evacuation of Nigeria’s crude oil equity from the various crude and condensate production arrangements.”

    In a statement, NNPC stated that it was part of measures to optimise the marketing of Nigeria’s crude oil and secure new market potentials. It said the number of off-takers for the proposed 2015/2016 term contract which would emerge after a planned rigorous competitive bid exercise has been pruned from 43 to 16.

     NNPC said: “In the days ahead, we shall place advertisement for the 2015/2016 Term Contracts and the publication will run for one month in major National and International print media to ensure effective message penetration. Later the guidelines for the selection of new off-takers would be published and subsequently a special bid evaluation committee would be constituted to conduct due diligence on successful applicants.”

    He also stated that apart from Oando, Sahara Energy, Calson, MRS, Duke Oil, BP/Nigermed and Total Trading that were earlier selected to bid for the new Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA),  invitation was also extended to Forte Oil and Mobil to bid for the OPA contract.

  • NNPC cuts crude lifting firms to 16

    NNPC cuts crude lifting firms to 16

    • Invites Forte Oil, Mobil to bid for new OPA

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has cut down the number of companies that will handle the contract of lifting Nigeria’s crude from 43 to 16. The drastic reduction is part of the Corporation’s transformation agenda aimed at keeping its operation lean, efficient and transparent to reduce cost.

    Its spokesman, Ohi Alegbe said the decision is a novel move to instill transparency and probity in the award of the annual Crude Oil Term Contract for 2015/2016. He said: “NNPC yesterday mapped out measures to execute the 2015/2016 award of contract to companies for the evacuation of Nigeria’s crude oil equity from the various crude and condensate production arrangements.”

    In a statement, NNPC stated that it was part of measures to optimise the marketing of Nigeria’s crude oil and secure new market potentials. It said the number of off-takers for the proposed 2015/2016 term contract which would emerge after a planned rigorous competitive bid exercise has been pruned from 43 to 16.

    NNPC said: “In the days ahead, we shall place advertisement for the 2015/2016 Term Contracts and the publication will run for one month in major National and International print media to ensure effective message penetration. Later the guidelines for the selection of new off-takers would be published and subsequently a special bid evaluation committee would be constituted to conduct due diligence on successful applicants.”

    He also stated that apart from Oando, Sahara Energy, Calson, MRS, Duke Oil, BP/Nigermed and Total Trading that were earlier selected to bid for the new Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA),  invitation was also extended to Forte Oil and Mobil to bid for the OPA contract.