The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NNPC

  • NNPC Deputy Manager abducted in Kaduna

    NNPC Deputy Manager abducted in Kaduna

    eputy Manager of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mukhtar Bashir has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen. The sum of six million naira ransom has been demanded by the suspected kidnappers.

    The incident occurred when Bashir with his children went to perform his ‘Magrib’ and ‘Ishai’ (evening prayers) and was back in his house in Kudan Road, Kawo area of Kaduna metropolis. The kidnappers who drove in two cars, Honda and a Golf, waited for him at the entrance of his house, he was accosted as he was about to enter his house As he was about to drive in, he was accosted, before being forcefully taken away in his official car, Toyota Avensis.

    Meanwhile, The Nation gathered that, the car has GPS modern tracking technology which enables easy monitoring of the car’s location. When contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Shehu confirmed the incident. According to the Commissioner, “it cannot be concluded to be a case of kidnap, he was taken in his own car and may be dropped on the way, just give us some time, we are working on the matter,” he said.

  • Poor gas supply stalls 224 substations’ activation

    Poor gas supply stalls 224 substations’ activation

    Gas supply shortage is stalling the activation of 224 distribution substation built by the Federal Government to boost electricity supply, it was learnt.

    The Director-General, National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN), Reuben Okeke, said gas supply from the Nigerian Gas Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is inadequate.

    Okeke said the 224 substations could not operate optimally due to gas shortage. He said: “Though the stations are ready to help move the country from its current 4,500 megawatts (MW) supply level to 20,000MW in the next few years. However, it has been impossible to achieve this feat, due to gas shortage. Shortage of gas has stalled the various projects initiated by the government to wheel electricity into the national grid.”

    Many of the power generating plants built under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), he said, have not come on stream because of gas shortage. “Aside the fact that the country is targeting 5,000MW from the NIPP,  6,000MW is expected from the privatised successor companies unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). However, gas is impeeding the country’s ability to generate electricity,” he said.

    Okeke explained that there is no way the country’s energy needs can be achieved without being complemented through renewable sources of power supply.

    Nigeria, he said, requires substantial electricity for sustenance, stressing that thermal and hydro power plants remain the major sources of the country’s power supply.

    “Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, coal and biomass would generate small amount of electricity. The energy from these sources is small and could not facilitate economic growth. Renewable energy should be for the rural areas and should not be relied upon to speed up economic process,” he said.

    Okeke said the decision of developed countries such as Germany and Canada to assist Nigeria develop its renewable energy system was purely selfish. He explained that such countries have developed renewable energy sources to an enviable height and are looking for markets where they would dump their equipment.

    According to him, Nigeria is one of the markets those countries hope to get buyers for their renewable energy products.

    The NAPTIN’s boss said Israel generates 100 per cent energy from coal, while South Africa meets part of its energy needs through coal. “While the renewable energy is good and capable of galvanising activities in communities across the country, it should not be seen as complementing the hydro and solar sources of generating electricity in Nigeria,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Ministries of Power and Petroleum Resources are collaborating to improve gas supply as part of ongoing efforts to boost power generation.  The development, however, is yet to impact positively on the national grid, as irregular power supply continues.

    The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, had reiterated government’s determination to ensure stable power supply before President Goodluck Jonathan completes his term next year.

    The current synergy between both minstries on gas supply, he said, would make Nigerians  enjoy steady and sustainable power supply.

  • GMoU: Chevron completes $83m community projects

    Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) has completed 258 community projects worth $83 million (about N12.8 billion) in the Niger Delta through its Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), its General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Deji Haastrup, has said.

    Speaking on the impact of the GMoU since its inception in 2005, he said the initiative had been achieving its objectives.

    He said the memorandum replaced the old one which allowed the oil giant to have direct dealings with communities in its operational areas; initiate and meet the communities’ development needs.

    But the old MoU didn’t allow the communities’participation. It excluded them from ownership of the assets, which led to undue dependence on the oil firms.

    However, he said the GMoU is patterned in a way that the communities take the drivers’ seat in deciding the projects they want implemented.

    To make the  GMoU effective, the Chevron joint venture divided the Niger Delta where it operates into eight regional development committees (RDCs), which represent the various community development groups. The RDCs include Egbema-Gbaramatu Central Development Foundation (Delta State), Itsekiri Regional Development Committee (Delta State), Ilaje Regional Development Foundation (Ondo), Dodo River Regional Development Committee (Bayelsa), Keffes Regional Development Committee (Bayelsa State), Kula Regional Development Foundation (Rivers State), Idama Regional Development Foundation (Rivers State), and Jisike Regional Development Foundation (Imo State).

    As a result of the success of the GMoU, many of the oil producing communities insist on the adoption of the initiative by oil firms.

    Haastrup said: “The company in 2005 pioneered the new social performance strategy to support the socio-economic development of communities around our areas of operation. The strategy, called the GMoU, is hinged on tripartite agreement with community development organisations known as Regional Development Committees (RDCs), NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture and the  governments in the five states where we operate in the Niger Delta.

    “Under the GMoU, the communities through the RDCs identify and select the projects they want and use the funds provided by CNL for the execution of the projects. The GMoU has brought significant infrastructure and non-infrastructure development to the communities.

    “By the end of 2012, CNL had renegotiated the third round of agreements with the RDCs. At the end of 2013, a total of 258 projects worth about $83 million had been completed and inaugurated in RDC communities through the GMoU. These projects cut across education, health and sanitation, economic empowerment, capacity building and transportation.”

    The objectives of the GMoU include encouragement of participatory partnerships among communities, development organisations and governments at various levels, to build community capacity and ownership through high impact and sustainable community development projects that promote social and economic growth, cultivate transparency and accountability into the governance of projects and programmes, promote a safe and secure environment, among others.

  • ‘Nigeria flares 1.5bscf of gas daily’

    ‘Nigeria flares 1.5bscf of gas daily’

    The volume of gas being flared by oil firms in Nigeria is still very high standing at about 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d) contrary to claims by the government, it was learnt over the weekend.

    The Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Taofiq Tijani, who spoke on the sideline of the yearly conference of energy correspondents in Lagos, said the country flares 1.5 bsc/d of gas, which amounts to huge loss in revenue.

    Though he praised the Federal Government’s Gas Master Plan (GMP) initiative, which is aimed at addressing  utilisation and monetisation of natural gas, including gathering of flared gas, he said the expectations from the gas master plan objectives in the short term are not satisfactory.

    He said the government should seek investors in the sector to enhance the drive in achieving success of the gas master plan objectives.

    “Considering the volume of gas flared gas, there is need for the Federal Government to look for investors to investors to assist and state governments should also be carried along,” he said.

    He explained that the wooing of investors into the sectors and involvement of states in the gas utilisation and monetisation agenda is imperative because Lagos State gets one bscf/d of gas through the Escravos-Lagos pipeline but noted that the quantity is grossly inadequate when compared to demand.

    He said investors who want to establish petrochemical, fertiliser and huge power plants as well as other gas based industries in Lagos could not do so for lack of gas supply.

    He recommended the establishment of a ministry of gas, explaining that such ministry would fast-track the actualisation of optimising gas development and utilisation.

    However, the representative  of the Group Executive Director, Power and Gas, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Bello Rabiu who is the General  Manager, Competitive Analysis, disagreed with Tijani.

    He said the volume of gas being flared is 700 million standard cubic feet daily compared to 2 bscf/d a year ago.

  • NNPC’s restructuring stalls NPDC’s MoU with host communities

    NNPC’s restructuring stalls NPDC’s MoU with host communities

    The shake up in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its exploration and production arm, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), has stalled the  signing of Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) between the NPDC and  the host communities from which it acquired Shell’s divested assets in the Niger Delta region.

    A source told The Nation that arrangements had been concluded for the signing of the understanding with the communities before August 8, unfortunately, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, AndrewYakubu was removed while the NPDC’s Managing Director, Victor Iyowuna Briggs and top management staff of the corporation were also redeployed on August 1.

    With the changes at the senior management level, all the plans were suspended for things to normalise and the new management to settle down, stabilise operations and restore confidence.

    The GMoU stipulates the terms of relationship between the company and the communities, including benefits that will accrue to the communities such as development projects and how such projects should be handled. According to the source, the GMoU empowers the communities a lot as they decide the project to be built.

    Also, the contractors that will handle such projects are chosen from the communities while the oil company and other stakeholders ensure close monitoring of the projects to make sure it meets standard and the budget prudently managed.

    The source said after the oil company and the communities reach agreement, money for the project is paid into a special account from where it will be drawn for implementation of the projects. Contracts for building the projects as well as security of the facilities are often awarded to the community people, thus creating jobs and value for them (the communities).

    The delay in sealing the GMoU, the source said, might attract the wrath of the communities, which may result in disrupting operation.

    Despite the interim MoU signed with the communities in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, which hosts one of NPDC’s newly acquired assets, oil mining lease (OML 30), the comunities last week threatened to shut operations until a working GMoU was signed.

    The Chairman and Secretary of the 12 oil communities in Ughelli North, Mr. Michael Idiovwa and Power Oghre, in a letter reiterated that their earlier decision to give the NPDC a 14-day ultimatum to implement the GMoU or they would shut operations of the assets.

    The President-General of Uzere Community, Chief Emeakpor Owhe, during the signing of the interim MoU, reiterated the importance of sincerity and adherence to the terms of the agreement and timely completion of community projects for creation of employment opportunities for Uzere community youths.

    Another NPDC’s asset, OML 26, it was learnt, is doing well as production from the asset oil block has risen from 5,000 barrels daily at the point of take-over from Shell to 11,000 barrels daily, buttressing the need to quicken signing the GMoU to boost production and revenue from the assets.

  • Ebola: NNPC closes clinic in Lagos

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Friday announced the indefinite shutdown of its clinic in the Muri Okunola area of Victoria Island, Lagos, following a suspected case of Ebola virus at the clinic.

    The corporation’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Ohi Alegbe, who disclosed this in a statement, said it was discovered that the patient visited the First Consultant Medical Centre when the first Ebola case was reported at that clinic.

    The corporation explained that pre-emptive step was taken after the case was duly reported to the Federal Ministry of Health as well as officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health.

    “In the meantime, all contacts with this case are being traced and adequate precautionary measures instituted to contain the possible spread of the disease.

    “The medical team has assured that the patient is in stable condition,” NNPC stated.

  • Victims Support Fund –Spend ‘’For, By and With the Victims’ Families, not chop chop’’; NNPC sack

    Victims Support Fund –Spend ‘’For, By and With the Victims’ Families, not chop chop’’; NNPC sack

    Be advised that the now well-funded N58.7billion Danjuma-led Terror Victim Support Fund will best be served by targeting for employment in management, administrative and outreach qualified victims only from the areas concerned who have been affected and are naturally desperately looking for jobs. This is not a job for the boys. This is not a time for the usual greedy suspects, vultures feeding fat on the victims’ funds. The Nigerian extended family is the best NGO in Nigeria and should be quickly identified as the unit of recovery, not the individual. Make the recovery a family matter. The VSF must be spent ‘For the Victims, By the Victims and With the Victims!’

    This is not the time for mega-contractors – one contractor delivering 5000 mattresses or 10,000 blankets or whatever and making billions for his family. Nigeria does not need more billionaires. It needs many thousands of half-a-millionaires. This fund will do better with multiple micro-finance contracts similar to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and touching millions. Every contractor, business or local professional or consultant empowered with a N1million or N5million or N10million contract or job for drugs, beddings, roofing sheets, cooking gas or physical and psychological caring will empower the recipients’ families with honest income. But more than money, it will bring morale and morals to the contractor, shop or merchant and instil the pride of the dignity of labour and a return from ruin to human respectability.

    There is no point in paying non-local consultants, accountants, drivers, purchasers, contractors, workers, companies and even NGOs from outside the area while the capable affected citizens, experienced in local business, transportation, administration, management are sitting in long separate rows of men, women and children to receive the ‘largess’ of the TVSF. All these must be registered by age, experience, qualification from paper to professional skills like food preparation to driving licence owner to plumber to farmer, jobs done, jobs desired, computer literacy-very important. Students studying should also be registered for assistance, holiday jobs and educational support. Ask for citizens from the area but residing elsewhere to offer themselves for technical service. Ultimately it is not about the money but integrity, not only of the leadership but of the funded care system.

    I suspect the sack of Mr Andrew Yakubu of the NNPC demonstrates little more than the absolute arrogance of political power refusing to accept good advice and professionalism. Could it be that government only wants ‘yes-men and yes-women’ willing to carry out wrong decisions as ‘orders from above’? Why are there such high attrition rates among the chosen leadership? In the armed forces, how many Generals have been retired prematurely in the last 15 years? Nigeria forgets that each prematurely retired high official has been trained at government expense and will receive full gratuity and pension for the remaining 30+ years of their life. So every premature retirement case is a blow to the finances of Nigeria because premature retirement means that Nigeria is paying for the person to live until the actual retirement day when the pensions should start. If government retires a GMD or a General at 55 instead of 65, Nigeria will lose years of usefulness. Whatever the real reason, one has doubts that Mr Yakubu, now suddenly ‘former GMD’, was sacked for something serious or treasonable like having links to Boko Haram funding or bombers or massive fraud and corruption at NNPC. Can the Presidency tell the nation if his crime was corruption, theft, contract inflation, mal-administration or a lack of ‘Yes Ma, Yes sir’? Government is powerful enough to tar anyone with a ‘criminal’ brush. In July, I watched part of the well-established Annual NNPC Youth Quiz Competition on TV and I wonder if that was why he was sacked. Perhaps for being ‘larger than life’ and offering to ‘increase the Quiz Prize money’? Perhaps for doing too much good in the public domain and standing too firmly against non-professionalism? Of course, perhaps we will never know the real ‘political’ reason for Diezani and Jonathan agreeing to the termination of such a senior government official. The NNPC has a track record of rapid turn-over of leadership. Are these ‘too quick changes of the guard at the oily palace’ for the good of Nigeria or for the good and preservation of the evil retrogressive status quo and the interests of the few? Some suggestions include that many importers are unhappy at the progress of the GMD in getting Nigeria’s refineries ready to replace the ridiculous dependence on imported fuel.

    But the most important announcement from the Minister of Petroleum is the devastating news that Nigeria will not see even 10,000Mw in the lifetime of many and certainly not before 2015 as the new goal by end 2014 is now revised down to –yes, you guessed right -5,000Mw. The same political authorities have been in total charge of petroleum and gas supplies since 1999. Yet they blame poor gas supplies in turn blamed on a refusal of contractors to supply gas because of non-payment of gas contractors. These contractors are strangely owed N25billion for previous gas supplies. What type of country do we live in that the government does not pay its own contractors for years and years while the nation groans in preventable darkness? And then Customs release 230+ containers containing electricity power equipment needed long ago. Is there no synergy between power, policies and agencies?

  • Why NNPC GMD was fired

    Why NNPC GMD was fired

    •Yakubu opposed minister’s suit against Reps over chartered flight

    Irreconcilable differences between the newly dropped Group Managing Director of the  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu,  and Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, cost him his job on Friday, The Nation can reveal.

    Yakubu and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development  Company (NPDC), Mr. Victor Briggs, were unceremoniously dumped at the weekend  by President Goodluck Jonathan  who  immediately appointed  Dr Joseph Thlama Dawha at NNPC and Mr. Anthony Ugonna Muoneke  at NPDC as replacements.

    Yakubu is the fourth NNPC GMD to work with the minister in a space of four years.

    Many staff of the NNPC remained shell shocked at the development yesterday a few weeks after Yakubu reportedly told them that he had the confidence of the President.

    Industry sources told The Nation in Abuja that the relationship between the former NNPC boss and the minister was dogged by disagreements on several issues.

    These include constant sack of highly-skilled professionals in the corporation who were trained by the federal government; sharp differences on policies affecting oil and gas industry; alienation of International Oil Companies (IOCs);  opposition to the minister’s court action against  the House of Representatives to stop the probe into alleged N10billion spent on chartered jet; non-availability of the minister when crucial decisions are required; and pile up of files on matters affecting the industry.

    An NNPC source familiar with the situation said: “You know Yakubu, a northern minority, was the fourth to get the boot in four years. We had Barkindo, Ladan, Oniwon and the latest victim, Yakubu.

    “What happened was that the immediate past GMD was uncomfortable with the recurring sack of competent hands in NNPC to satisfy some cronies. His position was that sycophancy should not be the basis for appointments in the corporation.

    “For instance, a former GED of the NNPC in charge of exploration, Abiye, was sacked after he fought spiritedly to reconcile accounts on alleged missing oil funds with ex-CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. There were so many cases like that in the last four years.”

    The source also alleged that several policy proposals made by Yakubu never sat well with the minister.

    “The ex-GMD was not happy that the IOCs are divesting in the oil sector although the minister does not see anything wrong with the development,” the source said.

    “Above all, the former GMD detested the idea of running after a minister with files when crucial decisions were to be taken.

    “Instead of being mutually consultative, the minister will rather give an order on what should be done when it is technically obvious as defective. All the management staff owe the minister is “Yes madam.”

    Yakubu was said to be opposed to the minister’s decision to take the House of Representatives to court on the alleged N10billion spent on chartered jet. His position was that the corporation should go and explain to the House and lay the facts bare.

    “Yakubu was thinking of what would become of NNPC after the exit of the minister. He said a constitutional body should be accountable for the system to flow well.

    “The frequent travels of the minister also affected or delayed issues which ought to be treated on time. This created a cold war between the minister and the former GMD.”

    The source said that the manner in which the President acted clearly showed that   he only listened to the supervising minister alone.

    Another source however said although some management staff saw Yakubu’s sack coming, the ex-GMD dismissed such assumption.

    It was gathered that some management staff had been tipped off that the Minister was uncomfortable with the ex-GMD anymore.

    Such managers reportedly raised the issue with the former GMD but he refused to move to stop the sack.

    He was said to have told his informants that President Jonathan had repeatedly assured him that his job was safe.

    The source said: “I can recall that some management staff had recently asked him if all was well with the supervising minister, the former MD said: ‘I have met with the president and he told me he had no problem with me. I have done that more than three times.’ You can imagine our feelings when our worst fear was confirmed on Friday night.

    “None of us was in the picture, not even the aides of the minister. We were all shocked because the former GMD did so much to put the refineries in good shape. He was also too loyal to the Minister of Petroleum Resources.”

    The source said: “Instability is gradually creeping into NNPC, we are losing good hands to incessant sack. The development has created fears in all of us.”

     

     

     

     

  • Jonathan sacks NNPC chief Andrew Yakubu

    Jonathan sacks NNPC chief Andrew Yakubu

    President Goodluck Jonathan has replaced the top four executives at Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, his office said on Saturday, intervening in one of the country’s most powerful institutions and the source of 80 percent of government revenues.

    Reuters reports that Joseph Thlama Dawha replaces Andrew Yakubu as NNPC group managing director.

    Dawha previously held another executive role within the company.

    Anthony Muoneke, a career lawyer, took up management at the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the corporation’s development arm

    While Aisha Mata Abdurrahman is the new group executive director of commercial and investment.

    Attahir Yusuf takes over as group executive director of business development.

    The President’s media aide, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the change was routine, declining to give further details.

    Jonathan has come under intense pressure to clean up the country’s oil and gas sector after a public outcry over corruption and waste of the country’s vast energy wealth.

    There was similar pressure at the time of the previous NNPC management change in June 2012, however, and critics say little has changed since.

  • NPDC’s production hits 170,000 bpd

    The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the exploration and production subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has increased its oil production from 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 170,000 bpd.

    NNPC Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu said NPDC also produces over 570 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of natural gas, which makes it the fifth largest crude producing company in the country.

    He said: “As of today, NPDC is proudly the fifth largest producer of crude oil as well as the leading gas supplier in the country. Its production increased from 70,000 bpd when we came in to over 170,000 bpd and with reserves of over 2.1 million barrels. Similarly, NPDC has significantly increased its gas contribution to the domestic market to over 570 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d).”

    The Managing Director of NPDC, Victor Briggs, told reporters in February while unveiling the company’s programmes and targets that it was producing 140,000 bpd and intended to increase it to 300,000 bpd by 2018, while gas production will rise to 900 million standard cubic feet per day in the same period.

    Briggs said that the company is expected to increase its oil production from the 140,000 bpd to 160,000 bpd by end of the year, while its gas supply, which was 410 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d), would be scaled up to 600mmscf/d.

    He noted that the company plans capital expenditure budget of $1.8 billion per year for this year and 2015, and between $700 million and $800 million in 2016 and 2017, adding that the oil blocks the management acquired from Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture, significantly boosted NPDC’s output.

    With the production, the company has exceeded its production target for for the year by 10,000 bpd.

    The NNPC chief also explained that the growth in NPDC’s oil and gas output was achieved through a combination of measures including drilling of additional assets and acquisition through the assignment of Federal Government’s interests in some fields at a consideration.

    “NPDC plans to sustain the growth process through consolidation of the existing assets, reopening closed assets and investment in new assets development. The focus is to grow NPDC to a medium sized exploration and production (E&P) company, with the capacity to produce over 250,000 barrels of oil per day the year 2020,” he added.

    Yakubu also said since he took over the leadership of NNPC two years ago, the management has escalated the exploration of its subsidiaries, the Frontier Exploration Service (FES) and the Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL), which resulted in acquisition of a total of 6,102 square kilometres of seismic data including 818 square metres acquired for FES operations in Chad Basin in phases 3, 4 and 5 combined.

    There is also acquisition of 266 square kilometres of seismic data in the phase 6 that is ongoing by IDSL in the Chad Basin even at the height of the security challenges. We have also grown IDSL land acquisition capacity by additional three seismic party crews, he added.