The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PPMC

  • Fuel queues end weekend, says PPMC

    Fuel queues end weekend, says PPMC

    The Managing Director, Pipelines and  Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, yesterday assured fuel queues will disappear from petrol stations across the country by this weekend.

    She apologised to Nigerians over the harrowing experience they had been subjected to over the past two week or there about, adding the Federal Government shared their pains.

    “We have people trucking out (fuel) from Port Harcourt, Warri, Ogarra, Calabar as alternative sources for Lagos. So, all efforts are being made to ensure that by weekend, all these would be a thing of the past,” the PPMC chief said.

    On the causes of scarcity of the petrol across the country, she said: “It happens when there is any issue or breach at any point in the value chain and when the reaction did not take immediate effect, it reflects almost immediately.”

    Acccording to her, there was sensitisation of the public a few weeks ago about the probable situation.

    Mrs. Nnamdi-Ogbue who spoke with reporters in Abuja, said the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and all its agencies such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) and the Petroleum Equilisation Fund (PEF) now have a Taskforce comprising their officials to help address the problem.

    She said efforts were being made to ensure that “while we are trucking out efficiently, approvals and all necessary documentations are done effectively to make sure that there is no delay in the process of trucking out and distribution and that things are effectively done.”

    According to her, the PPMC was also working in collaboration with the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and major marketers to ensure that the queues fizzle out.

    “We are getting their cooperation to make sure that all their members’ trucks actually arrive as scheduled, so they also do their part in monitoring products supply. We also work in collaboration with the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) and they have been most supportive in efforts to bring the situation under control,” she said.

    She pointed out that the company now uses about 400 intervention trucks in order to service marketers to ensure that the filling stations are sufficiently wet, especially in Abuja and Lagos where they consume about 60 per cent of daily national consumption figures.

    “Right now, we have about eight vessels coming in, each of which ranges between 30 to 40 thousand metric tonnes capacity and these should be more than enough to ensure sufficiency. On Wednesday alone, over one thousand trucks were loaded and trucked out by the majors and PPMC,” she said.

    “Basically, we have the supply of an entire cargo per day, a cargo consists of about 40 million litres of fuel which is the estimated national consumption volume per day in Nigeria. We are hopeful that this will soon be a thing of the past and we are making efforts to ensure that it never happen.

  • PPMC’s private security firm nabs oil thieves in Ogun State

    PPMC’s private security firm nabs oil thieves in Ogun State

    Topline Leighton Limited is a private pipeline surveillance firm hired by the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) to monitor its System 2B that runs from Atlas Cove in Lagos State through Ogun and Ondo states to Ilorin in Kwara State. The firm has, between January and this month, punctured major illegal oil bunkering sites, including Roberts Village near Atlas Cove and Ogere Waterworks, among others. It also caught some suspected vandals. EMEKA UGWUANYI reports.

    •Over 1,000 jerry cans of petrol seized

    A major breakthrough in the fight against pipeline vandalism and oil theft has  been achieved.

    A private pipeline surveillance firm, Topline Leighton Limited, hired by the Pipeline and Products marketing Company (PPMC), an arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has caught some oil thieves at Ogere in Ogun State.

    The alleged oil thieves hacked the PPMC’s System 2B Pipeline at Ogere Waterworks area of Ogun State. The pipeline right of way is in the bush and has been a haven for vandals.

    However, luck ran against them (vandals) this week. The alleged thieves include Mr. Lanre Adewusi (47years), from Ogun State, Agbor Ayang (25 years) from Cross River, and Ebak Oyama (24years) from Cross River.

    They however denied being vandals and oil thieves when interviewed by The Nation. They said they were lured into the bush by a friend who said they were being hired to load planks.

    The Ogere illegal bunkering site has been notorious and the illegal activities there have degraded and polluted a greater part of the area with several abandoned wells and spills. At the site, about 1000 jerry cans of between 30 and 50 litres loaded with petrol (premium motor spirit) were impounded by the security agents and another over 1500 empty jerry cans packed in different parts of the bush.

    The Security Coordinator, Topline Leighton Limited, Mr. Adigun Adetona, after the inspection of the pipelines and stolen fuel, said the pipeline surveillance firm was hired to monitor NNPC/PPMC system 2B pipeline from Atlas cove to Ilorin in Kwara State. The System 2B Pipeline runs from Atlas Cove in Lagos through Mosimi in Ogun State to Ore in Ondo State and to Ilorin in Kwara State.

    “You saw we recovered over 1000 of jerry cans filled with petrol from the arrested vandals, as well as their equipment,’’he said.

    Adigun said since his firm assumed the surveillance of the pipelines, it has made series of arrests at Atlas Cove and environs and new discoveries of where vandals operate.  He said: “We are in-charge of the safety and Security of NNPC pipeline from Atlas Cove to Mosimi to Ibadan and from Ore to Ilorin. We are glad because of the landmark achievement here in Ogere Waterworks. You can see what we detected. Oil theft and pipeline vandalism have been going on here for decades but nobody has been able to apprehend the vandals but with our efforts and the collaboration of the security agencies, we are able to make this breakthrough. This is our commonwealth; they (vandals) are stealing. With the collaboration of other security agencies including the Police, Navy, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, we are ready to match them in all fronts and ensure that our national assets are secured.”

    Adigun warned vandals to desist from destroying national assets and values, adding that it will no longer be business as usual. He said the vandals would  be handed over to the police for interrogation, adding that his firm’s efforts had reduced the number of attacks by vandals, which has improved the pumping of petroleum products from the depots. The pumping has been frequent and regular.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive on zero tolerance against oil theft and pipeline vandalism had started yielding results.

    The Public Relations Officer, Mosimi Office, PPMC, Mr Godwin Agono, was also excited over the arrest of the vandals and noted that the stolen fuel would be returned to the depot. He lamented the loss of petrol from the Mosimi depot on daily basis due to the vandals’ activities.

    He told The Nation that quantity of stolen fuel seen at the Ogere illegal bunkering site sends a big signal in terms of the battles the PPMC face, adding that the more programme and models applied to curb their activities, the better technology often deployed by vandals.

    The Operations Manager and leader of the pipelines surveillance group, Mr. Aminu Joshua, appealed to the government for more support to track down more vandals. He said information about the Ogere arrest was put into reality on Monday during their patrol of pipeline’s right of way and discovered that about three trucks were coming out from the bush and were loaded with petrol.

    He said that oil theft had been the major occupation of the community, adding that they engaged the vandals in gun battle. ‘’We urge NNPC and other government agencies to support the pipeline surveillance team in other to drive the vandals away’’,he said.

  • FG to involve EFCC, DSS in prosecution of pipeline vandals

    FG to involve EFCC, DSS in prosecution of pipeline vandals

    The Managing Director, Petroleum Products and Marketing Company (PPMC), Mrs Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, says the Federal Government will involve some security agencies in prosecuting pipeline vandals.

    Ogbue disclosed this on Sunday during a visit to Mosinmi Depot and Ajebo pipeline in Obafemi Owode local government area of Ogun.

    She listed the security agencies to be involved as the Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS).

    Ogbue said that the involvement of these agencies would facilitate the prosecution of the vandals at the courts of competent jurisdiction.

    “We are looking at all ramifications on how to bring these criminals to book; they have to be treated as criminals and pipeline products thieves.

    “The pipelines are the most efficient way of moving products and then for the first time in a very long time we are pushing products all the way to Ibadan.

    “We intend to move to Ilorin, reduce bridging from Lagos area so that people can go and pick up their products in Ibadan and Ilorin,” Ogbue said.

    She expressed optimism that partnership with EFCC, DSS, Police and host communities would yield positive results and the culprits would soon face the full wrath of the law.

    Ogbue said that federal government would start deploying trackers on trucks carrying fuel from its depots to filling stations across the country to check diversion of the product.

    The PPMC boss explained that with the trackers government would be able to monitor the movement of trucks vis- a-vis their destinations.

    Ogbue lamented that fuel diversion was a serious problem with undesirable consequences on the economy.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the federal government operates 22 depots nationwide, including Atlas Cove, which is located in Lagos.

  • Reps accuse PPMC of corruption

    Reps accuse PPMC of corruption

    The House of Representatives yesterday accused the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) of causing financial deficit in revenue to the country.

    The Green Chamber mandated its Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to investigate the subversion of due process  by the management of PPMC.

    The lawmakers’ resolution was sequel to a motion brought under matters of urgent public importance, by Ndukwe Nkole (Abia-PDP).

    While arguing the motion, Nkole said: “Funds from oil products, which is the main source of the country’s revenue, are being diverted by the management of the PPMC through illegal transactions.”

    The lawmaker expressed concern that some companies had been upgraded to the status of “Major Marketers” by the management of PPMC without the approval of the group managing director of NNPC.

    “This is intended to subvert due process and divert revenue from our natural resources, because the companies are now entitled to lift products with N500 million on credit line, “he said.

    However, Leo Ogor,  Minority leader said the investigation should go a bit further.

    According to him, since petrol was selling above the official price, the Federal Government should investigate and ascertain the real beneficiaries of the subsidy regime.

  • Senate orders NNPC to end fuel scarcity in two weeks

    Senate orders NNPC to end fuel scarcity in two weeks

    The Senate on Thursday ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and all the agencies under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to end petroleum products’ scarcity in the country within two weeks.

    The upper chamber also said notable sharp practices including discrepancies in prices of petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and hoarding of products should be stopped forthwith.

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Lilian Ekwunife, gave the order at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and its parastatals in Abuja.

    The Senate had on Tuesday asked its committee on Petroleum (Downstream) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the perennial fuel scarcity in the country.

    Senator Ekwunife insisted that Nigerians are not interested in efforts being made by the NNPC, Pipeline Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and other agencies to ease the biting fuel scarcity in parts of the country.

    What Nigerians wanted, she said, is availability of products nationwide.

    She said, “We are therefore mandating the minister, the Permanent Secretary and other relevant agencies to end fuel scarcity in the country in two weeks. Discrepancies in prices of products must also end.”

     

  • 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.

  • PPMC to partner Abia NSCDC on pipeline protection

    PPMC to partner Abia NSCDC on pipeline protection

    The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) will partner the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Abia State on pipeline security.

    PPMC’s Area Manager Adbullahi Gunda said this when he visited NSCDC’s commandant, Dr. Benito Eze.

    Gunda said the agreement would be a formidable force against pipeline vandalism because NSCDC is known to have zero tolerance for pipeline vandalism.

    He recalled that NSCDC’s mandate, as enshrined in the act that established it, was to maintain security of the oil pipelines across the country, even as he urged them to do their duty diligently.

    Dr Eze said the command had put machinery in place to ensure the pipelines are protected.

    Eze said the command, under his supervision, had restrategised on monitoring the pipeline, adding that PPMC should cooperate with the corps on logistics.

    He said PPMC should provide laboratory for specimen analysis, “and be willing to provide witnesses to testify once vandals are apprehended”.

  • PPMC, NEMA can’t access Arepo pipeline fire 48 hours after

    PPMC, NEMA can’t access Arepo pipeline fire 48 hours after

    Forty-eight hours after the System 2B pipeline exploded at Arepo, reportedly killing over 100 people, security operatives, rescue workers and other agencies were yet to access the scene of the incident, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    The facility went up in flames in the wee hours of Wednesday following a clash between oil thieves, who were scooping fuel.

    The development, it was gathered, was as a result of fear of being attacked by vandals who have laid siege to the area.

    But emergency workers yesterday, disclosed that the fire, which started at about midnight on Tuesday, stopped on its own after the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), shut supply to the pipeline.

    There was no official confirmation of the casualty figure as the various agencies declined to be categorical as at press time yesterday.

    Neither the police spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu, his Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) counterpart, Emmanuel Okey, nor the Southwest spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Southwest, Ibrahim Farinloye could give definite statistics.

    Meanwhile, it was learnt yesterday that the victims, most of whom were Ijaw, have been buried in shallow graves in the swamp by vandals to cover their tracks.

    When contacted, Ojukwu said investigations were still ongoing and that no arrest had been made. He told The Nation that the police would investigate and arrest the culprits.

     In his response, Farinloye said that emergency workers would no longer go to the scene since the fire had stopped.

    He said: “It is no longer an emergency since the fire has gone off on its own. We no longer need to go to the place. It is now left for the NNPC to make the necessary security arrangement for their men to assess the damage and do necessary repairs. The government cannot confirm if there are casualties or not since they have not accessed the place.”

    It was learnt last night that the PPMC, NNPC and NEMA were mobilising to get access to the vandalised point. PPMC spokesman Nasir Imodagbe confirmed that the fire had been put out after supply was cut off to the pipeline line.

     “We are striving to access it to determine the extent of damage and level of casualty,” Imodagbe said.

    On when the PPMC men would move in, the spokesman  said: “Once we access the vandalised spot, we would assess the extent of damage; commence repairs immediately and restore supply to the pipeline as soon as reparation is completed. The spot of the explosion is about two kilometres away from the accessible area now because it is a difficult terrain but we are working assiduously to access it.”

  • PPMC revokes bulk purchase agreement with three marketers

    PPMC revokes bulk purchase agreement with three marketers

    Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) has revoked the bulk purchase agreements of three petroleum marketers caught diverting petroleum products out of the country, an official has said.

    Mr Nasir Imodagbe, Manager, Public Affairs and Community Relations of PPMC, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.

    Imodagbe named the marketers as Funo Alfa Ltd, Organiser West Africa Ltd and Rich Oil Ltd.

    He said that the marketers’ actions violated the bulk purchase agreement with PPMC.

    According to him, “the revocation is part of the corporation’s effort in sanitising the industry by checkmating marketers diverting products meant for domestic consumption.

    “This will also reduce frequent petroleum hoarding and diversion by marketers.

    “The process is continuous and we are going to ensure adequate monitoring of marketers.’’

    NAN recalls that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had on July 19 banned 113 oil tankers from entering Nigerian oil facilities and territorial waters.

    The corporation in a statement signed by Gbenga Komolafe, the Group General Manager Crude Oil Marketing Division, prohibited tankers “from engaging in crude oil and gas loading activities in any of the terminals within the Nigerian territorial waters until further notice.”

    The company made the announcement in a letter dated July 15 and addressed to terminal operators in Nigeria.

  • Court orders arrest of kerosene cargo

    The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the arrest and detention of a vessel laden with 5,000 metric tonnes of kerosene over an alleged breach of contract.

    The cargo, covered by an allocation letter by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC), is onboard MT Sea Pioneer on Lagos waters.

    Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke made the order following an application by a petroleum products dealer, Stallionaire Nigeria Limited, who sued Acorn Petroleum Plc, PPMC and others.

    The plaintiff claimed that it made full payment to Acorn for the product, but rather than it being delivered to it, Acorn (the first defendant) allegedly resold the product to a third party.

    “Acorn has now completed plans to accord loading rights to the said third party over the 5,000MT cargo of DPK (Dual Purpose Kerosene) over which the plaintiff has and retains legal title as per parties’ agreement and full consideration paid,” Stallionaire said.

    The plaintiff said Acorn has applied to PPMC for loading rights over the cargo which Stallionaire is entitled to.

    Justice Aneke held that the vessel should be detained pending Acorn’s provision of a bank guarantee in the sum of N488 million and N132, 287,960 from a reputable commercial bank to secure the plaintiff’s claims.

    Acorn has prayed the court to discharge the arrest order, or to release the vessel, but the plaintiff prayed the court to refuse the application.

    It accused the first defendant of conducting the sale of kerosene allocation “in a similar manner as resulted in this dispute.”

    Stallionaire recalled that in November 2014, it paid for 5,000 metric tonnes of DPK to Acorn upfront, but the first defendant collected money on the same consignment from another company, Bono Energy/Achetype International.

    “Upon arrival at the cargo offshore Nigeria, confusion ensued between the two buyers,” Stallionaire, said, adding that it was only after it offered to refund Archetype that it was able to take the cargo.

    However, Acorn denied this allegation, saying it is not true and not related to Stallionaire’s claims.