The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PPMC

  • Kerosene subsidy: Alison-Madueke, NNPC, PPMC shun Reps’ probe

    Kerosene subsidy: Alison-Madueke, NNPC, PPMC shun Reps’ probe

    The House of Representatives proposed investigation into the Kerosene subsidy did not hold on Monday due to the absence of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu and the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC).

    The House had through a resolution mandated the Dakuku Peterside- headed Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) to investigate issues surrounding kerosene supply, distribution and subsidy payments from 2010 to 2013.

    After a long wait for Alison-Madueke, Yakubu and the PPMC representative to arrive, the meeting was eventually postponed to February 18 by the committee chairman.

    It would be the second time the investigation has been pushed forward.

    The committee had in its letters to the three principal actors in the sector requested for the provision of all relevant detailed information as it relates to approvals on kerosene subsidy, source of money for payment of the subsidy, budgetary approvals, kerosine import details, PFI allocation and product distribution chart, PPPRA authorization and validations, auditors approval and reports, relevant shipping documents and all other documents that will assist the committee in discharging its responsibility.

    However, a letter from the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, dated February 7, but received in Peterside’s office a few minutes before the commencement of the probe gave reasons for the minister’s absence and requested for a rescheduling of the hearing.

    It partly reads: “I wish to inform you that the Honourale Minister together with the top management of the ministry and its agencies will be participating in the International Summit on Power Financing starting today, 10th February, 2014.

    “As a result we regret to inform you of our inability to honour your invitation. We area so currently engaged with the Senate Committee on Finance and it is not clear when their hearing will end. ”

     

  • Monarchs berate ex-militants over call for PPMC boss’ sack

    Monarchs berate ex-militants over call for PPMC boss’ sack

    Traditional rulers under the aegis of the Niger Delta Kings, on Saturday, berated former militant leaders over their call for the sacking of the Managing Director, Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Haruna Momoh.

    The monarchs threw their weight behind Momoh and passed a vote of confidence in his leadership in the oil sector.

    The traditional rulers, in a statement on Thursday, signed by their president, Chief Daniel Okosikeme, and their secretary, Dr. Suoyo Edubamode, appealed to the people to disregard the call.

    The monarch said: “The purported call by ex-militants of the second phase amnesty programme and other disgruntled elements for the sacking of the PPMC boss by President Goodluck Jonathan is unfounded and baseless.

    “Those behind such a dastardly call are the same selfish and disgruntled elements in the region who have seen nothing good in the innovation being embarked upon by the PPMC boss in the oil sector.

    “Rather, they are craving for their personal interest and self-aggrandisement.”

    They observed that all over the country, there was a stable and steady supply of petroleum products to every part of the country, including the creeks in the Niger Delta.

    According to them, Momoh had brought to the fore, international best standard practices in the industry

    They said: “In the light of the above, we make bold to say that the royal fathers’ body have given a vote of confidence and competency to Momoh to carry on the good job in the sector.”

  • PPMC pipeline on fire in Delta

    At least four persons were critically injured when a pipeline of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company exploded around Adeje town in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State on Saturday evening.
    It was gathered that victims of the explosion were carrying out repair work on the vandalised  facility of PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations, when it exploded and went up in flame.
    Security source said the incident occurred near a Mobile Police base in the area.
    The victims were deployed to the scene to clamp the pipeline after the facility,  which conveys petroleum products to Benin City depot of PPMC and other parts of the country, was attacked by suspected illegal bunkerers.
    The fate  of the wounded oil workers could not be immediately ascertained.
    Sources told our reporter that they were rushed to the Delta State University Teaching Hospital in nearby Oghara, Ethiope West LGA.
    The facility was still on on fire at the time of this report last night
    It could not be ascertained if PPMC or its parent company had made any effort to out off the fire.
    Motorists on the Benin/Warri ‎highway said huge bellow of smoke enveloped the road from the fire scene.
    “The fire was raging, and there was no sign of a firefighting team when we passed there about 30minutes ago,” a commercial bus driver told our reporter on telephone.
  • Niger Delta group extols PPMC for depots renovation

    Niger Delta group extols PPMC for depots renovation

    THE Niger Delta Youths for National Change (NDYNC) has lauded the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) for rehabilitating oil depots across the country, especially the Benin depot in Edo State.

    President of NDYNC, Mr Sufuyanu Ikharo told reporters that the Managing Director of PPMC, Prince Haruna Momoh, has demonstrated commendable leadership by ensuring that oil depots in the country were repaired.

    He said some of the depots have been moribund since the past seven years, which threatened the economy, made life difficult for the Nigerians especially residents of Benin and its neighbouring communities due to dearth of petroleum products.

    He said: “We noticed that under the leadership of Prince Haruna Momoh, the Port Harcourt- Aba, Warri-Benin and Jos-Gombe pipeline networks have been repaired to perform the functions for which they were built. He also rehabilitated the moribund depots in Gombe, Makurdi, Enugu, Minna and the one in Aba, which has been out of service for over 10 years.

    “The Warri, Aba and Calabar depots have been upgraded from analogue to digital loading meters, while the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) butanisation plants at Ibadan, Kano, Gusau, Enugu and Gombe have all been inaugurated under Momoh’s supervision.”

  • NNPC, PPMC reject plan to set up pipeline protection agency

    The Managements of NNPC and Pipeline and Products Marketing Company in Abuja have dissociated themselves from the purported plan to set up a pipeline protection agency.

    The Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs, NNPC, Ms Tumini Green, said in a statement that the corporation was not aware of any plan by the Federal Government to set up an agency or commission to protect the pipelines.

    “This clarification has become necessary against the backdrop of reports carried by a section of the media claiming that the corporation has confirmed that there are plans to set up a pipeline protection agency.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state emphatically that no member of the corporation’s top management has attended any meeting where the idea to set up a Pipelines Protection Commission or any agency by whatsoever name to protect the nation’s pipelines was mooted.

    “Any report claiming that the corporation is aware of such proposal or in support of it is a figment of the imagination of the reporter,” the statement said.

    It said the corporation had been exploring the options of collaborating with the security agencies and communities to curtail the menace of pipeline sabotage.

    It said that significant achievements had been recorded in this regard with the successful rehabilitation of Aba–Port Harcourt, Warri–Benin and the Atlas Cove–Mosimi Pipelines.

    It further said that the collaboration of the security agencies, especially the Nigerian Army Engineers Corps and the Joint Task Force had been of great help in tackling pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region.

    “We sincerely believe that these efforts and the engagements we have with the communities will help check and eventually end pipeline vandalism.

    “We neither believe in nor support the establishment of any agency for the specific purpose of protecting pipelines,” the statement said.

  • Fuel scarcity not likely, says NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiary in-charge of products supply, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), have debunked reports of the reported imminent fuel scarcity.

    There were reports that NNPC was not supplying premium motor spirit (PMS) through the notorious System 2B pipeline often attacked by vandals at Arepo community in Ogun State. The pipeline supplies products to depots in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara and Ondo states, and there were concerns that if products are not pumped through the line fuel scarcity would hit the five states. This is because it supplies fuel to Ejigbo depot in Lagos State, Mosimi depot in Ogun State, Ibadan in Oyo State, Ilorin in Kwara State and Ore depot in Ondo State.

    Fear of likely fuel scarcity was necessitated by the report that marketers paid for over 15,000 trucks of fuel in depots serviced by System 2B line but for over one week after, none the marketers was supplied fuel.

    The NNPC and PPMC debunked the reports, saying that the corporation has enough fuel for Nigerians. The Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Tumini Green, advised those in the states served by System 2B line not to embark on panic buying as there is more than enough fuel to go round.

    She said: “We urge members of the public to discountenance the report of imminent fuel scarcity in the South-West carried in a section of the media as there is no iota of truth in them.

    “It is not true that there has not been loading from the depots in the South-West since last week, adding that it was only the depot at Atlas Cove that was temporarily shut down for the maintenance of its power generator, which is a standard industry practice.

    “The Atlas Cove depot is not a loading but a storage depot, underscoring the fact that loading could not have been affected.What happened was that one of the major generators at the Atlas Cove was undergoing a routine maintenance, which resulted in shutdown of pumping activities. The suspension of pumping from Atlas Cove for maintenance did not in any way affect distribution activities as the depots serviced by the Atlas Cove Jetty through the System 2B Pipeline have enough products to keep all the states in the Southwest Zone wet throughout the period of the maintenance.

    “As at Friday, the maintenance, which started on Wednesday, has been concluded and pumping of products has resumed.”

    She explained that the depots served by the System 2B Pipeline have an average of 5.4 days fuel sufficiency with the breakdown as follows: Mosimi – 6.4 days, Ibadan – 5.9 days, Ilorin –4.2 days, and Ore – 5.1 days.

  • PPMC not supplying us fuel, say marketers

    PPMC not supplying us fuel, say marketers

    •DPR: They are on their own

    Oil marketers have condemned lack of petroleum products supply to them by the Products and Pipeline Management Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    The marketers bared their mind to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) during their annual general meeting with the oil industry regulator in Lagos and asked the DPR to intervene on the issue so that PPMC could supply products to them.

    The marketers opened up on the issue when the DPR said it was worried over the alarming rate of abandoned filling stations in the country, accusing the independent marketers (IPMAN) as the culprit. It threatened to revoke the licence of any abandoned filling station, saying when the owner is ready to commence business, it would start afresh the process of recertification.

    The marketers said nobody would like to invest millions of naira in a project and wilfully abandon it. They stressed that abandonment arises when there is no product to feed the filling station and appealed to DPR to intervene in the matter.

    But the Operations Controller of DPR, Gbenga Koku, told The Nation that the marketers are on their own in terms of sourcing of petroleum products for their filling stations. He noted that the DPR’s terms of agreement with the marketers when they were being issued licences, did not include sourcing of products for them.

    Koku, explained that the marketers, after being issued licences, go to the PPMC with the licence to seek allocation. Therefore, after they had entered into agreement with PPMC for products supply, the marketers would go and build another new station in order to use the licence to secure a fresh allocation, but currently, things don’t work like that. There are many private depots that sell products and besides, most of PPMC’s depots are not functional. Instead of the marketers buying from the private depots, they shut down their stations and wait for PPMC’s allocation, he stated.

    Koku said: “This is business. The marketers have license to run filling stations, and in the approval we give them to construct, it is written there that where they source their products from is not our business. The marketer can go anywhere to get it. Before now, except for Lagos and few places, most marketers are dependent on PPMC to give them products from their depots.

    “Currently most of the depots are not functioning. Previously, when we give them licence, they go to PPMC with their license and they will sign allocation agreement for certain quantity of products for certain period. Based on this arrangement, the marketers go and build another filling station to use it as a platform to ask for an increment in the allocation from PPMC.

    “But we have moved beyond that because depots are springing up everywhere. For instance, if PPMC doesn’t give you, you can go to Folawiyo, Capital Oil or any other depot to get your products. You are not restricted to PPMC. PPMC is in business like the other companies and the marketers know exactly when these other depots are bringing in the products and when they are not.

    The reason PPMC was chosen as preferred source in that arrangement is because PPMC, being an arm of NNPC, is the only one that own its own refinery.