The Nation Newspaper

Tag: refineries

  • Navy destroys N3bn illegal refineries

    Navy destroys N3bn illegal refineries

    The Nigerian Navy has destroyed 40 illegal refineries, equipment and petroleum products valued at N3 billion in a special operation in the Niger Delta.

    The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Eastern Naval Command, Rear Adm. James Oluwole, disclosed this in Port Harcourt on Saturday at the conclusion of the first phase of “Operation River Sweep I.”

    Oluwole said the operation which began on Jan. 8 and ended Feb. 4 aimed at tackling spate of oil theft and vandalism of critical oil and gas installations, especially along Bonny–Onne channels in Rivers.

    According to him, two warships, NNS Ologbo and NNS Burutu, eight gun boats and helicopters participated in the 28-day operation.

    “Operation Rivers Sweep was activated on Jan. 8 to stem the tide of increasing and disturbing reports of illegal bunkering in Onne general area.

    “Over some months now, we have discovered that lots of illegal refineries are operating within the area with stealthily and specially designed dug-in canoes moving stolen petroleum products.

    “In the operation, two vessels MV Lewis Ejiro and MV Lady Swithin were impounded while 40 illegal refineries, 60 large wooden and speed boats loaded with 5.24 million litres of diesel were destroyed.

    “Other  items recovered by troops included three generators, 16 pumping machines, two welding machines, three outboard engines and two hoses.

    “The total estimated loss for the destroyed illegal refineries and other equipment is about N3 billion”.

    Oluwole said that five suspected oil thieves were arrested during the operation and handed over to relevant prosecuting agencies.

    He said the operation was successful due to the use of Swamp Buggy machines which completely crushed metallic tanks and denied oil thieves ability to revive the destroyed refineries.

    The FOC said the operation had reduced spate of attacks on oil and gas installations and sea piracy, particularly in the Onne and adjoining creeks in the area.

    “We have realised that whenever we burn down illegal refineries with metal tanks and some days after our troops leave the scene, the oil thieves would return and revive the refineries.

    “The use of swamp buggy machine has proved to be effective; and the colossal losses of boats and stolen oil products will discourage bunkering activities in our areas of operation.

    Oluwole said that the Navy’s inability to prosecute suspected oil thieves partly affected the war on illegal oil bunkering.

    According to him, the battle against oil thieves is built on a tripartite arrangement which involved surveillance, enforcement and operation.

    The FOC pointed out that similar operations were currently on-going in its naval Central Naval Command. (NAN)

  • Why we won’t allow illegal refineries, by Dogara

    Why we won’t allow illegal refineries, by Dogara

    House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara has said no credible government would allow illegal refineries to thrive.

    The Speaker said operators of such refineries steal crude oil meant from the nation and degrade the environment.

    Dogara spoke at the public hearing of the ad hoc committee on the Joint Task Force (JTF) and Nigeria Agip Company in the Niger Delta.

    The Speaker noted that illegal refineries were ripple effects of the activities of militancy in the region because of joblessness, poverty and hunger.

    Dogara said: “Illegal oil refineries in Nigeria thrive on illegal oil bunkering, stolen crude oil, and vandalism of oil pipelines and other installations. Without a doubt, these illegal oil operations are reprehensible and should not be condoned for a number of reasons.

    “Firstly, it is improper for citizens to destroy oil installations in their bid to steal crude oil as feedstock for illegal refineries.

    “Secondly, it is most inappropriate for anybody – Nigerians or foreigners – to steal crude oil belonging to the Nigerian state with impunity.

    “Thirdly, there are serious environmental issues involved, regardless of whether they dump the residue from the crude oil distillation process into the river or simply incinerate it.”

    The Speaker condoled with the families of the 14 people who died on July 9, 2015, during the repair of Tebidaba Clough Creekline at Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, saying: “As representatives of the people, our hearts go out to them.”

    He urged the committee and other stakeholders to participate in the hearing to enable them contribute to the quality of legislation by the House.

    Dogara expressed confidence in the ability of the ad hoc committee members to rise to complete the assignment in good time.

  • GE to invest in Nigeria’s refineries

    United States (US) multinational General Electric (GE)  in Abuja proposed to invest in Nigeria’s three refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

    The firm, in a presentation to the  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),Group Managing Director(GMD), Dr. Maikanti Baru and his team, said that its team of partners, including its consortium involving the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) partners, off-takers, traders and some financiers would be engaged in the initiative.

    The multinational headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is worth $493 billion in asset. Its business focus areas include oil and gas, power, water supply, aviation, healthcare, transportation and capital.

    “We were involved in the tenders that started around last year, which was subsequently withdrawn, but our commitment to bringing the refineries on-stream is still very deep and we are very serious about it. We propose that work commences either with the Warri or Port Harcourt Refinery as a pilot, as we set a target to improve the refinery capacity before the end of 2017,’’ the company stated in its presentation.

    GE’s desire to partner with NNPC on the rehabilitation of the three refineries came on the heels of a similar proposal by Italian company Eni to establish cooperation with NNPC for the rehabilitation and enhancement of Port Harcourt refinery as contained in the company’s recent release in Rome.

    Leading a high-powered delegation to the NNPC Towers, GE Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt said as part of the offering, GE and NNPC have identified some major national power projects in the country and are  developing the scope of intervention in the projects, which have a potential combined capacity of about 4.4 gigawatts.

    GE further pledged its readiness to work with the NNPC to make production in the off-shore fields profitable for the benefit of both companies and other stakeholders. It expressed hope to consolidate on its  working relationship with the Corporation to expand the prevailing power business and help NNPC achieve its vision of becoming the leading power company in Nigeria.

    Welcoming the GE team to the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, Baru expressed delight in the interest GE had to intervene in some vital operational areas of the corporation. He noted that GE’s offer of a package that includes projects financing would greatly improve collaboration and initiate the power projects rapidly.

    The NNPC GMD also welcomed GE’s offer for support to boost the nation’s offshore production and raise crude oil reserve ratio replacement. He urged the company to also tap into the opportunities on offer in medical supplies, as the NNPC moves to commercialise the services of its 52 hospitals and clinics spread across the country in the years ahead.

  • Oil workers reject planned sale of refineries

    As the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) plans to rehabilitate refineries to optimise capacity utilisation in the year, oil workers in the country have warned the Federal Government against the sale of national refineries as scraps.

    The Group Executive Councils of National Union of Petroleum and Natural gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) said the step was a drift from the initial position which the union had rejected.

    It noted that the proposal to adopt a new model that would bring investors to increase productivity without necessarily having to lose jobs was commendable.

    Secretaries of the two groups, Comrade Sulaiman Sulaiman of PENGASSAN and Comrade Uche Amara of UNPENG GEC, said they had been following the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Maikanti Baru’s 12 Focus Area drive towards revamping the corporation with interest.

    It noted that the administration of the GMD has been workers’friendly in the evaluation of its programmes and listed promotions, redeployment, rehabilitation of refineries as well as other welfare programmes, including wage and retirement benefits.

    “We believe that this practice if sustained will continue to boost staff morale and increase productivity”, the unions said, and promised to be committed in partnering with him to increase productivity and enhance welfare of workers.’’

  • Refineries production capacity to hit 60% by December, says NNPC

    Refineries production capacity to hit 60% by December, says NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it aims to reduce fuel importation by boosting the capacity utilisation of the country’s refineries to 60 per cent by the end of the year.

    According to NNPC reports, the average capacity utilisation for the refineries from January to October last year stood at 14.5 per cent.

    Its Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, who spoke during a courtesy call on him by the board and Management of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust Newspapers, assured that the corporation was working to achieve the feat.

    Baru spoke of NNPC’s determination to end product importation in a few years, saying a concrete plan was on ground to achieve that.

    Baru said: “We are putting together various programmes to ensure that we achieve at least 60 per cent local refining by the end of this year.

    “It is the procedure or methodology that we are changing a little bit; we are focusing on the process licensors to come and audit our processes and they have already started auditing most of our process units in the various refineries.

    “We hope if we do all these systematically, we should be able to get about 60 per cent level of capacity utilisation by the end of this year or at worst by the first quarter of 2018 and get to 80% by the end of 2018 so that we can locally be able to supply half of our PMS requirements.

    “Also, with other efforts in terms of other refineries coming in place, we should be able to quit importation in a few years.”

    A statement endorsed by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC,  Ndu Ughamadu, quoted Baru as lauding the management of Media Trust Limited for its factual reportage of the corporation’s activities and operations.

    “You have remained a leading voice in the fight against unwholesome activities of crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and sabotage of the nation’s oil and gas installations. We will like to see this gesture continue,” he said.

    He urged the media to help in enlightening the public on the dangers of pipeline vandalism, “has become a drain on the nation’s economy”.

  • NNPC to rehabilitate refineries

    NNPC to rehabilitate refineries

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is set to embark on a comprehensive rehabilitation of the nation’s three refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna to achieve optimal capacity utilisation in the New Year.

    Speaking at the Annual General Meetings (AGMs) of the three refineries in Abuja yesterday, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Refineries of the NNPC, Mr. Anibor Kragha, said the Corporation was determined to move away from the approach of quick fixes and undertake a comprehensive revamp of the plants.

    ‘’The plan for next year is to get the comprehensive rehabilitation programme done. The situation is like having three cars in your garage that have not been maintained for between 15 and 20 years while you expect optimal performance from them. Changing one fuel pump here, one compressor there is not helpful. What we are doing now is to step back and take a holistic approach and do a full rehabilitation of all the refineries,’’ Kragha stated.

    He said once the exercise was achieved, the refineries in due course would draw up a chart for routine Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) programme as at when due.

    On the earlier plan to have other refineries co-located with the existing refineries, Kragha said though the plan was still on course, none of the projected co-location refineries would come on stream next year based on existing timeline for assemblage of the plants.

    On the plan by Port Harcourt Refinery to commence the production of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATK) for domestic consumption, the COO said the refinery was a few steps away from hitting the mark.

    The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the corporation, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu in a statement quoted Kragha as as saying: ‘’We are very close; we have done tests with some of the key marketers. We have achieved all the parameters; we just want to be 110 per cent certain.”

    Earlier in his remarks, the Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company, Mallam Idi Mukhtar Maiha, said the plant was assiduously working towards a target of 75 per cent capacity utilisation in the New Year based on projected supply of one cargo of crude oil per month.

    The Managing Director of Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company,  Solomon Ladenegan, in his presentation during said despite the hostile operating environment fraught with incessant cases of pipeline vandalism and outright product theft, the refinery was looking forward to better days ahead.

  • Refineries: Kachikwu’s pathos

    Pathos is the only word one can find to define the moment. An  English idiom describes it as crying when the head is off. Imagine for a moment, the pathetic scene of a headless body weeping profusely. We are also reminded of that saying about crying over spilt milk; think of a kid bemoaning his fresh milk being splattered all over the floor.

    These scenarios remind one of the current situation and status of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. Hardball cannot help but be consumed by a sense of inexorable pathos towards Dr. Ibe. First, his position has been  badly watered down if not washed out in a manner of speaking.

    But this may not be the knotty issue. He is a brilliant fellow and he must keep his game (and the game) on. He has to keep keeping his chin up and keep the ball on the bounce. But this would pose a very tough task considering that there is really nothing doing. Nothing doing in his office, nothing doing in his sector and indeed, nothing doing in our country. Hardball can see everyone in motion like a stringed marionette.

    As has been noted above, our man is not one to stay still; though we all know that there is nothing doing, he’s still adept at steering the water like a Jacuzzi Jetstream letting off a constant whirling of water. Dr. Ibe has proved that he can think big and talk big but acts little: has it not been said that great dreamers are small doers.

    Hardball, with eyes cold as the eagle’s had observed our able Dr. Ibe in the past one year and has circumscribed him. There are over a dozen reasons but a couple would suffice: remember that in March, he announced with so much aplomb how he had done the mother of all restructure in that putrid behemoth called NNPC. Remember also, the recent one the president helped to showcase about seven something, something magic to take the oil sector to Eldorado land.

    You must have heard talks about fixing the existing refineries to work at optimum and the yarn about co-location of smaller refineries around the old ones. These are stories with long tails; will o’ the wisp; beautiful fulminations of a brilliant mind but leading us nowhere.

    But Hardball, ever so vigilant caught Dr. Ibe – shall we say in his pathetic state of pathos. In an interview with the Financial Times of London last month, he lamented the mala fide of the international oil companies as regards their inability to build new refineries in Nigeria. “IOCs must stop treating Nigeria like a trading colony”, he fumed. He wondered how they could be mining so much crude here over the years, yet Nigeria still imports all her petroleum products needs.

    Hmn, empty talk all the way. Why have we not mustered enough balls (well, like Hardball!) to sell off all our wretched old refineries in the last one year. This is the least Dr Ibe could have done.

  • IPMAN: Investment in refineries ‘ll boost fuel supply

    The Federal Government’s move to woo foreign companies to set up refineries in Nigeria will improve distribution of petroleum   products, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) National Chairman Chief Chinedu Okoronkwo has said.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu, at a stakeholders’ forum in Abuja, invited investors  to  set up refineries in Nigeria.

    To Okoronkwo,  that  would help  grow the downstream segment of the petroleum industry. He said:“Plans by the Federal Government to welcome foreign investors wishing to invest in refineries in Nigeria is a good one. ‘’Such investment is capable of improving activities in the downstream sub-sector. Apart from the fact that the initiative would boost supply of fuel, it would help both independent and major marketers to expand their operation by opening up more outlets in the country.”

    He said the industry is grappling with problems of refining and supplying fuel to end users, adding that the problems would be addressed once crude oil is refined maximally in the country.

    He stated that many people have lost their jobs due to problems such as fall in oil price, oil theft and other untoward practices in the country. He noted that more jobs would be created if such refineries are built in Nigeria.

    According to him, local and foreign-owned refineries would create opportunities for people who wish to work in the refineries, depots, retail outlets and others. The idea would also provide materials for petrochemical industries especially those that are producing water tanks, plastic chairs, slippers, orthodox drugs and others, he said.

    ‘’The issue of allowing foreigners to own refineries as proposed by the Federal Government comes with a lot of benefits. Stakeholders in the value chain will benefit from it in one way or the other. Of note is that marketers will record more profits, which when ploughed back into the system, would improve activities in the downstream segment of the oil industry,’’ he added.

    Okoronkwo advised the government to fast-track the process of bringing companies that will refine crude oil in Nigeria, adding that the initiative would help in reviving the oil industry.

    The former President, International Association of Energy Economists (IAEE), Prof Adeola Akinnisiju, said the more firms that refine crude in Nigeria, the better for the downstream and the economy.

    He said the economy would improve once there is uninterrupted fuel supply in Nigeria, stressing that the economies are doing well abroad because they grow their oil and gas sector well.

    Nigeria’s Dangote refinery, however, will kick off production in 2018. The refinery has an initial production capacity of 450,000 barrels per day, and remains the biggest privately owned refinery to have such capacity in West Africa.

  • NAF destroys illegal refineries in Rivers

    NAF destroys illegal refineries in Rivers

    Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Helicopters on Monday destroyed several illegal refineries and barges filled with petroleum products in Rivers State.
    The operation which is part of Operation Delta Safe was a concerted effort to stop illegal bunkering and criminal activities in the Niger Delta.
    The refineries and barges were sighted by NAF Diamond 42 aircraft on Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission in Bille Community of Rivers State.
    Thereafter, an Mi-24V helicopter gun ship was called-in for attack.
    Director Of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Group Captain Ayodele FamUyiwa said a similar operation was carried out in the same location two days ago.
    “These are clear signals to criminals operating in the South-South region, as well as other parts of the country, that it is no longer business as usual,”he said.

  • Firm to introduce mini refineries, generate electricity

    Evolve Trading & Investment Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Awaritse Nigeria Limited; a local oil servicing company to introduce mini refineries with capacity to process crude oil, produce water and also generate electricity.

    The partnership was signed after meetings in London between Awaritse Nigeria Limited team and Evolve Trading & Investments, represented by Mr. George Karstein Irvine, Senior Vice President and Godwin Omar Atsimene Jnr.; Strategic Alliance Partner.

    “Our innovative refining technology is far ahead of the standard refining process, which does not produce the additional outputs of electricity and drinking water. The unit has been named, the ‘Genesis Life Cube (GLC)’ and is based on the context of creating life by producing the basic elements of water and light.

    Evolve feels that these are the first building blocks needed to expand the socio-economic benefits to communities where the Genesis Life Cubes are sited” said George Karstein Irvine, Senior Vice President of Evolve.

    The GLC has the ability to produce a basic yield of refined products designed for the local market as well as electricity and drinking water for local consumption.