The Nation Newspaper

Tag: refining

  • Refuse, illegal refining threaten transmission facility in Lagos

    Refuse, illegal refining threaten transmission facility in Lagos

    A transmission tower’s integrity in Lagos is being threatened as miscreants have turned its location to a dump site, illegal refining and burning of rubbish, it was learnt.

    The tower, located in Surulere area of Lagos, according to the Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, is being threatened by the nefarious activities going on under it.

    Such activities, according to the TCN chief, compromise the integrity of towers, adding that the maintenance team of the company would not be able to access the facility for repairs in the event of a problem.

    “Should the tower also collapse as a result of the compromise, the entire Apapa and environs would be out of power supply,” he said.

    He continued:”Therefore, it is imperative I came to see things, discuss and collaborate with Lagos State Government to find a solution to the problem, and permanently stop the nefarious activities going on under the tower,” he added.

    Mohammed further said: “People dump and burn refuse and other materials under the tower and as you can see, there is oil bunkering and illegal refining here. These activities definitely will compromise the integrity of the tower. If the tower is comprised and it collapses, the entire Apapa and environs will be out of power supply.

    “This tower supports the capacity from Ajah through the 330kv circuit line to Alagbon. If it collapses, supply to these areas will be jeopardised. Also, if there is a problem with the tower, it will be difficult for the maintenance team to access it. It is a big problem for these areas.

    “I will discuss with the Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources. We are working closely with the Lagos State Government. We will ask the Energy Commissioner to ensure that the Commissioner for Environment clear this place and ensure it is permanently maintained away from the miscreants and refuse dump.

    “The clearing will be immediately because we are collaborating with the Lagos State Government. Through this collaboration, we are working to put significant transmission capacity between Lagos and Ogun states and ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”

    The TCN chief also said the transmission arm of the power supply value chain is not the weakest link as some people make power consumers believe, adding that transmission capacity has been substantially increased and, the transmission arm is ahead of other arms of the supply chain. “We are increasing our capacity across the country because the government is supporting us

    “This government has been putting money into transmission since it came on board. Money that has been put by this government into transmission has never been put into transmission in the history of Nigeria.

    “We have also secured a lot of funding from multilateral donors, backed by the Ministries of Power, Works and Housing and Finance, and this is being channeled into transmission. To me, funding is not so much a big issue to transmission now because we have got the support of the government.

    “Whoever says TCN is the weakest link in the power supply value chain is ignorant of the sector. Transmission is not the weakest link in the chain. Our capacity currently is higher than all the other arms of the industry. We also have plans to expand the capacity of the transmission more than any other arm of the sector. So, we are always ahead of them and will continue to be ahead of them,”he said.

  • NNPC shops for $16b to grow upstream, refining sectors

    NNPC shops for $16b to grow upstream, refining sectors

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it is looking for $16 billion to grow its upstream operations and increase oil refining from 445,000 barrels per day (bpd)  to 700,000 bpd within the next few years.

    Its Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti  Baru stated this at the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, United States.

    In his lead paper titled: Global Energy Dynamics: Challenges and Opportunities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector, delivered at a panel session organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Baru stated that a lot of opportunities exist in the oil and gas sector.

    He said these opportunities cut across the value chain – upstream oil and gas, gas Infrastructure and power plants, refineries, downstream and ventures and new business, which require huge investment.

    Represented by the Corporation’s Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power, Saidu Mohammed, the GMD said within the upstream segment, the frim plan is to increase our oil reserve base from 37 billion barrels to 40 billion oil barrels by 2020 reflecting at least one billion barrels addition year-on-year till 2020.

    He said: “Based on our upstream growth plan, NNPC is looking to raise about $13-$16.5billion over the next five years in the development of seven giant gas fields, which will be within $7-$9billion, and development of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) upstream assets about $6-$7.5billion.

    “Under gas infrastructure and power plants, investment opportunities exist to the tune of $9-$11 billion including construction and laying 897Km of gas pipelines, $2-$3billion; design construction and operation of Western central processing (CPF) $2.6 billion; design construction and operation of Eastern CPF, $1.2 billion; construction of three power plants with combined capacity of 3150 megawatts (Mw), $3-4.5billion.

    “With respect to our refineries, our plan is to rehabilitate, and revamp our existing four refineries. We invite you investors to participate in this process. On successful rehabilitation and revamp, our plan is to upgrade the combined nameplate capacity from 445,000 barrels per day to 700,000 barrels a day within the next few years. We would require investments of between $5-$6billion.

    “We are also mindful of the need to construct new refineries and we encourage investors in this area. The big picture is to transit from a net crude oil exporter to a net petroleum product exporter as more value and opportunities abound in the latter.”

  • NNPC resumes kerosene, diesel refining

    NNPC resumes kerosene, diesel refining

    The three refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri have resumed production of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) or diesel and Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) or  kerosene.

    The resumption of refining of the products is expected to balance the disequilibrium in demand and supply being experienced across the country.

    Speaking on the production level of the Warri refinery, the Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Engr. Solomon Ladenegan, said the plant had been doing well since the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) was revved up on Saturday.

    Ladenegan said the refinery resumed production last Saturday at about 10:22hrs, with the plant’s CDU functioning.

    He said the plant now refines 2 million litres of kerosene and 3 million litres of diesel daily.

    A statement endorsed by the General Manager, Group Public Affair Division, Ndu Ughamadu, quoted him as saying: ”This morning, we have pumped the products to PPMC and they have started loading. They are going to load up to 1 million litres of DPK and AGO. The products are there in the tank and we are doing everything to get them to the market.”

    The Managing Director, Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Dr Bafred Enjugu, said the plant was producing 3 million litres of AGO daily, in addition to millions of DPK.

    Enjugu said the operators were thrilled that the  old Port Harcourt Refinery where production of AGO was being carried out by themselves without foreign expertise deployment.

  • Navy battles illegal refining, maritime crimes

    Navy battles illegal refining, maritime crimes

    The Navy said yesterday it was intensifying its clampdown on illegal crude oil thieves, illegal refineries and other maritime crimes in Niger Delta.

    23 alleged illegal refineries were raided by the Navy last week alone, according to the Director of Naval Information, Rear Admiral Christian Ezekobe.

    The refineries  were located in Obodo, Ajosolo, Isaba and Olakpashe creeks in the Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State , Ezekobe said in a statement.

    Similarly, about 396 Metric-Tons (MT) of suspected illegally refined AGO and about 1,060MT of suspected stolen crude oil were destroyed.

    Three suspects linked to the sites were apprehended.

    The Navy patrol team also raided an illegal refinery site at the Ibeno community in the Ibeno Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State.

    The raid, which was conducted in conjunction with security partners, led to the destruction of two Cotonou boats and six drums containing suspected illegally refined kerosene.

  • ‘Indigenous refining solution to fuel scarcity’

    To find lasting solution to the lingering fuel scarcity, the Federal Government has to ensure the refineries work at full capacity and new ones built to support them.

    The former Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the immediate past Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Dr. Oluwole Oluleye, told The Nation that ensuring the refineries work was key to self-sufficiency in petroleum products supply.

    He said the way out of the protracted fuel scarcity is ensuring minimal importation and making the refineries work. “One thing is that the Nigerian economy no matter what anyone says has been expanding. The refineries are at best with the current capacity that is on ground. I think it is approximately 18 million litres per day.

    ‘’During my time, it was 30 million litres per day that was required, which meant that about 12 million litres was imported. But it was more than that because the refineries were not working at full capacity. So what we had then was probably about 12 million litres and we were bringing in about 18 million litres. The key thing is to get the refineries working, get additional ones in, so that whatever we require within the economy is produced within the refineries in the country.

    “There must be minimal importation. It is only the deficit that can actually be imported. So, the refineries have to be given the latitude and capacity to function very well. From what I read, I think with Mr. President’s body language even though he has not tinkered with anything, you will understand that the refineries will start working from this month. By the time, he brings out his policies I think we might just be at full production and whatever will be imported will be very minimal. I’m optimistic about that.”

    On how to reduce fuel subsidy, considering that during his tenure at the PPPRA, subsidy payment was about N200 billion until 2010, when it shot up to N280 billion, it has since gone up to about N2 trillion yearly.

    He said: “I wouldn’t speculate on what has happened, I can only speak for the period that I served. During the period that I served, marketers must give us notice of readiness; they must let us know when the vessels would come in and I would station staff at various jetties, depots and as these products come in, my staff are in and I also make sure that DPR and the auditors (Ithink Akintola Williams then) were around. They saw the product and while the products were coming in, they take the figures and send to the headquarters in real time. Having the aforementioned monitors present, quality and accuracy are ensured. We all worked in unison to ensure that things worked out well and we were able to keep subsidy figures down as much as possible. I understand some people don’t bring in products but get paid, I don’t know how they get around that but that never happened during my time.”

    Oluleye frowned at the frequent changes of chief executives at the PPPRA after he left office in 2009. He was the Executive Secretary of PPPRA between 2003 and 2009 but between the time he left and end of 2013, the agency has had four chiefs.

    He said: “So far, I think I have been the longest serving. I don’t know what I did right or wrong but there has been greater turnover of Executive Secretaries in the agency. I may be wrong, but the Act establishing the agency says it reports to no one other than the President because of the sensitivity of petroleum products prices and I can only speak for my period.

    “While I was working there, I had the full backing of the Presidency and we just tried to do what was right. Mr. President never interfered, he just felt that we knew what we were doing as he kept a lead on the amount of subsidy that was to be given out, and that was why you saw the PPPRA coming out incessantly to adjust prices trying to make the template very plain and insisting that those who cannot stay in the industry should exit.

    “He was not pampering anybody to stay to import. It was free entry and free exit during the period. So he gave us that latitude but I don’t know what happened when I left but with the high turnover in executive secretaries, there must be either some differences in policy issues or directions. There was just some instability.”

  • PENGASSAN warns against ‘crude’ oil refining

    PENGASSAN warns against ‘crude’ oil refining

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has warned that encouraging or legalising unlicensed local refining of crude oil through ‘unconventional’ methods would not be beneficial to the country.

    PENGASSANPresident, Babatunde Ogun, said the application of crude methods to refine petroleum will not only lead to economic loss but also lead to the degradation of the environment, creating risk to communal health, safety and environment.

    “Unconventional refining of crude oil can only produce fuel (petrol). It cannot produce kerosene, diesel or black oil, for the production of other ointments. It also leads to environmental degradation, which could cause health disasters, explosions and vehicle break down,’’Ogun warned.

    He said encouraging the operations of illegal refineries by attempting to regulate their activities is an ill-wind that blows no one any good.

    Ogun said the Federal Government gave approval in principle to indigenous firms to set up refineries in the country, lamenting that so many of them failed to use the licence, which the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) gave them.

    He, however, urged the Federal Government to support the establishment of small refineries, as it is done in other oil producing countries.

    While commending the courage of the government in clamping down on the operators of illegal refineries in the country, he called on the government to provide adequate powr supply to run the engine of the national economy.