The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says severe penalty awaits anyone who default in the procument process in project execution in the corporation.
NNPC Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, also warned management and staff of the corporation against any action that contravened the provisions of the Public Procurement Act in the award of contracts.
He gave the warning on Wednesdsy in Abuja at a Supply Chain Management workshop for NNPC Procurement Managers.
Baru cautioned staff against contract splitting and accumulation, which he described as a deliberate act by procurement managers to subvert due process in the procurement process.
He noted that the corporation was commited to transparency in every aspect of its operations, adding that all procurements and contract awards in the corporation under his watch so far had been carried out in conformity with the Public Procurement Act.
The NNPC boss directed the Supply Chain Management Division to step up its level of monitoring of the various tender boards within the corporation for full compliance.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the early approval of the NNPC budget, assuring that as the chief revenue earner for the nation, NNPC was committed to the economic policies of the Federal Government.
“The whole essence of the next level is to ensure that things are done correctly and speedily for the benefit of the people”, the NNPC boss said in a statement.
Nigeria made N5.54tn from oil and gas in 2018
Mar 19,
2019
Figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shown that Nigeria earned a total of N5.54 trillion from oil and gas revenue in 2018.
According to the figures, the N5.54 trillion revenue was earned through crude oil/gas sales, petroleum profit tax/royalties and others.
A breakdown of the figure revealed that the sum of N1.28 trillion was earned in the first quarter, N1.38 trillion in the second, while N1.39 trillion and N1.46 trillion were in the third and fourth quarter respectively.
A further breakdown of the oil receipt showed that the first quarter N1.28 trillion revenue was earned through crude oil sales of N98.21 billion; PPT/royalties, N926.33 billion; and others, N263.51 billion, while for the second quarter, the N1.38 trillion revenue was earned through crude oil sale to the tune of N109.32 billion; PPT/royalties, N841.03 billion; and others, N447.7 billion.
In the third quarter, N104.49 billion was earned from crude oil sales, N914.56 billion from PPT/royalties and N375.14 billion from others.
In the fourth quarter, Nigeria earned the sum of N103.6 billion from crude oil sales, N1.04 trillion from PPT/royalties while N317.5 billion came in from other oil revenue sources.
Nigeria’s crude oil production falls to 1.999m bpd
Mar 19,
2019
Nigeria’s crude oil production including condensate has taken a dip, falling to 1.999 million barrels per day in January from 2.081 million bpd in December, figures from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources has revealed.
This is contrary to a production benchmark of 2.3m bpd used for the 2019 budget estimates by the Federal Government.
However, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, in its latest monthly oil report released on Tuesday, said Nigeria’s oil production dropped to 1.687 million bpd in January from 1.797 million bpd.
It would be recalled that OPEC and 10 non-OPEC countries agreed in December to cut oil production by 1.2 million bpd effective from January for an initial period of six months to shore up what many expected to be weakening market fundamentals ahead.
Nigeria’s oil production was to be cut by 53,000 barrels to arrive at a new quota of 1.685 million bpd down from Nigeria reference production figure of 1.797m bpd.
The OPEC’s 14 members pumped 30.81 million bpd in January, down from 31.60 million bpd in December, according to its Monthly Oil Market Report.
Oil prices have recovered since December, when they fell to a 15-month low, with ICE Brent trading above $62 per barrel this week.
Source: The Ripples
OIL THEFT: Nigeria lost N11.08trn in 2018
Mar 19,
2019
Nigeria lost a total of N11.08 trillion in 2018 to the activities of oil thieves and illegal refining, the Nigerian Navy said on Tuesday.
According to the Navy, which stated this at its First Quarterly Media Dialogue in Abuja, 1,952 illegal crude oil refining sites in the Niger Delta were uncovered and subsequently destroyed by its troops in the region.
Navy’s Chief of Training and Operations, CTOPS, Rear Admiral Mackson Kadiri, who addressed the media, said the money was lost to maritime crimes,which he noted,included illegal oil refining and theft of other products.
While noting that illegal refining was a major threat to nation’s maritime environment, Kadiri said the activation of Operation Sweep by the service paid off.
He said: “Another threat to Nigerian maritime environment is illegal refining of crude oil.
“In response to this, in 2016, the Nigerian Navy activated what we call Operation River Sweep which is aimed at combating crude oil theft and illegal refining activities.
“In 2017, a total of 1,315 illegal refining sites were destroyed and in 2018,only 637 only were destroyed”, he said.
The nation, according to Kadiri, also lost a total of 277, 040 barrels of crude oil, 23.1 million litres of AGO, 212, 610 litres of PMS, and 1. 2 million litres of DPK to vandals and oil thieves.
Source: The Ripples
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has said it detained a Liquefied Petroleum Gas vessel, MT Navigator Capricorn, for contravening sections of the country’s cabotage Act as part of its efforts at clamping down on vessels that do not comply with the provisions of the Cabotage Compliance Strategy.
The agency said in a statement on Sunday: “The vessel was first boarded on October 2018 and all infractions of Cabotage non-compliance were noted and communicated accordingly to the charterer/owners representatives with a 90-day grace period to comply. The 90 days expired on January 31, 2019. It is noteworthy that the owners made an undertaking to remedy the notable infractions when the vessel was issued a detention warning in October 2018.
“While NIMASA is currently engaging the owners and charterers of the vessel on the need to comply with the laws of the land, MT Navigator Capricorn has been moved to the Lagos Anchorage to allow space for other LPG vessels to discharge at the NOJ Jetty.”
The New Cabotage Compliance Strategy, introduced in 2017 by NIMASA, is aimed at allowing more Nigerians to participate in the maritime sector and to prevent foreigners from engaging in jobs that Nigerians are qualified to execute.
Under the NCCS, waivers are denied shipping companies operating in Nigeria, who want to employ foreigners as second officers, second engineers, second mates, able seamen, ratings and stewards.
According to the Director-General, NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, special applications would be considered on merit, but on the condition that such organisation planned to train a Nigerian, and put in place a transition plan to ensure that the Nigerian took over the job within one year.
“There shall be no sacred cow when we commence clampdown on erring vessels. We want to increase the number of Nigerians who participate in the marine aspect of your business and we are working closely with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board to have a joint categorisation of vessels operating under the Cabotage Act in order to ensure the full implementation of the Act,” Peterside was quoted as saying in the statement.
Source: The Ripples
President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will soon commence drilling for a deeper search for oil and gas in the Benue Trough.
This, he said, is the next step following the commencement of drilling in the Kolmani River area, located within Bauchi and Gombe States.
President Buhari, who made the announcement on Wednesday while addressing traditional rulers at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Makurdi, Benue State, recalled that as Minister of Petroleum in the 70s, he had seen “very interesting seismic surveys” that promised oil and gas from the Chad Basin through the Benue Trough down to the Delta region.
He said for mostly commercial reasons, investment was directed to the Niger Delta given the promise of quicker results.
He narrated past efforts by him as Military Head of State to diversify the country’s sources of oil to strengthen its unity, promising that his administration will intensify efforts in this direction.
President Buhari welcomed the observation by the Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty, Professor James Ayatse, that peace had been restored to Benue State following the spike, sometimes back in farmers and herders’ clashes as well as the fact that the President had so far conducted a decent and peaceful campaign.
The President promised to look at requests for more roads, bridges and tertiary institutions made by the royal father.
Earlier, the Tor Tiv had expressed appreciation to President Buhari, “for the way and manner you have conducted peaceful campaign, no riots, no violence, setting good example. We had a challenging time in 2016. Thanks for your intervention, for accepting our appeal to step up security. Operation Whirl Strike has succeeded in chasing away violent herders.”
The Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom in his remarks, called for free and fair elections, urging all contestants to abide by the outcome.
Source: The Ripples
Crude oil production by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has increased by 57,000 barrels per day.
This was disclosed in the January 2019 edition of the NNPC newsletter by the Group Managing Director of national oil company, Dr. Maikanti Baru.
According to the NNPC, crude production by the NPDC increased from 108,000bpd in 2016 to 165,000bpd in 2017.
According to Baru, with the development, the NNPC was well on its way to meeting the 500,000bpd target by 2020, adding that the NPDC had been a key contributor to the consistent year-to-year national crude oil production growth, which had seen a steady rise from an average of 1.2 million barrels of oil per day in 2016 to 1.86mbpd in 2017 and 2.06mbpd in 2018.
“It is also worthy to note that NPDC’s equity production share closed at over 200,700bpd, representing about 10 per cent of the national daily production.
“Its (NPDC) last average weekly production of 332,000bpd makes the target of 500,000bpd for 2020 achievable”, Baru said.
The NNPC GMD also noted that with the NPDC’s supply of over 700 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System, the company had become the largest gas supplier to the domestic market.
While giving reasons for NPDC’s achievements, Baru said they were due to the introduction of some initiatives such as the Asset Management Team structure, strategic financing and autonomy.
Others include the security architecture framework review of the company, which promoted cooperation with joint venture partners and enhanced the decision-making process.
“We will continue to pursue the growth plan to transform the NPDC to the premier upstream company in Nigeria and entire sub-Saharan Africa,” Baru said.
Source: NAN
The long awaited dream of oil and gas exploration in the northern part of Nigeria became a reality, as President Muhammadu Buhari flagged off the spud-in of Kolmani River-II Well in Gongola Basin of Upper Benue Trough.
Performing the flag off ceremony, Buhari said that in spite of the diversification of the nation’s economy by his administration as well as the dwindling oil price at the international market, the commodity was still essential to the country’s economic .survival. “Oil and gas remains critical to the Nigerian economy of today and the future.
It remains key to the successful implementation of our budget at all levels of Government”, he said. “The golden era of high oil prices may not be here now but oil and gas resources remain the most immediate and practical keys to our aggressive efforts at diversifying the economy. “As important as it is to ensure that other critical sectors of the economy are supported to grow and contribute more to the Nation’s economy, we still need a virile oil and gas Industry to take care of the challenges of the moment and to invest for the future.”
The President described the event as remarkable, saying that it represented a promise kept by his administration. According to him, the next level was to ensure a sustained effort in oil exploration in all the frontier basins in the country, adding that a country with balanced resources distribution was imperative in the quest for industrialization. Earlier in his remarks, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said the project was the evidence of the commitment of the Buhari administration to expand the hydrocarbons reserve base of the country. He also expressed the readiness of the NNPC to resume oil exploration in the Chad basin as soon as the military gave the go-ahead in view of the insurgency activities in the area. Baru, however, appealed for patience, noting that oil exploration anywhere in the world required a lot of time.
Despite finding 146ft of hydrocarbon sand in Kolmani River-1Well prospect estimated to contain about 33BCF of gas in the 90s the International Oil Companies (IOCs) failed to investigate deep targets and left the region on the excuse of non commercial quantity find. Buhari on assumption of office in 2015 directed the NNPC to prioritize exploration efforts in the frontier basins in order to increase the national oil and gas reserves base and production. Though the NNPC failed to disclose the production estimate of Kolmani II, the agency said it would fulfill the nation’s ambition of attaining national oil reserves of 40 billion barrels of crude oil and production to three billion barrels per day by 2025.
Source: NAN
A report by the Secretary General of the United Nations on the activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, UNIWAS, has said that Nigeria lost an estimated $2.8 billion in revenue due to oil related crimes in 2018.
The report, which was released in New York on Monday, covered from July 1, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2018.
The report said: “Maritime crime and piracy off the coast of West Africa continued to pose a threat to peace, security and development in the region.
“Oil-related crimes resulted in the loss of nearly 2.8 billion dollars in revenues last year in Nigeria, according to government figures.
“Between January 1 and November 23, there were 82 reported incidents of maritime crime and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.’’
It also noted, that compared to what obtained in the previous report, there was an increase in drug trafficking throughout West Africa and the Sahel.
“In Benin, the Gambia and Nigeria, more than 50 kilogrammes of cocaine were seized between July and October by joint airport interdiction task forces.
“During the same period, joint airport interdiction task forces seized more than six kilogrammes of methamphetamines, eight kilogramme of heroin (double the amount in the first half of 2018) and 2.6 tonnes of cannabis.
“Drug production across the region was also reportedly on the rise, with more than 100 kilogrammes of ephedrine and phenacetin seized by competent authorities,’’ the report said.
The UN report further revealed that the during it covered, conflicts between farmers and herders resulted in loss of lives, destruction of livelihoods and property, population displacements and human rights violations and abuses.
It also added that outbreaks of violence were recorded in many states across Nigeria, although with more frequency in the Middle Belt region, as well as Adamawa and Taraba, adding that the rise in conflict between farmers and herders was closely linked with demographic pressures, desertification and the attendant loss of grazing reserves and transhumance routes, which had been exacerbated by climate change.
The report further identified others to include challenges in the implementation of effective land management and climate change adaptation policies, and limited enforcement of existing pastoral laws.
Political and economic interests, the erosion of traditional conflict resolution mechanisms, and weapons proliferation, were also listed as some of the other factors attributed to the increased cases of herders-farmers conflict.
Source: The Ripples
GAS FLARING: Nigeria burnt N197bn in 9 months
Mar 19,
2019
Nigeria literally threw N197 billion into the flames in the first nine months of 2018, representing the value of gas flared during the period.
According to data from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) oil and gas companies operating in the country flared a total of 215.9 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas in the first nine months of 2018.
According to the data, 31.68 billion scf of gas was flared in January, 27.25 billion scf in February, 26.88 billion scf in March and 23.06 billion scf in April.
The oil and gas companies, which included international and indigenous operators, also wasted 21.20 billion scf of gas in May, 21.66 billion scf in June, 21.21 billion scf in July, 22.42 billion scf in August, and 20.54 billion scf in September.
With the price of natural gas put at $2.97 per 1,000scf as of Friday, the 215.9 billion scf flared translates to an estimated loss of $641.22m or N196.82bn at the official exchange rate of N306.95/dollar.
The NNPC data further revealed that out of the 238.91 billion scf of gas supplied in September 2018, a total of 142.09 billion scf of gas was commercialised, comprising 30.36 billion scf and 111.73 billion scf for the domestic and export market respectively.
It said: “This translates to a total supply of 1,011.96 mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,724.26 mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.
“This implies that 59.47 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised while the balance of 40.53 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared. Gas flare rate was 8.60 per cent for the month under review i.e. 684.69mmscfd compared with average gas flare rate of 10.17 per cent i.e. 800.59mmscfd for the period September 2017 to September 2018.”
The NNPC further said that the total gas supply from September 2017 to September 2018 stood at 3.094 trillion scf, out of which 464.48 billion scf and 1.331 trillion scf were commercialised for the domestic and export market respectively.
“Out of the 1.011 billion scfd of gas supplied to the domestic market in September 2018, about 614.55mmscfd of gas, representing 60.73 per cent was supplied to gas-fired power plants while the balance of 397.41mmscfd or 39.27 per cent was supplied to other industries.
“Similarly, for the period of September 2017 to September 2018, an average of 1.185 billion scfd of gas was supplied to the domestic market, comprising of an average of 743.85mmscfd or (62.75 per cent) as gas supply to the power plants and 441.58mmscfd or (37.25 per cent) as gas supply to industries.”
It said about 3.370 billion scfd or 90.50 per cent of the export gas was sent to Nigerian LNG Limited in September, compared with an average of 3.043 billion scfd or 89.58 per cent for the period September 2017 to September 2018.
Source: The Ripples
- Opinions and Analysis
