Category Oil & Gas

Divestment of oil assets not vote of no confidence in country – SPE

Assets
By Edith Ike-Eboh
Abuja, March 16, 2020 (NAN) The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) says that divestment of oil assets in the country does not have any negative implication for the nation’s oil and gas sector.
The Chairman of the group, Mr Joe Nwakwue, made this known while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Monday.
He said that the oil and gas sector in Nigeria was ripe for the growth of the secondary market through divestment of assets.
“You know that Nigeria started out oil business with the major International Oil Companies (IOCs), right from when SHELL showed up and then others.
“It means that by the 1980s all assets are held by the multinational companies; so, 50 years down the road, these assets are maturing and big companies will find it difficult to make gain on the assets as they decline.
“Naturally, they will like to sell of the assets for smaller parties to buy and that has happened in Nigeria, we have seen a lot of divestment.
“If you open the news, you will hear that SHELL or Mobil wants to sell; everybody is talking about selling one asset or the other.
“This is normal, it is nothing to worry, people tend to think that it is vote of no confidence in a country but I think it is important to understand that this is not a vote of no confidence.
“Rather, it is in the natural cause of business and there are several drivers to it,’’ he said
He said that the only challenge in the process was lack of clear rules guiding the process of divestment.
He said the SPE noted with pleasure that the secondary market was opening up and called on relevant policy makers to ensure that it had guiding rules.
“We must know clearly what the Policy, regulatory and commercial frameworks should be for this market,’’ he said.
Nwakwue said that the opening up of the secondary market through divestment of assets had propelled the choice of topic for the 2020 Oloibiri Annual lecture to be organised by the SPE.
According to him, the Lecture which will hold on March 19, has the theme “ Oil and Gas divestment of assets, the challenges, the status and ways forward”.
He said that the Niger Delta was a matured basin but Nigeria had yet to put asset to the growing market.
He said that license was last issued in the sector in 2007 adding that this had brought about scarcity of assets in the market.
“The economic impact and barrier to entry has been raised and if you are not putting up assets to the market, it will dried up,’’ he said.
He urged the policy makers to ensure adequate measures were in place to help open up the market.(NAN)
ENO/DCU
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Edited by Donald Ugwu

PTDF partners Malaysia for Msc, PhD overseas programmes

PTDF
By Edith Ike-Eboh
Abuja, March 16, 2020(NAN) The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) said that it had partnered a Malaysian university to strengthen its overseas Masters and PhD programmes.
Malam Bello Mustapha, Head, Overseas Scholarship Scheme Division of the fund disclosed this at the screening session for scholars in Abuja on Monday.
He said that some of the scholars that would be selected for the 2020/21 overseas Masters and PhD programmes would go to Malaysia for their studies.
“For this year we extended it to Malaysia because we have partnership with one of their universities, the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP).
“That is the added partnership we have done this year,” he said.
He said that the 2020/21 overseas scholarship screening and interviews for MSC and PhD would run for two weeks in Abuja from March 16 to March 27.
Mustapha said that the Fund received more than 25,000 applications while no fewer than 6,000 candidates were shortlisted for screening and interview.
He added that screening and interview session would also hold across the six geopolitical zones in the country.
Mustapha noted that under the Masters programme, five people would be selected from each state and FCT while for PhD three would be selected from each state and the FCT.
“We are thinking of three PhDs and five MSc’s per state including the FCT; every state will be represented.
“The scholars selected will go to France, Germany, China, UK and Malaysia where we have partnership,” he said.
He assured that extra slot might be given for oil producing communities adding that women would also be given special consideration. (NAN)
ENO/OIF/DCU
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Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Ugwu Donald

NEITI

By Edith Ike-Eboh

Abuja, March 15, 2019 (NAN) The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives ( NEITI) said the country earned N69.47 billion from the  Solid Mineral sector in 2018.

NEITI disclosed this in its latest audit report of the solid minerals sector released on Sunday in Abuja, indicating that the figure was the highest since NEITI commenced reconciliation of payments in the sector.

It noted that the figure showed an increase of N16.71 billion representing 31.67 per cent over the 2017 revenue of N52.76 billion.

“The earnings N69.47 billion also accounted for 16.69 per cent of the total revenues N416.3billion that accrued to the sector from 2007 to 2018,’’ it said.

The audit report reconciled companies’ payments and government’s receipts from the sector in 2018 as well as tracked production volumes and trends of revenues from the sector to the federation account from 2007 to 2018.

A breakdown of the receipts showed that taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) accounted for N65.69 billion 94.56 per cent of the total while fees and royalties paid to the Mines Inspectorate Department (MID) and Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) accounted for N2.21 billion 3.18 per cent and N1.57 billion 2.26 per cent, respectively.

It revealed that Nigeria had published eight cycles of solid minerals audit reports since it signed up to the NEITI, adding that the sector has contributed N416.32billion in revenues to the federation in 12 years.

It noted that over half of this figure or N279.0 billion was earned between 2015 and 2018.  This, it said showed that there had been a remarkable increase in revenues accruing to the Federation from the solid minerals sector over the years.

The report further highlighted that the sector had over the years, also witnessed fluctuations in revenue earnings.

It said that in 2015, N64.46 billion accrued to the federation, while in 2016, the earnings dipped to N43.22 billion.

It will be recalled that 2016 was also the year that the Nigerian economy slid into recession.

The report  also disclosed that the main sources of revenue flows from solid minerals remains various categories of taxes, royalty, permits, annual services and sub-national payments.

It also stated that sub-national payments and other taxes accounted for N1.54 billion representing about 2.23 per cent of total government revenue from the sector.

On production, the NEITI 2018 Report disclosed that 46.68 million metric tons of minerals valued at N47.87 billion were produced in the country during the period.

It noted that the production data was based on minerals either used or sold during the year.

A breakdown of the production volumes showed that limestone and granite accounted for about 80 per cent of the total minerals produced. Limestone alone contributed 54.85 per cent while granite accounted for 23.88 per cent of minerals mined.

On state-by-state production; the report disclosed that in 2018, most of the mining activities in the country took place in Ogun State.

“The state accounted for 12.66 million metric tons 27.13 per cent of the total volume produced during the period under review.

“Ogun State was followed by Kogi and Benue states, each accounting for 22.88 and 10.10 per cent respectively. However, on the bottom of the table are states like Enugu and Borno states which contributed 0.02 and 0.001 per cent respectively.

The report also revealed that Dangote Cement Plc and Larfarge Africa Plc dominated activities in minerals produced by companies.

The two companies, it added contributed 57.22 per cent of the total minerals produced in 2018, while Dangote cement accounted for 46.38 per cent, Larfarge Africa was responsible for 10.84 per cent.

The report disclosed that the sector’s contribution to employment in 2018 was 9, 873, with more Nigerian nationals employed by the sector.

In relation to gender, 96.53 per cent of jobs were occupied by men, while women took 3.47 per cent.

“Only six physically challenged persons were recorded as being employed in the sector in 2018,’’ it said.

On the contribution of the solid minerals industry to Nigeria’s GDP, the report aligned with the National Bureau of Statistics figure of N224.79 billion representing 0.18 per cent of the country’s GDP.

A breakdown of the figure showed that quarrying and other minerals accounted for 0.16 per cent while coal and metal ores accounted for 0.01 per cent each, respectively.

One other feature of the solid minerals report for 2018 is the focus on the performance of the strategic minerals identified by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

The minerals are coal; lead, zinc, limestone, barites, bitumen, gold and iron ore, adding that the seven strategic minerals mined in 2018 contributed 49.7 per cent to royalty payments declared in the year.

The report further revealed that 47 companies exported ores, concentrates and metal ingots worth 144.38 million dollars in 2018.

Ores and concentrates accounted for 34.02 million dollars with China identified as the principal destination of Nigeria’s mineral exports.

“China received 52, 500.51 metric tons of the ores and concentrates valued at 27,926,897.05 dollars which is 79.52 per cent  of the total minerals exported in 2018,’’ it added.

The report also listed Germany; South Korea, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Benin Republics as other top destinations of Nigeria’s minerals.

It added that in 2018; 1, 516 mineral titles were issued by MCO and 634 exploration Licenses were issued within the year under review.

It noted that the country’s strategic minerals accounted for 448 or 70.66 per cent of the exploration licenses issued.

The report further explained that of the 720 entities covered by the exercise, only payments by 69 companies were reconciled.

The 69 companies were entities that met the materiality threshold of N3 million and above, and paid a total of N1.7 billion which represented 86.93 per cent of the total royalty paid within the year.

In 2017,  the report noted that 59 companies that met the materiality threshold paid a total of N1.3 billion, and N1.4 billion was paid by 56 companies which met the threshold in 2016, While all payments made by companies were covered in the report, not all were reconciled.

On collections accruing to the solid mineral revenue account, the report said that the balance in the account as at December 2018 was N12.59 billion.

“The sum of N16.78 billion was the accumulated revenue from the solid minerals sector as at September 30,  2019. Out of this amount, the sum of N8.7 billion was distributed among the three tiers of government in October 2019, leaving a balance of N8.08 billion,’’ the report disclosed.

The report called on the government to develop strategies for monitoring and penalising extractive companies that fail to sign and or implement community development agreements.

It also advised that the newly introduced initiative on national gold purchase scheme be strengthened. (NAN)

ENO/BOLA/RSA

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Edited by Bola Akingbehin/Rabiu Sani Ali

Power Shortage: NGC operating Escravos – Lagos pipeline in full capacity

NGC
By Edith Ike-Eboh
Abuja, March 12, 2020(NAN) The Nigeria Gas Company(NGC) says it has been operating the 20 inch Escravos – Lagos Pipelines (ELPs) system at maximum capacity to address the epileptic power supply in the country.
A company source told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja on Thursday that the move was to ensure supply of gas to affected power plants.
NGC is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The source confirmed that the prevailing shortfall in gas supply to some power plants due tothe ongoing scheduled Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) on the 350 million standard cubic feet per day Seplat-Oven GP facility.
The maintenance, the source said, was projected to end on March 14.
According to the source, all stakeholders including Azaru Power Plc, Geregu Power Plc and Nigeria Gas Marketing Company are duly informed of the planned TAM on the facility.
The source assured that the company was working with all relevant stakeholders to achieve the desired outcome and to end the challenge in days ahead.
NAN reports that the NNPC had also assured that it would continue to work closely with other stakeholders in the power industry to ensure seamless provision of natural gas for improved power supply.
It will be recalled that the Transmission Company of Nigeria, (TCN) had attributed the current power outage being experienced across the county to shortage in gas supply to thermal power stations.
It said that situation would last for 10 days.(NAN)
ENO/ECN/DCU
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Edited by Emmanuel Nwoye/Donald Ugwu

Oil

By Edith Ike-Eboh

Abuja, March 11, 2020(NAN)The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) says,  Open Market  price of Premium Motor Spirit( PMS) also known as petrol, in the Nigerian market has dropped to N114.53 per litre.

The Agency disclosed this in the data for PMS price for Tuesday, March 10, from the Pricing Template for the commodity, released in Abuja, on Wednesday.

Giving a breakdown of the PMS pricing template, the PPPRA disclosed that cost plus freight of PMS to Nigeria stood at 379.37 dollars per metric tonne, an equivalent of N86.84 per litre.

It added that the lightering expenses stood at N2.75 per litre and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) charges stood at N0.84 per litre.

“Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) charges stood at N0.22 per litre; jetty throughput charge N0.60; storage charge N2; and financing cost N1.92; putting the landing cost of PMS at N95.16 per litre,” it noted.

Adding the total distribution margins of N19.37 per litre to the landing cost of N95.16 per litre, the agency put the Expected Open Market Price ( EOMP) of the commodity at N114.53 per litre.

The template also revealed that the ex-depot price of the commodity, which was the price at which the NNPC sold  to oil marketers, currently stood  at N125.63 per litre; while the Ex-depot price for collection stood at N133.28 per litre.

The PPPRA explained that Ex-depot for collect price comprised, ex-depot price, inclusive of bridging allowance, Marine Transportation Allowance (MTA), and administrative charge.

The EOMP of the commodity had risen to N116.22 per litre as at Monday, March 9, 2020, before dropping by 1.45 per cent to N114.53 per litre on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the prices of crude oil at the international market continued its decline on Wednesday, as WTI crude dipped by 2.62 per cent to 33.46 dollars per barrel and Brent crude also recorded a decline, dropping by 2.47 per cent to 36.30 dollars per barrel.

The price of Bonny Light, Nigeria’s flagship crude, dipped by 1.29 per cent to 36.74 dollars per barrel.( NAN)
ENO/CHOM/SH

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Edited by Chioma Ugboma/Sadiya Hamza

Solar

By Edith Ike-Eboh

Abuja, March 5, 2020 (NAN) The Nigerian Postal Service  (NIPOST)  says it is partnering Ukpa Hansa Energy Solutions Limited, an indigenous energy firm, to deploy solar energy across the country.

The PostMaster General of the Federation, Dr Ismail Adewusi, disclosed this at the unveiling of the  solar products in Abuja, on Thursday.

He said that the Federal Government was re-engineering and re-inventing NIPOST through collaboration with different stakeholders from the public and private sectors.

According to him, government is also leveraging on technology to present an array of innovative products and services aimed at meeting the divergent needs of Nigerians.

“In recent time, globalization, coupled with the growth in e-commerce aided with the advent of new communication technology, has forced many postal administrations to explore ways of expanding their frontiers.

“This is done through collaboration with relevant stakeholders in order to meet the emerging challenges in the communication sector,’’ he said.

Adewusi said this was what necessitated its renewed effort to use its extensive postal outlets to provide innovative and unique products and services to the Nigerian citizenry in collaboration with both public and private sector institutions.

“The unveiling of Hansa Green Energy Solutions, product of Ukpa Hansa Energy Solutions Limited, today is a result of such collaboration through our Agency Service and our contributions toward the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the Federal Government.

“ Today, the Post is a key vehicle to achieving the United Nations 2020 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals in all countries.

“As part of the world postal network of over 660,000 post offices, NIPOST is placed in a vantage position with about 5000 postal outlets consisting of full-fledged post offices, postal agencies and post shops, with over 12000 employees across the country.

“We are making available post office counters nationwide to Ukpa Hansa Energy Solutions Limited to markets its products to Nigerians.

“This will help in the advocacy for clean energy by delivering energy solutions. From today, this service would be available in our post offices nationwide on demand by customers,” he said

In his remarks, the Managing Director of Ukpa Hansa Energy Solutions Limited, Chief Ewie  Aimienwauu, said the partnership with NIPOST was designed to address the issue of epileptic electricity situation in the country.

He said that the idea was to take electricity to the homes of people living in remote parts of the country without the opportunity of connecting to the national grid.

Aimienwauu said that the deal would see NIPOST distribute the solar energy products at its offices and post offices across the length and breadth of the country.

He said that with the partnership, solar energy solutions would be provided to homes at affordable rates.

According to him, it will address the challenge of difficulty of low income households to enjoy stable electricity supply.

“This partnership between NIPOST and Ukpa Hansa is one that will bring succor to Nigerians; give electricity to the remotest part of Nigeria where the hope for electricity from the national grid would not materialize, even in the next 10 years.

“ With this solution, electricity would no longer be a problem,” he said. (NAN)

ENO/MAM/SOA

Edited by Modupe Adeloye/Oluwole Sogunle

Report

By Solomon Asowata
Lagos, March 5, 2020 (NAN) The Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC) says the government’s high spending on petrol subsidy poses a destabilising effect on public finance and erodes needed investment in human capital development.

This is contained in a report released in Lagos on Thursday by NNRC, a non-profit policy institute that promotes the effective management of natural resources for public good in its 2019 Benchmarking Exercise Report (BER).

The 45-page report which has the theme: ”Evaluating Petroleum Resource Management in Nigeria”, was jointly authored by a team of research institutions including Centre for Public Policy Alternatives and BudgiT.

Others are Centre for Social Justice, Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, Social Action and We The People.

The report said that the N750 billion spent on petroleum subsidy in 2019 was beneficial to the richest, and 20 per cent of Nigerians, but to the detriment of the majority of poor citizens.

“For every one naira that the Nigerian government (federal, state and local) earned in 2019, 0.136 kobo or about 13.6 per cent is allocated for subsidy,” it said.

According to the report, subsidising fuel importation in order to peg the market price at N145 has continued to deprive the country funds that could have been channeled to other critical areas of the economy.

It noted that the N450 billion budgetary provision for subsidy in the 2020 Budget was more than the entire capital spending like provisions for Agriculture (N124bn), Aviation (N52bn), Education (N84bn), Health (N59bn), Industry, Trade and Investment (N38bn) and Water Resources (N91bn).

The report, therefore, urged the government to plan towards deregulating the downstream sector in the long term and also invest in areas that would cushion the likely effect of subsidy removal.

It also called for a strong legislative oversight of the current subsidy regime by the National Assembly to ensure transparency and accountability, especially on the part of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Commenting on the report, Ms Tengi George-Ikoli, Programme Coordinator, NNRC, said the natural resource charter was a set of principles intended for use by governments and societies to determine how best to manage natural resource wealth for the benefit of current and future generation of citizens.

George-Ikoli said the speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) was pivotal to effectively managing Nigeria’s oil and gas resources which was the mainstay of its economy.

She said: ”Nigeria’s growth is directly affected by the changes in the price of crude, I avert your minds to the last economic recession in 2016-2017.

“Without proper management of Nigeria’s petroleum resources, Nigeria could fall into another recession if prices depreciate further and our outputs reduce.” (NAN)
ASO/KOLE/SOA
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Edited by Remi Koleoso/Oluwole Sogunle

Agreement

By Edith Ike-Eboh
Abuja, March 4, 2020 (NAN) The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) for  lease of one hectare of the board’s land in Polaku,  Bayelsa.

The land is for the development of a Pressure Reduction and Metering Station by Shell.

The Executive Secretary,  NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote at the signing of the agreement in Abuja, said the facility would be used for gas distribution.

Wabote signed for the board while the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) Mr E.D. Ubong signed for shell.

“The pressure reduction and metering station will be used to distribute part of the gas from Shell’s Gbarain-Ubie gas plant for domestic utilisation,” he said.

Wabotes explained that the board decided to use part of its land to catalyse the distribution and availability of natural gas to domestic gas users within Bayelsa and neighbouring states.

This, he said was in line with the agency’s vision to be a catalyst for  industrialisation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.

According to him, the availability of natural gas will open up  corridor of opportunities for new and existing investors.

He added that NCDMB was already in receipt of proposals for the location of power plants, CNG plants, and other manufacturing outfits in Polaku.

”With the extension of the gas pipeline network by SNG, more businesses can be supplied with natural gas,  thereby creating employment and enabling impactful economic activities with this partnership.

“We expect 30,000 direct and indirect jobs to be created in construction, manufacturing, and services sector within the next two years,” he said.

Speaking further, Wabote noted that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva had declared Year 2020 as the Year of Gas and NCDMB had bought  into this declaration.

He noted that the partnership with Shell Nigeria Gas would enable the provision of natural gas for power generation, feed stock, transportation, and for other industrial uses.

He added that SNG’s project aligned with the board’s 10-year roadmap which aimed to increase the level of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry to 70 per cent by 2027.

The executive secretary also said the board was delighted to partner with Shell Nigeria Gas Limited.

He noted that the company had been supplying natural gas via pipelines to industrial customers within the Agbara/Ota axis, including the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Ogun.

Others were in Aba industrial areas in Abia,  and Port Harcourt in Rivers  with a very impressive safety record.

In his remarks, Ubong conveyed Shell’s excitement to distribute gas from its Gbarain-Ubie facility to drive economic development in Bayelsa and environs.

He said  Shell was the pioneer and leader in the delivery of domestic gas.

Also, Chairman of Shell Nigeria Gas Limited, Mr Hans Nijkamp said the investment would unlock gas delivery and economic development in Bayelsa.

“Everywhere we have distributed gas, we have seen the explosion of economic activities that Shell’s domestic agenda for gas in Nigeria is very important and we have growth plans and very excited to work together with NCDMB,” he said (NAN)
ENO/CHOM/SH

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Edited by Chioma Ugboma/Sadiya Hamza