TheNewsGuru

Tag: Natural Gas

  • STRIKE! NUPENG orders workers to ensure full compliance

    STRIKE! NUPENG orders workers to ensure full compliance

    Four days to October 3 nationwide strike the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has directed members, to ensure full compliance.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) recalls strike was announced by Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC.

    NUPENG, said the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD; Petrol Stations Workers, PSW; Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers, LPGAR, and all other allied workers in the value chain of petroleum products distribution must comply with the strike from midnight of Tuesday, October 3.

  • PENGASSAN accuses Military, Police, others of oil theft

    PENGASSAN accuses Military, Police, others of oil theft

    The President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Festus Osifo, has hinted that the heads of the Nigerian Military, Police and other security agencies collude to steal crude oil in the Niger Delta.

    This revelation was made known during his appearance at the one-day public hearing of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee to investigate oil lifting, theft and the impact on petroleum production and oil revenues

    The seminar was presided over by Senator Albert Bassey Akpan at the floor of the Red chamber.

    Osifo   lamented the involvement of security who post their personnel to the Niger Delta to serve their interest illicitly.

    “The stakeholders all know clearly what is happening. It is not that people don’t know the problem.

    “One of the greatest problems we have, which nobody has highlighted, is that there is a strong collusion of our security forces. There is no doubt about it.

    “From our Army to our Naval officers, we have some information that they pay their superiors to post them to some areas in the Niger Delta.

    “I think the people who have solutions to this problem are not even the ones sitting here. They are the ones you will invite behind the camera.”

    Prior to Osifo’s revelation, the Committee Chairman, Senator Albert Bassey Akpan expressed disappointment and displeasure over endless oil theft  ravaging Niger-Delta  communities.

    He disclosed that committee members have paid a visit to the Niger Delta on sight seeing, stressing that after the inspection of some terminals, they left Port Harcourt.

    Akpan said, “As a Committee of the Senate, we have the privilege of carrying out extensive on the spot assessment of where we found ourselves. It might interest you to know that we spent over seven days in Port Harcourt trying to find out the conditions of onshore and offshore being briefed by the relevant stakeholders.

    “The first thing we needed to do is get a convincing understanding of what the institution is passing through and nobody was happy when we left.

    “As a Committee, when we talk about oil theft, it’s on a daily basis. It’s also not good that the short fall based on our inability to meet the oil quota is as a result of oil theft.

    “Mr President, my distinguished colleagues, we share instances of Bonny terminal which is run by Shell Petroleum. This terminal over a year ago was exporting 60 tankers of crude oil with a minimum of one million barrels of crude oil per tanker per month.

    “But in the last seven months, not one barrel of crude oil has passed through that terminal, so you can imagine the huge loss and we are here as a country struggling to meet up with our economic challenges.

    “The MTEF that has been submitted to us, the Federal government is seeking a budget deficit of over N11 trillion and here we are as a country shutting oil production over 700 million barrels.”

    The committee will draft its report and forward to the appropriate quarters for measures to be taken to stop oil theft in those communities.

     

  • Reps to investigate Trans-Saharan Natural Gas Pipeline project

    Reps to investigate Trans-Saharan Natural Gas Pipeline project

    The House of Representatives is determined to investigate the delay in the commencement of the Trans-Saharan Natural Gas Pipeline project.

    The decision came following a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Ahmed Munir (APC-Kaduna state) at the plenary on Wednesday.

    Munir while moving the motion said that on Jan. 14, 2002, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Algerian National Oil and Gas Company (Sonatrach) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a 12 billion dollars pipeline project.

    He said that the plans was to construct 4,128 kilometers of natural gas pipelines with a projected annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters that will extend gas supply to Europe.

    According to him, in June 2005, the NNPC and Sonatrach signed a contract with Penspen Limited for a feasibility study of the project, which was completed in September 2006.

    The lawmaker said that the pipeline was discovered to be technically and economically feasible and reliable which, in turn, led to the inter-governmental agreement on the pipeline signed by the Energy Ministers of Nigeria, Niger, and Algeria on July 3, 2009 in Abuja;

    “In 2013, the Federal Government approved a budget of 400 million dollars for commencement of the project originally scheduled to be operational by 2020 with no commensurate progress made to date.

    “Cognisant that a new Gas Master Plan (GMP) needs to be crafted due to the current geopolitical realities such as; the newly completed 20, 000 barrel per day Zinder Refinery in the Niger Republic, new Niger-Benin Republic Pipeline due for completion in 2023, and the discovery and exploitation of hydrocarbons in commercial quantity in the Lake Chad Region of Chad Republic.

    “Also the prospects of oil and gas on the Nigerian side of Lake Chad, the discovery of hydrocarbons in Bauchi, a spike in the cost of hydrocarbon, security situation along the right of way across the Sahel, as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict leading to Western Nations looking for alternative options to meet energy demands.

    “The successful completion of this vital project will create jobs, spur economic growth, and enhance energy and regional security,” he said.

    The house urged NNPC to provide information regarding the implementation, funding, utilisation, and status of the project.

    The green chamber also urged NNPC to review the National Gas Master Plan relating to the project to conform to the variables of today’s global economy.

    In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker of the House Rep. Idris Wase mandated the Committee on Gas Resources to ensure compliance and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

  • NNPC produces 218.37bn cbf of natural gas in March

    NNPC produces 218.37bn cbf of natural gas in March

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that 218.37billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in March 2020, translating to an average daily production of 7493.65Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (mmscfd).

    This was contained in NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report for March, 2020, a release by the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, stated.

    The release said 3,119.89BCF of gas was produced for the period March 2019 to March 2020, representing an average daily production of 7,912.05mmscfd during the period.

    It explained that period-to-date production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and NPDC contributed about 69.37 per cent, 21.67 per cent and 8.95 per cent, respectively, to the total national gas production.

    Out of the 218.37BCF of gas supplied in March 2020, according to the report, 120.73BCF of gas was commercialized, consisting of 33.45BCF and 87.28BCF for the domestic and export market respectively, translating to 1,235.56mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,817.40mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.

    The report said 55.63% of the average daily gas produced was commercialized, while the balance of 44.37% was re-injected, used as Upstream fuel gas or flared.
    Gas flare rate was 9.08 per cent for the month under review i.e. 679.54mmscfd, compared with average gas flare rate of 8.43 per cent i.e. 666.90mmscfd for March 2019 to March 2020.

    During the month under review, the report also announced a trading deficit of ₦9.53billion for March 2020 compared to the ₦3.95billion surplus posted in February 2020.

    The report declared that the over 300 per cent decline in March 2020 earnings was due primarily to the huge decrease of 181 per cent in the National Oil Company’s Upstream Subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company’s (NPDC) due to the decline in crude oil prices precipitated by the Coronavirus-induced global slowdown which it stated led to reduced exports and dwindling world oil consumption; combined with deficits posted by the refineries, among others.

    The NNPC MFOR indicated a total crude oil & gas export sale of $256.19million in March 2020 which decreased by 30.89 per cent, compared to last month’s. Of the total sales, crude oil export sales contributed $184.59million (72.05 per cent) of the dollar transactions compared with $281.14million contribution in the previous month; while the export gas sales amounted to $71.60million in the month.

    The March 2019 to March 2020 crude oil and gas transactions indicated that crude oil & gas worth $4.95billion was exported.

    In the Downstream, to ensure continuous availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol, and effective distribution of the product across the country, 1.73billion litres of PMS, translating to 59.72mn liters/day were supplied for the month.

    The corporation stated that it had continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of PMS to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the Nation.

    Within the period under review, 19 pipeline points were vandalized representing about 47 per cent decrease from the 32 points recorded in February 2020. Atlas Cove-Mosimi accounted for 53 per cent, while Mosimi-Ibadan recorded 21 per cent and Suleja-Minna accounted for the remaining 26 per cent.

    The report assured that NNPC, in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, continuously strived to reduce the menace to the barest level.

    The March 2020 MFO report of the NNPC is the 56th edition in the series that began in 2016.
    The corporation carried its adherence to transparency and accountability a notch higher last week, 19th March, 2020 when it published its 2018 Audited Financial Report, a move that has received accolades from transparency watchdogs locally and internationally, in addition to endorsement by many Nigerians who encouraged other government agencies to follow suit.