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Tag: NNPC

  • Beware! Fraudsters now sell crude oil inside hotel rooms – NNPC

    Beware! Fraudsters now sell crude oil inside hotel rooms – NNPC

     

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has warned the general public to beware of fraudsters who parade themselves as representatives of the corporation to sell crude oil in places outside the NNPC office.

    NNPC said the scam had become alarming to the extent that people were making oil and gas transactions in their rooms in “Nicon Hilton” (now Transcorp, a popular Abuja hotel).

    This was revealed by the Group General Manager (GGM), Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD) in Abuja on Thursday at the opening of bids for the Direct Sale and Direct Purchase (DSDP) of crude oil- a system NNPC uses to swap crude for fuel.

    “You don’t do it (sell crude oil) in Nicon Hilton, that is what is happening now. People selling crude oil in their rooms in Hilton and at the end of the day they end up collecting $50,000 or $100,000 from very gullible people and they vanish.

    “They tell them they will collect $50,000 and give it to NNPC as processing fee, there is nothing like processing fee.

    “Anybody who brings a sheet of paper and says he has crude oil, it’s not true. Crude oil is not colanut, those who know (about crude) know where to find it, it is on electronic platform, anybody can see it,” he added.

    He further said the corporation did not have any agent in Nigeria apart from its London-based subsidiary company Duke Oil involved in crude oil transaction.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, NNPC does not allocate off spec crude. There is nothing like off spec crude which is what you see in many documents flying around. NNPC does not participate in spot allocation and we don’t have cargo agreement”, he said

     

  • Suleja depot fire won’t affect supply of petroleum products – NNPC

    Suleja depot fire won’t affect supply of petroleum products – NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says a fire outbreak at its Suleja depot in Niger will not affect steady supply of petroleum products in and around the Federal Capital Territory.

    The corporation said this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu.

    The statement stated that supply of petroleum products to Niger, Nassarawa states and other parts of the country would not be affected by the incident which affected a truck at the Suleja depot at about 4 a.m. on Sunday.

    Quoting the Managing Director of the Nigeria Pipeline and Storage Company, NPSC, Mr Luke Anele, Ughamadu said a team of NNPC and Niger State Fire Service officials rapidly put out the fire.

    ”Anele affirmed that no depot equipment was damaged during the inferno.

    ”The truck was burnt at the sump pit of the Suleja Depot while evacuating mixed products meant to be decanted to the slop tank.

    ”He assured that the fire did not affect the loading section of the depot, hence, normal loading, bridging and dispatch of products have continued.

    ”Facilities in the depots are in good shape,” he said.

    Ughamadu further said the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, had been fully briefed on the incident.

    ”We urge motorists and other consumers not to engage in panic buying,” Ughamadu reiterated.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fire reportedly started around 4:30 a.m. according to Mr Mohammad Kwali, officer in charge of fire services.

  • Fire outbreak at NNPC depot, Suleja

    The Niger State Fire Service has confirmed an early morning fire outbreak at the NNPC depot in Suleja.

    Mr. Mohammad Kwale, the officer in charge of the service in Suleja, told NAN on Sunday that the outbreak affected the loading section in the depot.

    ”The outbreak started around 4:30am when we were called. By 5:00am we have put out the fire.

    ”An articulated vehicle was burnt while the loading canopy and some pipes were damaged. No life was, however, lost in the incidence,” he told NAN.

    A resident of Maje, Malam Garba Magaji, a settlement few metres away from the depot, told NAN that a loud explosion woke up the residents this morning, adding that they later understood it was from the depot.

    ”The explosion was like bomb. But a colleague of mine later informed me that it was the tyre of an articulated vehicle that bust at the loading bay.

    ”The depot has been sealed and fire service officials and the road safety are at the scene,” another eyewitness said.

  • NNPC debunks petrol price increase rumour

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has enjoined motorists in Abuja and its environs not to engage in any panic buying of petroleum products.

    It revealed that it has 1.3 billion litres stock of PMS, otherwise called petrol, which is sufficient to serve the nation for more than 38 days.

    The corporation, in a statement, said the development came on the heels of reports that some motorists have begun panic buying of petrol, following rumours that the government is about to increase the pump price of the product from N145 per litre.

    “NNPC wishes to assure Nigerians that there is no iota of truth in the rumour that government is scheduled to adjust pump price of petrol.

    “Indeed, with the resumption of production by the corporation’s three refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri, complemented by imports, there is enough stock of PMS, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), diesel and kerosene”,the statement added.

  • No plans to increase petrol pump price – NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has said the general public should disregard rumours flying around that it intends increasing prices of petroleum products in the country.

    In a statement released on Wednesday in Abuja by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, the Corporation further assured motorists that there was enough supply in stock.

    “The Corporation has 1.3 billion litres stock of PMS, otherwise called petrol, which is sufficient to serve the nation for more than 38 days.

    “This plea comes on the heels of reports that some motorists have begun panic buying of petrol, following rumours that the government is about to increase the pump price of the white product from N145 per litre.

    “NNPC wishes to assure Nigerians that there is no iota of truth in the rumour that government is scheduled to adjust pump price of petrol.

    “Indeed, with the resumption of production by the Corporation’s three refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri, complemented by imports, there is enough stock of petrol‎, diesel and kerosene.”

    Ughamadu recalled that this point was explained on Tuesday NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Refineries, Mr. Anibor Kragha while briefing the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream in a presentation on the current status of the refineries at the National Assembly in Abuja.

    He said, “In the presentation, Kragha told the legislators that the nation’s three refineries produced additional volumes of 4.6 million litres of kerosene and 7.7 million litres of diesel.

    “This in addition to millions of litres of petrol being refined daily at the nation’s refineries.

    “The assurances of availability of stock by the NNPC Chief Operation Officer of the Refineries yesterday still stands.”

     

    NAN

  • P-Harcourt, Kaduna, Warri refineries resume kerosene, diesel production

    Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday, announced that the Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri refineries had resumed production of Dual Purpose Kerosene, DPK, and Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, otherwise known as kerosene and diesel respectively.

    Similarly, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, blamed the current scarcity and high cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, nationwide on the inability of its LPG vessel to berth and discharge its contents at the Apapa ports since December 29, 2016, due to congestion of the port facility.

    The NNPC, in a statement in Abuja, disclosed that the refineries started producing both commodities since Saturday, and were currently producing more than six million litres of kerosene and seven million litres of diesel on a daily basis.

    According to the NNPC, the resumption of refining of AGO and DPK was expected to balance the disequilibrium in demand and supply of the products being experienced in parts of the country.

    Speaking on the production level of the Warri refinery, Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, WRPC, Mr. Solomon Ladenegan, said the plant had been doing well since the Crude Distillation Unit, CDU, was revved up on Saturday, January 7, 2017.

    He explained that the refinery resumed production Saturday at about 10:22hours, with the plant’s CDU functioning, saying that the plant now refine two million litres of kerosene and three million litres of diesel daily.

    According to him: “This morning (yesterday), we have pumped the products to PPMC and they have started loading. They are going to load up to one million litres of DPK and AGO. The products are there in the tank and we are doing everything to get them to the market.”

    In the same vein, Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, PHRC, Mr. Bafred Enjugu, said the Port Harcourt refinery was producing three million litres of AGO daily, in addition to millions of DPK being churned out by the refinery daily.

    Enjugu explained that the company’s operators were thrilled having rehabilitated the old Port Harcourt refinery where the production of AGO was being carried out by themselves without the deployment of foreign expertise.

    Furthermore, the NNPC also stated that the Kaduna Refinery had roared into action, producing millions of litres products to ease out the situation in supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide.

    Meanwhile, the NLNG, in a statement by its General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke said: “For instance, NLNG’s dedicated LPG vessel has been unable to discharge LPG at the Apapa port since 29th December 2016 due to jetty unavailability, resulting in temporary product shortages in the market. Nigeria LNG’s domestic LPG price is based on an international price index plus 50 per cent of the shipping cost of delivering the product to receiving facilities in Apapa-Lagos. That price is invoiced in Naira at the prevailing official interbank exchange rates, contrary to erroneous assertions.

    “The reality of this is that although LPG is produced and consumed locally, the product like crude oil is an internationally traded commodity with an international price benchmark, open to global demand and supply pressures.

    “NLNG however softens the impact of price variations by continuing to subsidise the cost of transporting about 40 per cent of total domestic market share which it supplies from its production facility on Bonny Island.”

  • Fuel scarcity looms as NUPENG declares 3-day nationwide strike

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has declared a nationwide strike beginning from today.

    The strike which will affect the flow of petrol to filling stations, has shut down seven crude flow stations in the Niger Delta, a union official said on Wednesday.

    The strike is in protest over pay and job losses. NUPENG is one of several labour unions that have criticised oil companies for sacking workers in the last few months.

    “Filling stations, petrol tankers and all NUPENG members are involved,” Cogent Ojobo, NUPENG’s Warri zonal chairman, said.

    The union said the strike would last for three days and involve around 10,000 workers.

    Ojobo said union officials would hold talks with the labour minister in the capital, Abuja, later on Wednesday. “If the issues at stake are resolved and a communiqué signed, the strike would be called off,” he said.

    He also said workers had gone on strike at seven crude oil flow stations in and around Oleh, a town in Delta state, which is in the Niger Delta.

    “Seven flow stations belonging to NPDC were shut by the workers and they are still shut now,” Ojobo said. He also said the workers, who are employed by contractors, say they have not been paid. The flow stations were shut on Tuesday.

    The Labour ministry spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

    Nigeria has been hit hard by a slump in crude oil prices in the past two years, which helped to push the country into recession. A wave of militant attacks in the southern Niger Delta oil hub throughout 2016 has hampered production.

    Ndu Ughamadu, a spokesman for Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the state-run oil company NNPC, said checks were being made to establish whether the Niger Delta flow stations had been affected.

    Last week, NUPENG held a strike at Total’s fuel depots in a protest over sackings, but it was suspended after one day after an agreement was reached. No details have emerged about the deal.

  • ‘Refineries to work in full capacity by 2017’

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Tuesday, said it would rehabilitate the three local refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna to achieve optimal capacity utilization in 2017.

    In a statement signed by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division (NNPC) in Abuja, the Chief Operating Officer, Refineries of the NNPC, Mr. Anibor Kragha, stated that 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 15 to 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.” he said

    He added that once the exercise was achieved, the refineries in due course would draw up a chart for routine Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) Programme as and when due.

    Kragha explained that though the plan was still on course, none of the projected co-location refineries would come on stream in 2017 based on existing timeline for assemblage of the plants.

    ‘’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 percent certain,’’ he said.

    Meanwhile, Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company, Mr. Mukhtar Maiha, said KRPC was working towards a target of 75 per cent capacity utilization in the New Year based on projected supply of one cargo of crude oil per month.

  • Senate probes alleged $4bn non-remittance by NNPC, NPDC

    Senate probes alleged $4bn non-remittance by NNPC, NPDC

    The Senate says it is set to investigate alleged unlawful misappropriation of 4 billion dollars by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd(NPDC), since 2013.

    This followed a motion moved by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Dino Melaye at plenary on Tuesday.

    Melaye alleged that the diversion of oil revenue between the two agencies of government had continued unabated since 2013.

    According to him, the NDPC has continued to lift crude oil from divested oil wells OML 61, 62, and 63, worth over 3.5 billion dollars without remittance to the federation account.

    He also said that NDPC had continued to lift crude oil from divested oil wells OML 65, 111 and 119 to the tune of 1.85 billion dollars, out of which only 100 million dollars had been remitted.

    “While this practice may have started before the present administration, it has continued under the watch of the new administration without abating.

    “In 2016 alone, between January and August, a total of 344.442 million dollars worth of oil was lifted by NPDC without remittance to Federation Account and also not paying royalties and other taxes on lifting.

    The lawmaker expressed concern that such amount of money could be diverted at a time when the country was facing severe economic challenges.

    He said that the amount so far withheld could add 4,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, build about 11 world-class teaching hospitals, six healthcare centres each in the 774 local governments, among other s.

    Supporting the motion, the Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, commended Melaye for making such important information available to the senate.

    He wondered how such level of corruption could go on in a country currently facing recession.

    Ndume urged the senate to carry out a thorough investigation into the allegation with a view to unraveling the level of corruption going on in the sector.

    He said, “I support the motion. I want to emphasise that whenever the Senate receives something like, this we should know the seriousness we need to attach to it.

    “You can imagine what 3.5 billion dollars will do to the economy in the face of recession.’’

    On his part, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP- Abia North), said the allegation, if found to be true, was an infringement on the 1999 Constitution (Amended).

    He further said that those involved should be made to immediately pay the money into the consolidated revenue account.

    The lawmaker called on members of the joint committee to suspend their Christmas vacation so as to conclude findings and report back to the Senate in January 2017.

    The Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Communication, Sen. Solomon Adeola, said that the revelation was a wakeup call for the Senate to use its powers to unravel irregularities going on oil in the sector.

    According to him, the figures quoted in the motion are alarming, following the difficulties encountered by the Federal Government in implementing the 2016 budget.

    He said, “There has been continued allegation of corruption in the oil sector for years but nobody bothers to ask questions.

    “This is a task this present Senate must see to a logical conclusion to serve as deterrent.’’

    However, the Chairman Senate Committee of Gas, Sen. Bassey Akpan, drew the attention of the senate to the fact that part of the information provided in the motion was already in court.

    He pointed out that allegation of crude oil lifting from divested oil wells OML 61, 62 and 63 was already in court adding that acting on it would amount to contempt of court.

    He said, “In as much as I am not against the content of this motion, the issue of NPDC and unremitted funds has been there for a long time and the issue of the oil wells has been investigated by the 7 Senate.’’

    In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, called on the committees to thoroughly investigate the agencies and report to the senate in plenary on Jan. 9, 2017.

    He said the senate would continue to resist attempts to sabotage the effort of the current administration in the fight against corruption.

    “As part of our legislative agenda we made a pledge to the electorate that we must put an end to this level of misappropriation and recklessness.

    “This must stop and I believe that these committees have the duty to ensure to get to the bottom of this.

    “The frightening part about this is that it is not just about OML 61, 62 and 63.

    “Secondly and even more worrisome is that they did it in the last administration and they are still carrying out the practice. We must put an end to this.

    “We cannot continue with a situation where people are sabotaging the effort to fight corruption.

    “We ask ourselves, where are the Minister of Petroleum, the Auditor-General and anti-corruption agencies,’’ he said.

    Saraki called on relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and all anti-graft agencies to carry out their responsibilities effectively to stem the tide.

    The Senate, therefore, mandated its Joint Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Petroleum Downstream and Finance to immediately commence investigation into the allegation through public hearing and submit report on Jan. 9, 2017.

    The upper chamber further mandated NNPC and NPDC to immediately remit monies obtained on behalf of the Federal Government to the Federation Account.

    It also directed the NNPC to as a matter of urgency forward its yearly estimates for repairs and pipeline operations and maintenance to the National Assembly for appropriation.

  • NNPC set to increase oil, gas reserves

    NNPC set to increase oil, gas reserves

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has pledged to improve reserves and production capacity of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

    Dr. Baru made the pledge in a statement by Mr Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC Group Managing Director, Group Public Affairs Division, in Abuja on Thursday.

    Baru described NPDC, which is the corporation’s exploration and production subsidiary, as showing a conspicuously excellent growth in its proven reserves.

    He told Governor Godwin Obaseki during a courtesy visit in Benin, that he would expand NPDC footprints within the nation’s upstream sub-sector of the nation’s oil and gas industry.

    “As part of our 12 Business Focus Areas, we are dedicated to growing NPDC, thereby increasing our reserves portfolio.

    “We will not relent until NPDC exceeds its current position of being the 7th largest oil producer in Nigeria.

    “To achieve this, the NNPC would aggressively explore opportunities in other petroleum acreages in Nigeria and with particular interest in the Gulf of Guinea.’’

    According to him, NNPC is working hard to improve the portfolio of services rendered to the oil industry by its second Edo-based upstream outfit – the Integrated Data Services Company (IDSL).

    “The long term objective is for IDSL to be on its own so as to actualise its vision of becoming the ultimate centre for the provision of geophysical and petroleum engineering services in the industry,” he said.

    He lauded the state for remaining “relatively peaceful’’ with least incidents of pipeline vandalism and sabotage, compared to other areas in the Niger Delta.

    He assured Obaseki that the corporation would redouble its community engagement by championing more corporate social responsibility efforts within host communities in Edo.

    Governor Obaseki, who described NNPC as “very important to Edo State‘s economy”, also pledged to make the stste a hub for the corporation.

    He said the government was working hard to improve on its local security plans by encouraging community policing and intelligence gathering to safeguard oil and gas facilities in the state.

    Baru also paid homage to the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare, where he sought for the monarch’s support in the area of sensitising host communities to the advantages of protecting the nation’s oil and gas assets.