NNPC Archives - Inside Business Africa

May122021 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

$100m lost as NNPC gives bunkering service to foreigners, says SOAN

Oil & Gas

Shipowners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) has said that $100 million is lost to capital flight as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recently contracted coastal and bunkering vessel services to a foreign shipping company, Messrs UNIBROS. In a petition to the National Assembly and the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, the group said UNIBROS operates under the guise of various foreign shell companies with 11 foreign-flagged coastal tanker vessels. The petition was signed by the President of SOAN, Dr. Mkgeorge Onyung. The shipowners urged the lawmakers to carry out a thorough investigation into the contract. According to them, the action is in total breach of the Nigerian content laws, the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act (Cabotage Act) and the Presidential Exe...

Mar292021 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

Refinery: A cautioning tale for ambitious revival

Oil & Gas

If Nigeria’s refineries were a private project, a fresh profitability analysis would certainly be required before an additional naira is released for the rehabilitation. That will require a detailed analysis of the expected cash flow and funding options. But the analysis would not stop at that. The refineries have a rich history of contentious capital expenditures that would interest any individual who wishes to make a sound final investment decision (FID). Such a decision cannot be made without an extensive profile of their previous investment outlays and the entrenched culture of net losses, which have run into billions of naira. According to available records, about $25 billion has been spent on the turn-around maintenance (TAM) of the refineries so far. Successive administra...

Feb262021 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

FG to expand national grid size, leverage hubs for gas pricing

Oil & Gas

• Over 30km of welding completed on AKK project, says NNPC The Federal Government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has announced plans to increase the size of the national grid by leveraging the country’s 203.16tcf gas potential in order to resolve lingering power sector issues nationwide. Similarly, the oil company hopes to address pricing issues in the gas value-chain to increase adoption and utilisation in the industrial sector. Gas pricing and dollarisation have remained a challenge among gas providers and industrial users. Besides, the NNPC noted that the AKK project is well on course, stressing that over 30 kilometers of welding have been achieved. “We do not see anything that will stop the project. We are hoping to cross the River ...

Jan162021 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

Heirs Holdings Significantly Expands Oil and Gas Portfolio

Oil & Gas

Heirs Holdings (“HH”), the leading African strategic investor, in partnership with affiliated company Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (“Transcorp”), Nigeria’s largest publicly listed conglomerate, announced today the unconditional acquisition of a 45% participating interest in Nigerian oil licence OML 17 and related assets, through TNOG Oil and Gas Limited (a related company of Heirs Holdings and Transcorp), from the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited and ENI. In addition, TNOG Oil and Gas Limited will have sole operatorship of the asset. The transaction is one of the largest oil and gas financings in Africa in more than a decade, with a financing component of US$1.1 billion, provided by a consortium of global and regional ...

Jan152021 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

96 companies jostle for pipeline, depot rehabilitation jobs

Business

At least, 96 companies are currently lobbying for contracts to rehabilitate Nigeria’s critical downstream infrastructure, especially pipelines, depots and terminals, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) said yesterday. The national oil company said the infrastructure would be contracted on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) financing model. With the model, the assets would be operated by the private firms after they are rehabilitated before they are transferred to the government depending on the number of years contained in the contract. According to the Corporation, the public opening of the bids for the contract was in line with the NNPC’s commitment to transparency and accountability. Speaking at the virtual event, Managing Director of the Nigerian Pipeline...

Jan142021 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

NNPC cautiously hopeful about oil demand recovery, deepens gas devt

Oil & Gas

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed cautious optimism about oil demand growth, adding that it had begun the process to diversify its portfolio beyond oil assets to hedge future crisis and align with global energy transition. The oil firm noted that the country’s huge unharnessed gas resources as well as condensate could provide additional revenue that will address shortfall in the 2021 budget. The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mele Kyari, made this known on Wednesday while speaking at a virtual event, the Gulf Intelligence “Global” UAE Energy Forum 2021. Despite optimism about oil demand, Kyari said he does not see oil demand recovering to pre-Covid19 levels before the end of 2022. Even though oil prices are now at 11-month high, coronavirus-in...

Nov282020 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

Why Nigeria’s refineries are not operational – NNPC GMD

Business

The Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Mele Kyari has given reasons why the nation’s refineries are not operational. Kyari made the submission when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Upstream on Thursday at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja. The GMD appeared before the committee at a 2021 Budget Defense hearing, where he defended the Corporation’s 2021 Budget. Kyari speaking before the committee said NNPC deliberately shut down the nation’s refineries because they no longer make sense to be operated. He said that the NNPC was unable to supply crude oil to the refineries, adding that it was only the Escravos pipeline which the NNPC managed to sustain through contracting process. According to him...

Nov272020 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

Nigeria:Phase 2 rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery to start in Q1 2021

Economy

Mallam Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director at the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) has disclosed that the second phase rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery would commence in the first quarter of next year. Addressing media parley with Energy Correspondents in Abuja the MD said, “I am happy to announce that the funding challenge which had stalled the second phase of the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery has been resolved and the contract for the implementation of the works will be awarded soon. The project should commence in Q1 2021.” Revamping pipeline network Kyari also disclosed that the company is in the process of strengthening the products distribution system by revamping its pipeline network through a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model wh...

Nov272020 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

NNPC presents first budget to N’Assembly in 43 years

Business

The House of Representatives, on Thursday, hailed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for presenting its budget to the National Assembly for the first time. This was just as the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mele Kyari, told the House that all the refineries had been shut down as vandals, thieves and weakness of the pipelines were frustrating supply of crude to the facilities. Kyari also told the House that all the pipelines supplying commodities to the depots across the country had been shut due to security reasons. The NNPC had earlier in June 2020 made history by publishing its audited financial statements for the first time since 43 years of its existence. Kyari made the revelations when he appeared before the joint House Committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream...

Oct152020 by Joshua OlotuNo Comments

Amidst climate concern, stakeholders insist oil key to Africa’s future

Oil & Gas

• Growing population, dearth of investment, others worry experts Stakeholders in Africa’s energy sector have insisted that crude oil still has a major role in the continent’s future despite growing concern over climate change. The stakeholders, who gathered at the African Refiners Association (ARA) Week 2020, however, stressed the need for clean energy transition and climate change mitigation policies to address looming challenges. They also called for investments that would enable the region to achieve a proposed 10ppm (parts per million) sulphur fuels for the pan-African transport sector by 2030. This calls for upgrade of refineries, while stringent regulation should be placed on imported petroleum products. Global think tanks, including S&P Global Platts...