Kachikwu Deploys NNPC Staff to Fuel Stations for Monitoring

Kachikwu Deploys NNPC Staff to Fuel Stations for Monitoring Duty

 

 

 

 

In a bid to ensure the total eradication of queues from fuel stations across the country, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has ordered the deployment of NNPC staff to filling stations across the country for effective monitoring of the distribution system.

Speaking at an emergency meeting with senior staff of the corporation at the NNPC Towers, Dr. Kachikwu said though there were a number of challenges in the supply and distribution system that hamper efficient distribution of products across the country, it was time for NNPC to rise above the challenges by ensuring that the special intervention supplies are not diverted or hoarded.

“This calls for effective monitoring of the supply system, especially at the end points, to ascertain that what is trucked out from the depots is delivered at the designated fuel stations and dispensed to the public in the most efficient manner. We need you to be out there to help achieve this; we can’t be at ease while Nigerians are going through so much pain to get fuel”, Dr. Kachikwu stated.

He challenged staff to volunteer for the monitoring exercise, adding that standing up to provide creative solutions to challenges was what the new NNPC is all about.

The Minister urged the staff to work towards achieving zero-queues at their respective stations as soon as possible, adding that they should be ready to sacrifice their Christmas break if need be.

Also speaking at the emergency meeting, the Group Executive Director, Commercial& Investment, Dr. Victor Adeniran, called on staff on monitoring duties to work closely with the Rapid Response Team by reporting any situation that needs urgent intervention such as low stock, delayed arrival of trucks or any underhand dealing.

Explaining further, Dr. Adeniran said the Rapid Response Team is made up of PPMC staff and representatives of law enforcement agencies that can adequately handle any challenge, adding that so far, about 200 trucks of the special intervention stock have arrived Abuja.

He called on the staff deployed for monitoring duties to be vigilant and ensure that all the petrol designated for their respective stations is delivered and dispensed to members of the public in a most efficient manner.

  

Meanwhile, in continuation of the special intervention fuel supply for the Yuletide season, another 567 trucks have been dispatched nationwide today. 

Shell, BG Shareholders To Vote On Merger In January

Shell, BG Shareholders To Vote On Merger In January

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shell and BG Group shareholders are expected to vote on the merger of the two companies on Jan. 27 and 28, respectively.

  Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group shareholders are expected to vote on the merger of the two companies on Jan. 27 and 28, respectively, the firms said on Monday.

Shareholder approval is the final remaining hurdle to clear Shell's takeover of its smaller rival, one of the largest energy deals in a decade that will create the world's most powerful liquefied natural gas (LNG) trader.

Worth $70 billion at the time of the offer in April, it is worth about $53 billion at current market valuations.

BG asked Britain's High Court on Monday for approval to publish its scheme document and to convene the shareholder meetings, the companies said.

Court approval is expected on Tuesday, the companies said, followed by the publication of BG's scheme document and the Shell shareholder prospectus.

Following shareholder approval, the delisting of an acquired company's shares typically takes around 10 working days. This means Shell's takeover of BG could complete in mid-February.

Tullow Oil Discovers Oil at Etom-2 Well in Northern Kenya

Tullow Oil Discovers Oil at Etom-2 Well in Northern Kenya

Tullow Oil plc announced Tuesday that the Etom-2 well in Block 13T, Northern Kenya, has encountered 334 feet of net oil pay in two columns.

Drilled by the PR Marriott 46 rig to a final depth of 5,429 feet, the well’s objective was to explore the Etom structure in an untested fault block identified by recent 3D seismic. Oil samples, sidewall cores and wire line logging all indicate the presence of high API oil in the best quality reservoir encountered in the South Lokichar Basin to date, according to a Tullow statement. Additional prospectivity identified on the 3D seismic in the north of the basin, including the Erut and Elim prospects, will now be considered as part of a future exploration drilling program.

Angus McCoss, Tullow Oil plc exploration director, commented in a company statement: “We are delighted with the Etom-2 well which encountered over 328 feet of net oil play in the best reservoirs in the basin so far. Discovering this thick interval of high quality oil reservoirs further underpins our development options and resource base. The result follows careful evaluation of 3D seismic data which was shot after the Etom-1 well and demonstrates how we have improved our understanding of the South Lokichar Basin. This result also suggests significant potential in this underexplored part of the block as it is the most northerly well we have drilled in South Lokichar and is located close to the axis of the basin away from the basin-bounding fault. Accordingly, we will review the potential of the greater Etom area and neighbouring prospects to decide on our forward program.”

The PR Marriott 46 rig will now move to Block 12A where it will spud the Cheptuket-1 well around year end. This will be the first well to be drilled in the Kerio Valley Basin. Tullow operates block 13T with 50 percent equity interest and is partnered by Africa Oil Corporation, which holds the remaining 50 percent interest.

NNPC sings Of Supplies As Scarcity Goes Acute

NNPC Sings Of Supplies As Scarcity Goes Acute

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has since weekend been announcing same old measures that failed to address fuel supply concerns, saying it has directed both the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) to release more fuel to the market.

However, the question remains whether the corporation had deliberately been withholding supplies to the market.

It appears that the corporation is totally out of wits and the new Petroleum Minister, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has been riding on familiar rhetoric in playing to the gallery.

For over two months now, Dr. Kachikwu who has been boastful of his silver touch in making the corporation deliver on its key mandates of fuelling economic and social growth of the country has been churning out more press releases than fuel in an apparent confusion about what next measure to take.

From daily truck out figures which revealed concentration of supplies to the north of the country to lame directives on incapacitated refineries, PPMC and PPPRA, Dr. Kachuikwu has been desperate to impress angry Nigerians who have been bearing protracted brunt of the government’s inability to close widening supply gaps in the market.

For the umpteenth time, Dr. Kachikwu weekend directed PPMC and PPPRA to embark on renewed special supply intervention measures to ensure a country-wide availability of petroleum products ahead of the forthcoming yuletide and beyond.

But PPPRA is not a supply factor in the market while PPMC appears to have exhausted its capacity to intervene in the worsening supply situation.

Private marketers that account for market wetness have chorused the need for government to address fiscal issues like foreign exchange scarcity, falling Naira value and debt overhang in the subsidy mechanism.

But NNPC in a stated that the special supply intervention mechanism is limited to truck out from existing stock located in places remote from the market.

It however added that it is consolidating strategic alliance with some major depot owners and oil marketers with strong regional logistics to ensure maximum outreach of products in the hinterland ahead of the Christmas and New year festivities. 

While calling on members of the public to refrain from hoarding, product diversion and panic buying of petrol, the corporation noted that the intervention measure would help circumvent the challenges posed by the unavailability of pipelines for the transportation of petroleum products.

It noted that product diversion is an economic crime and warned that it will not hesitate to report offenders to the security agencies for prosecution.  

 

NNPC/SNEPCo showers gifts on Innercity pupils

 

 

 

 

The General Manager, Offshore Assets of the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), Mr. Effy Okon, in a dance with pupils of the Innercity Mission School, Ikeja, Lagos, at the SNEPCo-sponsored 2015 Christmas party... on Monday.

 

 

 

NNPC/SNEPCo showers gifts on school children at end of year party pupils of the Innercity Mission School, Lagos were proud hosts of a Christmas party organised by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) on Monday (Dec 14).  In keeping with the mood of the Yuletide, the pupils and the school received a variety of gifts including school bags, book shelves, television sets and audio visual aids.

“We do this every year to bring smiles to the faces of the less-privileged and to send the message of hope to Nigerians,” said SNEPCo Managing Director, Bayo Ojulari, who was represented at the event by the company’s General Manager, Offshore Assets, Effy Okon. He added, “Our choice of the Innercity Mission School is in appreciation of the shared values between the mission and SNEPCo. We remain committed to working with our senior partner, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and co-venturers, to provide opportunities to Nigerians who otherwise would be out of school and thus deprived of developing their full potential that may significantly benefit society.”

Director of the mission, Victor Aregbe, described the “relentless support from NNPC and SNEPCo” as exemplary. He recalled that the school’s ICT centre and well-equipped library donated by the NNPC/SNEPCo had transformed learning in the school. The Innercity Mission School is a charity initiative of the Innercity Mission for Children. The school, with the support of partners and donors, provides nursery and primary education to indigent children free of any charges including the provision of school uniforms, educational supplies, breakfast, lunch and transportation to and from the school.

SNEPCo is the offshore subsidiary of Shell in Nigeria and operates the Bonga floating, production, storage and offloading vessel as contractor under a production sharing contract with the NNPC, which holds the lease for OML 118. SNEPCo holds a 55% contractor interest of the OML. The other co-venturers are Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd (20%), Total E&P Nigeria Ltd (12.5%), and Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd (12.5%).

Twenty-One Firms win Nigeria 2016 crude oil term contracts

 

 

Twenty-One Firms win Nigeria 2016 crude oil term contracts

Despite the highly hyped reforms in Nigeria’s oil export term contracts, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Thursday rolled out a new list of traders that would lift the country’s crude oil for sale in the international market in 2016.

The list nearly invalidates the claims by the corporation that is weeding out middlemen from the export programme and deal mainly with refiners and their representatives.

According to a statement from the spokesman of NNPC, Mr. Ohi Algebe, the beneficiaries of the term contracts are divided into five categories comprising refiners, foreign traders and indigenous traders. It also waters down the Nigerian Content value of the crude lifting business by conceding over 60 percent of the total volumes to foreign entities.

Before now, government had used crude lifting contracts to groom indigenous companies to participate in the lucrative crude oil export market by reserving substantial volumes of the commodity for local traders some of whom partner with foreign multinational traders in order to learn the trade routes and tricks.

However, the list rolled out by NNPC saw France's oil giant Total and international trading firms Trafigura and Vitol in the front line of the 21 companies handed crude oil term lifting contracts for 2016.

Other beneficiaries include India National Oil Company, Emirates National Oil Company, the trading arms of Shell and ExxonMobil, and indigenous trader Sahara Energy.

Mr. Alegbe said the term contracts were distributed in five categories -- international refineries, international oil traders, indigenous oil trading companies, affiliates of International Oil Companies, and downstream operators.

The current list compared with 46 companies handed contracts for the 2015 period, which expired in May.

But it was much bigger than a pruned down list of 16 that NNPC Chief Executive Emmanuel Kachikwu envisaged in August in a bid to instill transparency and probity in the award of contracts and the management of the country's oil resources.

NNPC said in August it would only consider companies for the lucrative contracts that showed proof of business integrity and were ready to sign an undertaking to comply strictly with Nigerian anti-corruption laws.

The 991,661 b/d of various Nigerian crude grades on offer this time around, which is about 47.2% of the country's current production of 2.1 million b/d, is also lower than the export of around 1.17 million b/d in previous contracts, reflecting the drop in the country's oil output.

A breakdown of the 2015/2016 crude oil term contract off-takers for the 991, 661 bpd Nigerian equity crude indicate that 240, 000 bpd representing 24 percent of the total volume on offer is awarded to four Refiners classified as major current receivers of Nigerian Crude with capacity to process all of Nigerian crude grades. The Off-takers in this category include: Emirates National Oil Coy, ENOC, Indian Oil Corporation, CEPSA Refinery Madrid and Sara SPA Refinery. Each of the Off-takers in this category was awarded 60, 000 bpd. 

Three notable International Trading Companies, namely Trafigura PT Ltd, Mercuria Energy Trading SA and Vitol SA won the bid for the lifting of 32, 000 bpd of crude based on their pedigree as large scale buyers of Nigerian Crude with structure for short term freight intervention and storage. The off-takers in this category represent about 10 percent of total crude volume on offer.

Trading Affiliates of International Oil Companies consisting of ENI Trading and Shipping SPA, TOTSA Total Oil Trading SA, Exxon Sale and Supply LLC and Shell Western Supply and Trading received term allocation of 32, 000 bpd each totaling 128, 000 bpd representing about 13 percent of total volume of crude oil on offer.

Nigerian downstream players with wide experience in crude trading and large asset base accounts for 405, 000 bpd representing about 41 percent of total crude volume on offer. In this category, Emo Oil & Petrochemical Coy/China Zhenhea- an NNPC long term trader is allocated 45, 000 bpd. Other off-takers in this category include: Northwest Petroleum and Gas Ltd, 45, 000 bpd,  Forte Oil, 45, 000 bpd, Oando PLC, 60, 000 bpd, Sahara Energy Resource Ltd, 60, 000 bpd,  A.A. Rano Nig. Ltd, 45, 000 bpd, Eterna Oil, 45, 000 bpd and MRS Oil &Gas Coy Ltd 60, 000 bpd.

NNPC Trading Companies Calson/Hyson 32, 000 bpd and Duke Oil Incorporated 90, 000 bpd account for combined off-take of 122, 000 bpd representing about 12 percent of total volume on offer.

Apart from ensuring transparency, the companies were carefully chosen based on their track records and trading experience to ensure that Nigerian crude cargoes are not left unsold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Petroleum Players Crown Okwuosa Leader

 Petroleum Players Crown Okwuosa Leader

Sopuruchi Onwuka

It is an unusual event for the different spectrums of the Nigerian petroleum industry to pool together and confer awards to highly distinguished professionals that stand out with tall achievements. It becomes even more remarkable for one man to stand out with an award so highly coveted and regarded as a mark of exceptional accomplishments.

The 2015 Award Dinner hosted on the platform of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria  (PETAN) on the 3rd of December, provided the forum for all industry groups including the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) and Nigerian Association of Indigenous Petroleum Companies (NAIPEC) to jointly applaud the rising industry profile of the Executive Chairman of Oilserv Limited Group, Engr. Chukwuemeka Obiora Okwuosa.

It was the first time, pan industry groups in the petroleum sector supported the hands of PETAN in such a grand manner, in applauding the sacrifices and contributions of indigenous veterans, players and institutions that have advanced growth and development technology, best practices, expertise and excellence.

In the various categories, medals and several accolades, were bestowed on the top shelf of the Nigerian petroleum industry stalwarts that have left footprints of gold behind them. Eminent personalities that underscore the stature of those celebrated include Late Dr. Rilwanu Lukman who received a post humous award; former Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Egbogah; former Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Gaius Obaseki; fromer Group Executive Director of NNPC, Alhaji Sanni Bello; former Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu; and Mrs Callista Azogu.

Other notable awardees included oil industry business icons Shawley Coker, Pedro Egbe, Steven Aribeana, Sam Adegboyega, Dr Diran Fawibe, Charles Ngoka and Ugo Ralph Ekezie.

Also, institutions whose contributions were appreciated with respect and gratitude of the industry include Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Neconde Limited and First bank PLC. They were honored for their significant advancement of the development of the Nigerian oil industry in 2015.

For a number of obvious reasons, the Lifetime Achievement Award established Mr. Emeka Okwuosa, eminent industry engineer, multiple investor and business leader as the primus inter peres who tests the waters, pushes back frontiers and provides growth models for peers and competitors. He leads innovation among indigenous firms in the industry; he justifies patronage for his groups through demonstration of robust capacity to deliver on toughest industry mandates; and wrestles jobs from where angels fear thread!

The citation of Mr. Okwuosa is a short history of long achievements which were delivered in quick succession, amplifying the business acumen and professional dexterity with which he built a cluster of companies that form the Oilserv Group.

With over 33 years of engineering experience in full industry service loop, teaching, project management, business administration, Mr. Okwuosa has also traversed the global petroleum plays and accumulated variegated experiences in different challenging terrains of the world’s continents.

He flew Nigeria’s flag with professional competence while in the services of Schlumberger where he functioned in different positions: from Field Engineer to Technical Manager the company’s operations in Europe, Asia and Africa.

It is with the rich wealth of experience, blend of global technologies and innate passion for excellence that Mr. Okwuosa established and developed the Oilserv Limited to localise and domesticate global industry technology and expertise for in-country execution of petroleum industry jobs in Nigeria.

Oilserv Limited Group comes with wide range of technical services that include engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and maintenance of pipelines and facilities in the most challenging of terrains - the Niger Delta. The company has today become a major pipeline development factor in the country, region, and continent.

The company is also the key project driver in realization of Nigeria’s new gas infrastructure development under the ambitious Nigerian Gas Masterplan evolved to optimise the economic gains of the country’s vast natural gas resources. Oilserv also holds sway in other petroleum industry regions across Africa.

The company’s ISO 9001:2008 certification is a clear testimony of its compliance to most stringent global quality standards and operation efficiency.

Also riding on similar global certification for high standards and efficiency, Frazimex Limited, also established by Mr. Emeka Okwuosa, is in the fray with high end quality services in Front End and Detailed Engineering Design Services. The company takes the services scope further to cover new areas like civil engineering, electrical services, instrumentation and related activities.

With a full chain of total petroleum industry services in his service package, it is therefore only logical for Mr. Okwuosa to venture into oil and gas exploration and production with the establishment of Frazoil E&P Limited. And despite its relatively young age among competitors, Frazoil already operates Blocks 1 and 3 Offshore in the Republic of Benin, with the platform  and clout of a regional player.

Still under the banner of Oilserv  Limited Group, Mr. Okwuosa also floated the FrazPower Limited to capture the commercial opportunities in the fast developing gas-to-power markets that currently sweep across Africa; thus contributing to economic growth of the continent where natural gas is being positioned to drive quantum leap in power generation and bridge huge generation gaps that stall economic development.

“The strategic vision is to deliver at least 10 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves in the next 10 years leveraging sources at varying level of go-to-market readiness,” FrazPower pledges. And the company is already providing distributed power solutions to captive markets in some industrial clusters in the South East part of the country, leveraging on micro gas liquefaction and compression technologies. The virtual pipeline solutions have since enhanced capacity utilization at the industries by introducing smart gas delivery solutions for power generation.

Ekcel Farms Limited is one of the newest of the companies floated by Mr. Emeka Okwuosa to demonstrate that commercial opportunities abound even in spite of the acute infrastructure and facility deficits in our domestic economy.

With initial $150 million in pocket, 5000 hectares of land and estimated workforce of 2000, Ekcel Farms flaunts the potentials to become a key economic growth driver and major contributor to the nation’s gross domestic product with its mechanized industrial farms which targets the high value ends of cassava and tomato production. 

Crown Energy Resources Limited which positions for solid mineral extraction with a modern quarry in Cross River State, is yet another offshoot of the growing Oilserve empire. The company delves into the exploitation of rock deposits for roads and sundry construction activities.

Therefore, the conglomeration of Oilserv Limited, Frazimex Limited, Frazoil Limited, FrazPower Limited, Ekcel Farms Limited and Crown Energy Resources Limited in one integrated business model with enhanced internal synergy and optimised economies of scale has unleashed efficiencies and leveraged collective potentials that established Oilserv Group as a leading indigenous energy factor; an economic power centre in its own right.

Mr. Okwuosa’s Oilserv Group has altered traditional stereotype of substandard products and low quality services that formed the incubus weighing down indigenous companies in the past decades when foreign oil companies held sway in the service segment of the industry value chain.

With above companies in the group, Mr. Okwuosa may have found expression to his passion for indigenous human capacity development in high technology areas of the petroleum industry. Through the group’s Graduate Training Programmes, Mr. Okwuosa offers young Nigerian graduates the rare and exclusive opportunity for hands-on training and exposure in oil and gas industry operations.

He is part of the powerful industry pressure group which influenced the evolution of the Nigerian Content Law in the petroleum industry with the aim to recover a level of control of the nation’s petroleum industry operations from the hands of fleeting - interest multinationals.

Nigerian Content policy objectives include, among others; to arrest traditional export of Nigerian petroleum industry jobs for execution in foreign countries. The law therefore aims to reverse the trend in a strategy that dissolves the huge oil and gas industry budget to reinvigorate activities in the business sectors of the domestic economy.

Mr. Okwuosa has consistently maintained that building local capacity for petroleum industry operations is of strategic security and economic importance for sustainable development of the country.

Thus while the graduate training programme targeted at building graduate capacity for project management, planning and control, operations and maintenance, quality assurance and control as well as other critical service packages, the related skills acquisition programme of Oilserv Group targets technical capacity for welding, fitting and other skills for sundry field activities.

With huge investments in the petroleum industry and ancillary sectors, Engr. Okwuosa boasts of lofty industry profile having earned a wealth of experience across the global industry terrains while working with multinational industry technology developers where he had marked out himself as an outstanding talent with restless aspiration to do something different.

Mr Okwuosa’s towering industry profile which compelled protracted applause from the crowd is supported by solid education from a selection of the world’s best institutions, ensuring sound knowledge and full mastery of industry operations. He continues to make contributions to the development of engineering and technical professions in the country through membership of numerous bodies, such as; Professional Well Log Analysts (PWLA); Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN); Pipeline Professionals Association of Nigeria (PPAN); Nigerian Institute of Directors (IoD); Society of Petroleum Engineers International (SPEI); and Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

Mr. Okwuosa is not new to industry awards and recognition. His footprints and accomplishments in the industry have in the past earned him innumerable awards.  They include; Award of Excellence by the Department of Physics, University of Nigeria (UNN, 2006); Annual OTC/PETAN Awards for Excellence 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015; US/African International Oil and Gas Leadership Award, Best of Africa 2013; Keyman Award by the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA, 2014); Best CEO of the Year 2013; Best CSR Practice 2013; and Award of Excellence (Nanotechnology) (UNN, 2014) among others.

Mr. Okwuosa also garnered other awards which include: PETAN Oil and Gas Industry Achievement Award 2014; PETAN Distinguished Achievement Award 2014; and Fidelity Bank Distinguished Customer Award 2015.

Being an eminent Knight of Saint Christopher (KSC) of the Anglican Communion and Founder of Sir Chukwuemeka Okwuosa Foundation, he has also continued to positively impact his immediate and remote societies through scholarships, poverty alleviation programmes and limitless interventions in development of social facilities and infrastructure to enhance the people's quality of life.

It is clearly obvious that Mr. Emeka Okwuosa has a speedy flight to the heights of petroleum industry professionalism, and has maintained a frontline position, deepening the indigenous capacity for delivery of world’s toughest industry jobs in line with world class standards and best practices while remaining socially responsible.

It is therefore only rational and justified that his peers and colleagues in the industry salute and proclaim his many pioneer roles and outstanding contributions to the advancement of professional excellence, business best practices and audacious strides against challenging headwinds in recording and rewarding success.

It is on record that the Lifetime Achievement Award remains the most coveted honour to be conferred on any professional dead or alive in the Nigerian petroleum industry. It is not only all encompassing, it is at the instance of his colleagues, the very people most accurate in assessing him professionally. A Lifetime Achievement Award conferred on such an Industry leader at such a trying time,  symbolizes a resolute banding together of one and all, to encourage resilient in - house 'troopers' and 'striking forces' like Okwuosa to keep driving and pointing the way.

Indeed, the 2015 PETAN Lifetime Achievement Award establishes Mr. Emeka Okwuosa as one of Nigeria's oil and gas industry heroes.