Page 15 - AfrOil Week 34 2021

AfrOil NEWS IN BRIEF AfrOil

with a number of upstream companies.” Whenever we get any request from them, we
Energy Capital & Power, August 24 2021 approve.”
He added that the agency had not given any
licence to any filling station since the drill started.
DOWNSTREAM DPR, August 24 2021
Smuggling: NCS, NSA SERVICES

grant border stations Valaris announces

waivers, says DPR

The Department of Petroleum Resources has one-well floater contract
Barkindo commended advancements made by faulted the claim by the Nigeria Customs Service awards in Africa
SNPC with regard to ongoing development of that it was partly responsible for the continued
natural gas and its commitment to extending smuggling of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly Valaris announced today that it has been
the benefits of natural resource extraction to called petrol, which has been subsidised by the awarded one-well contracts with Shell Namibia
local communities. Federal Government. Upstream and Shell Sao Tome and Principe
“Your Corporate Social Responsibility is The Head, Downstream Department, DPR, offshore Namibia and Sao Tome and Princ-
very well noted and it is evident that your efforts Bashir Sodiq, said filling stations along the land ipe, respectively, for drillship Valaris DS-10.
across the country are touching the lives of ordi- borders now get less than 3% of daily fuel distri- The precise timing of the first contract is to be
nary people,” said Barkindo. “I have also noted bution. He, however, disclosed that the Office of confirmed, but is expected to commence in the
that the NOC is giving due attention to the devel- the National Security Adviser and the NSC have fourth quarter of 2021.
opment of natural gas.” been issuing waivers on border filling stations, The Sao Tome and Principe contract will fol-
The Secretary General also highlighted the which the DPR had been complying with. low on directly from the Namibia contract. The
future role of oil and gas in sub-Saharan Africa Sodiq made the clarifications in Abuja on contracts have an estimated duration of 60 days
and of NOCs in boosting exploration capacity, Monday at the public hearing organised by each.
with a view to ensuring sustainable development the House of Representatives’ Committee Valaris is the industry leader in offshore
and eliminating energy poverty. on Finance on the 2022-2024 Medium Term drilling services across all water depths and
“As we discussed this morning at our bilateral Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy geographies.
meeting with the Minister of Hydrocarbons, and Paper. Operating a high-quality rig fleet of
at our meeting with the Prime Minister, the oil The Controller-General of the NCS, Col. ultra-deepwater drillships, versatile semisub-
and gas industry has a very bright future around Hameed Ali, while appearing before the same mersibles and modern shallow-water jack-ups,
the world and in Sub-Saharan Africa in particu- committee on August 16, 2021, said petrol was Valaris has experience operating in nearly every
lar,” said Barkindo. “This work will continue to being smuggled out of Nigeria in large quanti- major offshore basin. Valaris maintains an unwa-
rely on the exploration capacity and the con- ties after it had been subsidised by the Federal vering commitment to safety, operational excel-
sumption of hydrocarbons to ensure the sustain- Government. Ali had decried that the DPR had lence, and customer satisfaction, with a focus on
able development of the country.” approved the situation of filling stations along technology and innovation.
SNPC was created in 1998 and is the national the land borders, while Nigerian National Petro- Valaris, August 17 2021
oil company of the Republic of the Congo. Since leum Corp. (NNPC) kept supplying the com-
the company´s establishment, and in accord- modity to the stations against Customs’ advice.
ance with the Republic of Congo´s revamped Ali had said the situation was responsible for the LOCAL CONTENT
2016 Hydrocarbons Code, SNPC is mandated increasing volume of fuel being released by the
to have at least 15% share of all permits issued in NNPC as daily consumption. NCDMB holds workshops
the Congo´s energy sector. On Monday, a member of the committee,
The company is headquartered in the capital Muktar Ahmed, said: “When the CG Customs on community content
of Brazzaville, but most of its six subsidiaries and was here, he did mention that he had requested
technical operations take place in Pointe Noire, ‘severally’ from the DPR, that he should be fur- guidelines in Rivers, Edo
the Congo´s largest and most strategic oil and nished with the number of filling stations and the
gas hub. In 2020, the Republic of the Congo capacity that they receive either on a daily basis and Delta states
produced slightly above 300,000 barrels per day or weekly basis, that he never got response.”
(bpd), of which SNPC accounted for approxi- Responding, the DPR boss said: “I am not The Nigerian Content Development and Mon-
mately 52,000 bpd. sure that the information that the CG has is cor- itoring Board (NCDMB) recently conducted
“SNPC has worked tirelessly over the past rect. I have the record here. We were directed one-day workshops on the Community Con-
23 years and accomplished a great deal, and has to stop supplying to filling stations 20km to the tent Guidelines (CCG) for contractors, youths
been able to establish itself in the upstream, mid- borders, which we did. I have the circular that we and host communities in Port Harcourt, Rivers
stream and downstream sector,” noted Maixent sent to all our offices. However, as time went on, State; Benin, Edo State; and Warri, Delta State.
Raoul Ominga, Director General of SNPC, dur- we had a series of communications both from The workshops were aimed at enlightening host
ing the meeting. “It is very encouraging to see the ONSA and the NCS requesting for exemp- communities of their rights, obligations and
that you are not only operating in the entire oil tions; none of these were initiated by the DPR. privileges in order to increase local capacities
and gas supply chain, but also with operators in Why? Maybe because of security issue; because and community participation in the oil and gas
the upstream sector and in several joint ventures we felt that smuggling was more of security issue. industry in line with the Board’s mandate.

Week 34 25•August•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15