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NNPC head does the rounds
nigERiA
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) will have a “robust relationship” with the Economic and Financial Crime Commis- sion (EFCC) and with the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF). e company’s group manag- ing director, Mele Kyari, committed to the two organisations this week in some of his rst moves in the position.
NNPC intended to embrace “openness and accountability”, a statement from the company said. Part of its e orts to increase transparency will come through automation, it said, in order to eliminate the “use of discretion, which is sus- ceptible to corruption”.
Kyari was previously in charge of NNPC’s crude oil marketing division. is unit has auto- mated 98% of its transactions, the statement said, and as such can monitor “every barrel of crude oil sold in the country”.
e head of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, wel- comed the support from the new NNPC head. “We have long come to the realisation that one person, continent, agency or country alone cannot ght corruption and win. Today more than ever before, we need more collaboration,” he said. e EFCC has also said it will help the NNPC in its e orts to improve its e cient man- agement of Nigeria’s hydrocarbons.
Kyari also held talks with the NGF’s chair- man, Kayode Fayemi, last week. The NNPC o cial gave commitments on the supply and distribution of petroleum products and in pay- ments to the central account.
“As governors at the sub-national level, we would continue to safeguard the NNPC’s pipe- lines as they run through our various states. We would partner and support the security agencies to mitigate the frequent infractions on the facili- ties of the corporation across the states,” assured Fayemi.
Kyari, accompanied by his predecessor, Maikanti Baru, also met the Senate president, Ahmed lawan. e NNPC o cial committed the company to providing its full support for changes to the legal framework overseeing the sector.
Baru linked the visit to supporting the Deep offshore Amendment Bill. This would allow the government to increase royalties paid on deepwater production – with the potential of raising its tax take by $5bn per year. lawan was quoted in the NNPC statement as saying the bill appeared jinxed but that he would galvanise the legislature into making progress.
Baru also called for the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to be revitalised. It had been broken up with the intention of making it easier to pass
but failed at the last hurdle, with Nigerian Pres- ident Muhammadu Buhari declining to sign it into law.
Re ning
Kyari has also pledged to revive the down- stream, targeting the rehabilitation of the country’s four state-owned re neries before 2023 when Buhari’s term in o ce ends.
His ambition does not stop there; noting in a speech that the country “must be a net exporter of petroleum products” during the same timeframe.
Nigeria’s four state-run re neries have a com- bined nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels per day; the Kaduna facility can produce 110,000 bpd, Warri 125,000 bpd and the two Port Har- court units, built roughly 25 years apart, have a joint total of 210,000 bpd.
However, a er years of under-investment, the ageing facilities typically run at less than 10% of capacity and a general update on operations by NNPC in January this year disclosed that full turnaround maintenance (TAM) at the plants had not been carried out for 42 years.
Plans by the NNPC to repair the facili- ties have been regularly delayed and early in the year Abuja formally acknowledged the failure of more than two and a half years of efforts to persuade private investors to fund the work.
In March, the rst real sign of progress came when Italy’s Maire Tecnimont confirmed an announcement by NNPC the previous day that the company had been awarded a con- tract to rehabilitate the re ning facilities at Port Harcourt.
e nascent modular re ning industry has been a beacon of hope for the country as a means of cost-e ectively decentralising fuel production and improving distribution.
Investments have been announced in projects in Bayelsa, Cross River and Imo states, and this week Abuja stated that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) was being carried out for a planned facility in Edo State.
e Edo Modular Re nery is to be developed by Edo Re nery and Petrochemicals Company to process 6,000 bpd of local crude and produce refined products including kerosene, diesel, naphthalene and petrochemicals.
e project company was launched by the Edo state administration of former investment banker Godwin obaseki, who has previously been a major proponent of infrastructure projects.™
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