Page 10 - AfrOil Week 28 2022

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

They claim that non-payment for transportation eggs among the good bunch, but the fact that
of gasoline is the reason for scarcity. we are not having sufficient products is what has
Speaking to Punch, the head of Petroleum remained the cause of fuel scarcity.”
Products Retail Outlets owners Association A week before, the Independent Petroleum
of Nigeria (PETROAN) Billy Gillis-Harry Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN)
explained that all filling stations that had fuel warned that Nigeria could witness “the mother
were selling, while those with no fuel to sell had of all queues” if the government failed to pay
shut down. money owed to the fuel sector.
“The problem is that every side needs to IPMAN’s members control around 70% of
be transparent. We as retail outlet owners are petrol stations in the country, and the associa-
ready to sell petroleum products to the teem- tion claims that it is owed bridging claims by a
ing Nigerian public. We have no reason why we federal government agency, the Nigerian Mid-
should not sell our products,” he said. “There is stream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory
no retail outlet owner that is hoarding product Authority (NMDPRA). Abuja claims to have
or diverting it. Yes, we know there may be bad paid up. ™

SPDC head calls oil theft in southern

Nigeria an “existential threat”

NIGERIA OSAGIE Okunbor, managing director of the of every barrel it extracts in the face of pipeline
Shell Petroleum Development Co. (SPDC) closures and other problems, he explained.
joint venture, has described oil theft in southern “It is a fact that the issue of theft, whether as
Nigeria as an “existential threat” to the country’s a standalone or as the basis for us to meet our
hydrocarbon industry. OPEC quota, is an existential threat for this
Speaking last week at the Nigeria Oil & Gas industry,” he remarked.
Conference & Exhibition (NOG), Okunbor He indicated that these challenges were seri-
noted that theft and vandalism all too often ous enough that they had helped lead Shell (UK)
prevented the country from bringing its oil pro- make the decision to sell its 30% stake in SPDC.
duction to market, as they caused major pipe- This is in line with statements made earlier by
lines to shut down and led producers to issue Ben van Beurden, the super-major’s CEO, who
declarations of force majeure. “Two of our most has linked the SPDC stake sale with Shell’s ongo-
important pipelines in this country today are ing struggle to contain sabotage, oil spills and
shut down, with hundreds of thousands of bar- theft at its onshore pipelines and installations in
rels a day shut in,” he said, without naming the southern Nigeria.
pipelines in question. Okunbor, who also serves as chairman of
These shutdowns prevent Nigeria from meet- Shell Companies in Nigeria, went on to say in his
ing its OPEC quotas in full, he commented. The NOG speech that similar problems were likely
country has consistently been unable to produce to confront any Nigerian operators that choose
the full amount permitted – 1.8mn barrels per to buy marginal fields or onshore fields sold by
day (bpd) – because it cannot maintain control international oil companies (IOCs).

Oil theft is common and widesspread among pipeline networks in southern Nigeria (Photo: NORDSA)

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