The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says some investors will relocate a 100,000 barrels-per-day capacity refinery from Turkey to Nigeria.

Ndu Ughamadu, the group general manager, group public affairs division, made this known in a statement released on Tuesday.

“A group of investors had commenced the process of relocating a refinery that used to be owned by BP from Turkey to Nigeria to be installed near the Port Harcourt Refinery,” the statement quoted Maikanti Baru, NNPC group managing director, to have said.

“Our collocation initiative aimed at getting private sector investors to bring in brownfield refineries so that they can share facilities is also yielding results.

“For example, there is one that is going to be brought in from Turkey to be located near the Port-Harcourt refinery.

“It’s not a modular refinery; it’s a normal refinery with about 100,00bpd capacity.

“It was owned by BP, but it has been sold off now to the companies that want to bring it over from Turkey to install it here.

“There is another one of about the same size being looked at to be sited near Warri refinery. But the one for Port-Harcourt is at a more advanced stage.

“Our drive at the NNPC as a leader in the industry is to expand our local refining capacity and make Nigeria a global refining hub.”

However, Baru did not give a timeline for construction and operations of both refineries.

Bayo Ojulari, managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Development Company (SNEPCo), says about seven more floating, production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSO) will be built in the next 15 years.

This, he said, will be the multiplier effect of the Egina FPSO that had some of its components built locally.

Speaking on Friday during the inspection tour carried out by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Ojulari said constructing vessels locally would save the country foreign exchange and money spent on contract costs.

He said the federal government’s support for the Egina project would have improved investor confidence in carrying out such projects in the country.

“What it means is that with that level, I see about seven FPSO’s in the next 15 years. That’s the multiplier effect. If we build on what we have established here, with that lower cost base that makes us more competitive both in Africa and other parts of the world, we can then attract investments to execute those activities,” he said.

“What that means is that with the Bonga South West project, we’ve been able to take over one billion dollars out of that project.

“We are currently looking at extending the life of that FPSO for another 10 years, that’s what we’re working on now.

“In supporting that FPSO, LADOL has been providing minimal support for us.”

In his remarks after touring the huge FPSO, Acting President Osinbajo said the Egina project showed the need for the federal government to continue to ensure an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the country.

“This project just as an example is a $16 billion project. In Naira terms, that is about five trillion. The entire Nigerian budget is nine trillion. Our spending on infrastructure, which is the highest in the history of Nigeria was N1.5 trillion,” Osinbajo said.

“This project is several times more than the entire federal infrastructure budget. And we’re not talking about states, we’re just talking about federal investments in infrastructure. We should ensure that we have an enabling business environment such that it makes sense for people to invest here.”

According to Ahmadu-Kida Musa, deputy managing director, deep water at Total Exploration and Production Company Nigeria, Egina project is expected to be completed in Q4 2018 within the initial budget of $16 billion.

The vessel is a newly built spread moored FPSO with the length of 330m, width of 61 metres and depth of 33.5 meters. It will be connected through subsea production systems to 44 wells consisting of 21 oil producers and 23 water injector wells via umbilicals, flowlines and risers.

The federal government has approved N17 billion for the installation of devices to monitor the movement of refined petroleum products across the country.

While addressing journalists at the end of the federal executive council meeting on Wednesday, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, said the installation of the devices will last for three years.

The project is expected to be carried out under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund.

“The narrative is that we have all struggled with this whole subsidy payment and how much is consumed in Nigeria, volumes of products moved out illegally and the whole impact on federation accounts allocation committee,” Kachikwu said.

“The essence of what PEF is doing is that this will enable us to track refined petroleum products’ movement from the point of the LC (Letter of Credit) opening from the vessels that come into Nigeria, up until the point where they are discharged into tanks in Nigeria; and from the tanks into trucks in Nigeria.

“We will also monitor the trucks till they deliver the products into the storage tanks for the filling stations and they are discharged and sold. So, that will produce a 100% holistic monitoring of these products.”

According to the minister, this would allow the government to ascertain the actual consumption of petroleum products consumed by Nigerians.

“There has been so much going on in terms of the movement of consumption numbers from over 30 million litres a day to 70 million litres to 80 million litres a day during the difficult times. And the challenge the president has given me is to rein that in. Let us know what we consume in reality; let us know where these products are going and this process will be able to track every truck.

“So, a typical truck will be licensed with a driver, with a transport company; so, if a truck misses, you can find the transporter and the company that takes responsibility. We expect this to be over a period of three years but we promise that within one year, the real effects of this will begin to show.”

More than 1,000 youth under the aegis of the Onne Youths Council (OYC) on Tuesday staged a protest at Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) in Onne, Rivers state.

The protesters asked the company to rescind its decision to relocate its supply base from the free zone to Lagos port.

Philip John Tenwa, president of OYC, who led the protest, said the planned relocation will lead to the loss of more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.

“We are here today on behalf of our numerous members and indeed the entire Onne community to draw the attention of the Nigerian government and indeed the world to the plan by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) to relocate its supply base from the Onne Port to Lagos,” he said.

“Indeed, SNEPCo last week directed that all its property and equipment including turbines, engine spares and miscellaneous equipment spares be loaded into containers and moved out of the Onne Port, where it had operated for more than 20 years, to another port in Lagos.

“This move by SNEPCo has serious and far-reaching implications for the Onne community and indeed the entire Rivers state. This is because SNEPCo, which is the operator of the Bonga field, at present, supports more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs at its Supply Base in Onne. There are also several small businesses and contractors whose businesses and fortunes are tied to SNEPCo.”

Tenwa also said the relocation would have a negative effect on the economy of Rivers and the Niger Delta region.

“It will also put the means of livelihood of many families and the future of our children at risk as well as further swell the burgeoning unemployment market in the Niger Delta region,” he said.

“SNEPCo suppliers and vendors are based in the communities around Onne and in the larger Niger Delta region. The suppliers and vendors deliver various items and supplies to the SNEPCo Supply Base in Onne. The planned relocation of the Supply Base to Lagos will directly affect not just the company’s staff but also these suppliers and vendors. It is also bound to affect the community staff working for SNEPCo,” the Onne Youths Council President said.

He said while the Federal Government and State Governments in the South-South have worked hard to ensure peace in the Niger Delta region, the relocation of the SNEPCo to Lagos has the potential of jeopardizing the peace currently being enjoyed in the region.

The protesting youths later moved from the SNEPCo supply base to the palace of John Osaronu, paramount ruler of Onne,where they informed the king of their action.

Osaronu commended the youth for their peaceful conduct and also called on SNEPCo to rescind its decision to leave the community.

“We appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Nyesom Wike and other well-meaning Nigerians to stop this move by SNEPCo,” he said.

The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), a non-governmental organisation, has requested for an “immediate” amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) Act.

The Deep Offshore and Inland Basins PSC Act was enacted in 1993 to provide the fiscal framework for foreign investments in deep offshore and inland basin acreages in the oil and gas sector.

The PSCs were last reviewed in 2008.

In a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to the ministry of petroleum resources and signed by Olanrewaju Suraju, the HEDA’s chairman, the group said the terms of the PSCs between the federal government and the oil companies should be reviewed particularly as it relates to the payment of royalties.

HEDA said the FOI request is premised on the recent observations by petroleum sector analysts and lawyers on the economic losses being incurred by the country on the basis of the current arrangement.

The group asked the ministry to make public, “relevant details of the international oil companies, their deep offshore operations concerned, the quantity of oil involved and amount owed”.

“We thus lend our voice to the calls for the repeal of the provision of the PSCs, which stipulates that royalty on crude oil production in water depths exceeding 1,000 metres is zero over a particular period of time,” the FOI request read.

“The Federal Government had in 1993, awarded some oil blocks in the deep water to the IOCs under PSCs, which provided that royalties to be paid by the IOCs would depend on the depth of the water where oil is found.

“By virtue of Section 5 of the Act, the payment of royalty in respect of the Deep Offshore production sharing contracts shall range from 4 to 12 per cent while no royalty shall be paid whatsoever in areas in excess of 1000 metres depth.

“According to reports since a large quantity of the oil and gas produced by Nigeria is located beyond 1000 metres depth, the multinational oil companies have taken advantage of the Act to avoid the payment of royalties to the Federation Account.

“It is on the basis of the aforementioned facts that we are making a demand for immediate enforcement of the contract with the oil companies caught in the violation of the Act by ensuring due royalties are paid with interest and penalties.

“We further demand immediate commencement of process for the amendment of relevant sections of the Deep Offshore and Inland Sharing and Production Contract Act, particularly Section 5 of the said Act.”

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, in December 2017 said Nigeria had lost as much as $21 billion to non-review of the PSCs.

He said the federal government had initiated moves to amend section 17 of the Deep Offshore Act, in order to increase government’s revenue from crude oil sales when prices exceed $20 a barrel.

Nigeria is poised to become the third largest exporter of gas worldwide, once the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train-7 plant kicks off in December, the company said Saturday.

Tayo Ogini, NLNG general manager, production, made the projection during a presentation made to Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, at the facility in Bonny Island, Rivers.

The presentation was made to update the minister on the project’s progress thus far.

In his presentation, Ogini said Nigeria currently ranks as the fourth exporter of gas in the world.

He noted that the NLNG has six operational trains (gas plants), with the first built in 1989.

The six trains have a combined capacity to produce 22 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

He reiterated plans by the federal government to invest seven billion dollars on the Train-7 project, which would boost production capacity to 30 mtpa, thereby making Nigeria the third largest exporter of gas in the world after Qatar and Australia.

In his remarks, Kachikwu said the NLNG should aim at exporting 40 mtpa of LNG over the next 30 years.

He spoke on the issue of gas pricing, urging the national gas company to bridge the gap that arises from reduced demand of domestic gas by importers and marketers.

The minister said the upcoming 2019 elections would not interfere with the Train-7 project.

He said that opportunities lay in “smaller investments,” including the Brass and Olokola LNG projects.

“We have opportunities that are stranded everywhere – Brass LNG in terms of shareholding and financing; OKLNG in terms of even taking off the ground,” he said.

“Let’s begin to look at minimal investments, through structures and designs and reconfiguration and expert advice.”

Also at the facility tour, Simbi Wabote, executive secretary, Nigerian Content Management Development Board (NCDMB), said the agency was working to ensure the Train-7 project would be built with due consideration to Nigeria’s local content law in the industry.

Wabote said: “We worked with them conscientiously to ensure that the FEED ( Front End Engineering Design) contract was signed within record time and we have a clear service level agreement between ourselves and NLNG to ensure that we fast-track the contracting cycle.

“This is also very important to ensure that we take FID at the end of the year as soon as we finish FEED work.

“We are going to focus more with them to ensure that the letters of the law are properly interpreted in terms of construction phase of the plant as well as its management phase.”

Royal Dutch Shell says it will make final investment decision (FID) on the development of Nigeria’s Bonga Southwest deep water oilfield in 2019.

TheCable Petrobarometer had reported that development of the oilfield would be part of the $15 billion investment on oil and gas projects Shell planned for the end of 2018.

Reuters reports that the project, with an expected output of 180,000 barrels per day (b/d), will generate profit at below $50 a barrel, according to Bayo Ojuli, managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo).

Ojuli said that negotiations are ongoing between the oil giant and the Nigerian government for a production sharing contract (PSC) which will determine the feasibility of the project. Negotiations will be concluded at the end of the year, he said.

Located in Oil Mining Licence (OML) 118 and extending to OMLs 132 and 140, FID was delayed on the Bonga project to allow SNEPCo and its co-venture partners to “explore more efficient and cost-effective ways of implementing the project,” Bamidele Odugbesan, Shell’s spokesman in Nigeria said in May.

Speaking at the Nigerian Oil and Gas conference in June, Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said the state oil firm was firming up contract terms with Shell on the Bonga project.

“We intend to sanction the multibillion dollars Bonga South West/Aparo (BSWA) project as soon as we conclude an agreement on the Heads of Terms with SNEPCO on the various pending PSC Arbitration disputes,” he said.

“This will jump-start the resolution of all the other PSC Arbitration Disputes.”

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will look into the 13 percent derivation benefit to the Niger Delta region.

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will look into the 13 percent derivation benefit to the Niger Delta region.

Buhari gave the promise when he received a delegation of Isoko traditional rulers led by Ovrawah, Omogha 1, Odiologbo of Oleh, at the presidential villa on Friday.

WHAT IS 13 PERCENT DERIVATION?

• It is the fund set aside to assist oil-producing communities tackle infrastructural decay and degradation. The 1995 constitutional conference recommended that in sharing the federation account revenue, 13 percent should be set aside to assist the development of oil-producing communities. That is 13 percent of the total oil revenue should be in the hands of the oil-producing states. The recommendation was accepted but not implemented. The percentage allocated to derivation remained at one percent of oil revenue.

“I have listened attentively to your address and I will still update myself with details of development in your area as it relates to oil and gas, and lack of infrastructure,” Buhari said.

“I will look at the constitutional 13 percent derivation and what previous governments have done, in order to know what we can do. I will revisit your address and ask for clarification. I will do my best on this issue.”

On his part, Iduh Amadhe, spokesman of the traditional rulers, asked the president to establish a gas plant and a modular refinery in the land.

Amadhe said the establishment of refinery would create jobs and generate income and that would better the lives of the people of the region and a country as a whole.

The rulers appealed to the president to direct Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, to call on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to commence production in the Isoko Section of OML 28-Uzere east to increase government revenue.

They also called on the government to tackle insecurity across the country.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says the federal government approved the renewal of 25 oil block licences and approved 16 new field development plans.

NAN reports that the information was made available in the DPR report made public at a workshop for energy reporters in Lagos on Friday.

According to the report, the federal government earned N748 billion from taxes and royalties paid by oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria in 2017 and $1 billion from the oil licence renewal.

“We renewed 19 expired leases in 2017 to enhance upstream investment influx and accelerate oil and gas reserves and production growth,” the report read.

“We actively supported the implementation of a major gas commercialisation programme, which seeks to create a regulatory framework to facilitate gas flare monetisation to end gas flaring by 2020.”

The agency said it issued ten licences and approval for the development of gas production and processing facilities.

The DPR said it initiated an early lease renewal programme to accelerate revenue generation for government.

It added that this was meant to fund national budget and incentivise upstream investment by ensuring the security of tenure, long gestation and payback period for oil and gas investments.

“We increased national gas reserve base from 192.07trillion cubic feet to 197.74 trillion cubic feet representing 3.5 per cent increase over the preceding year.

“We increased operator compliance on National Production Monitoring System (NPMS) by commencing the upgrade of the NPMS to real-time data captured in 26 crude oil terminal locations.

“This improved the efficiency in the administration of crude oil export and production accounting.”

The senate has approved the issuance of bonds and promissory notes worth N348 billion to settle contractual obligation to oil marketing companies (OMC).

President Muhammadu Buhari had requested the senate’s approval to enable the federal government to settle subsidy claims.

The senate also directed that money be used to pay 74 oil marketers to combat threats of fuel scarcity and enhance the relationship between government and companies.

The resolution reached this decision after adopting the interim report of the committee on petroleum (downstream).

Of the amount, the senate said N275.7 billion should be paid to 55 companies whose debt figures have been verified and N73.4 billion to the 19 companies with contentious claims.

The N73.4 billion represents 65% of the contentious claims, pending when all issues would be resolved.

According to the adopted report, the ministry of finance put the subsidy claims at N429 billion based on calculations by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

However, the verification exercise by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) put the figure at N407.5 billion as of June 30, 2017, while the marketers claim that they are owed N670.4 billion.

Some of the oil marketers and the amount approved for them are: Aiteo N4,988,199,360; Conoil N5,588,285,132; Forte Oil N15,480,445,907; Bovas N5,953,684,258; Capital Oil N8,339,052,402; Mobil N8,282,363,478; MRS Oil and Gas N20,948,270,002; Oando N14,972,585,600; Total N21,569,996,843.