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The Nigerian Government has no plan to out out on concession or to sell the refineries in the country, says President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said this while declaring open the 5th Triennial National Delegates’ Conference of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) here Wednesday. Buhari, who was represented by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu, added that it was imperative to make the clarification as there were rumours regarding this matter, especially from people who should know better.

According to the president, there has been no attempt and there is no approval to concession or sell refineries. “I keep hearing discussions all over the place, especially from people who should know better. What we have approval for is to bring in a financing mechanism that will enable us to finance and develop and upgrade the refineries as they are, he added.

“The reality is that once private sector players begin to build their own refineries, whatever we are afraid of will disappear. And unless we begin to move very rapidly and quickly to position these refineries in such a way that they can compete, we will lose the refineries completely, together with the jobs that exist there right now.

“My drive is to see that those investments goes through a transparent process and the announcement that you hear about selection has not happened.” The president, however, said there was need to bring in funds and best practices that would elevate the institutions to the level where they should work for the country as the nation was losing money from their operations.

Nigeria’s crude oil exports are set to surpass two million barrels per day (bpd) in August, the highest in 17 months, as the country’s oil and gas industry nears a full recovery from attacks by the Niger Delta militants that crippled production in 2016.

It is expected that if the ramp-up in Nigeria’s production is sustained, it will put further pressure on efforts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to trim output in support of oil prices.

Exports of 2.02 million bpd on 67 cargoes are scheduled so far in August, according to preliminary loading plans compiled by Reuters, along with an additional 97,000 bpd of Akpo condensate.

The plan is the highest since March 2016, which was scheduled at roughly the same level until a militant attack on the Trans Forcados Pipeline shut down Forcados exports in February of that year.

Forcados loadings resumed in late May, and the operator, Shell lifted force majeure on the grade early this month.
While Bonny Light, also operated by Shell, is now under force majeure due to a pipeline leak on one of its two export lines, the grade is still flowing with loading delays of roughly 10 days, Reuters quoted traders as saying.
The August plan compared with 1.84 million bpd initially planned for July, but loading delays on Bonga, Bonny Light and Qua Iboe pushed several of the July cargoes into August.

While early 2016 exports were set at 2 million bpd, Nigeria’s oil production has not hit that level since October 2015.

Crude oil theft in the oil-producing Niger Delta leads to frequent shutdowns, limiting output, and militant attacks throughout 2016 hobbled the entire oil industry.

It is expected that eight cargoes of Chevron’s Agbami or 252,000 bpd will be loaded in August, while two cargoes or 61,000 bpd of Total’s Amenam will be shipped for export.

The loading schedule also showed that one cargo or 31,000 bpd of Antan crude will be exported; seven cargoes or 215,000 bpd of Shell’s Bonga; seven cargoes or 226,000 bpd of Bonny Light and five cargoes or 129,000 bpd of Agip’s Brass River will be exported.

It is planned that one cargo of EA crude or 31,000 bpd will be shipped; four cargoes or 129,000 bpd of ExxonMobil’s Erha grade will be exported, while Chevron will export six cargoes of 184,000 bpd from the Escravos.

The data also showed that 284,000 bpd of crude or 10 cargoes would be shipped for exports from Forcados.
Others are: one cargo of 29,000 bpd from Okono; one cargo or 29,000 bpd from Okwori; one cargo or 31,000 bpd of Pennington; eight cargoes of Qua Iboe or 245,000 bpd; three cargoes of Usan or 92,000 bpd; one cargo of Okwuibome crude or 29,000 bpd; one cargo of Yoho or 31,000 bpd.

The total crude oil exports for August, the data showed, is 2,018,000 bpd.

Source: ThisDay

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has threatened to shut down the operations of Neconde Energy Limited in Lagos and Warri for sacking five of its members that work in Neconde without following due process.

Neconde Energy Limited is the exploration and production (E&P) arm of the Obijackson Group, the operator of the oil mining lease (OML) 42 located in Delta State.

In a letter dated June 2, 2017 and signed by the General Secretary, Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa and copied the Ministers of Labour and Employment and Petroleum Resources (State), as well as the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Chief Executive Office, Neconde and relevant officials of PENGASSAN, the group demanded for reversal of the sack within 72 hours by Neconde or face shut down.

The letter entitled: ‘Termination of the employment of our members’, said: “Information reaching us indicates that your management has summarily terminated the employment of five of our members in your organisation without regard to due process and the extant labour laws.

“We are taken aback by this ugly development as it is happening few weeks after the Association’s industrial action against your organisation. We are aware that the affected members didn’t opt out for severance and that brings to fore the needlessness of their termination of appointment which is a clear case of victimisation.

“The action of your management also negates item 5(b) of the recently signed communiqué of May 15-18, 2017.”