Business

NNPC to obtain gas from PH refinery during repairs – GMD

Published

4 years ago

March 23, 2021

Says $1.5bn project for rehabilitation, not turnaround maintenance

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said in 18 months gas will be obtained from the Port Harcourt refinery while the plant is still undergoing a total rehabilitation.

It said this would eventually scale up until the contractors leave the site, unlike a new one requiring the whole plant to be completed before it could start functioning.

The Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mele Kyari, said this in Abuja on Monday, while reacting to controversies and claims by some Nigerians on the $1.5bn meant for the rehabilitation project.

He said the $1.5 billion approved for refinery project was for its total rehabilitation and not turnaround maintenance

He said that the refinery would work in optimal capacity at the completion of rehabilitation programme.

According to him, the loan will be repaid as soon as the refinery becomes functional, adding that a refinery can produce a margin of $4-$7 per barrel which will be used to finance the loan.

“We are not doing turnaround maintenance; we are doing rehabilitation of the refinery, and it is very different; it means that we are replacing certain major components.

He disclosed that the actual cost of the project is about $1.34 billion, noting that the additional expenses include taxes and other duties that could come up.

Kyari said, “The real cost is $1.34 billion. Even then you could argue and say why you wouldn’t build a new refinery. We have also seen some curious comparisons that shell sold one of its refineries for $1.2 billion and that it’s even better than our own.

“This is mundane. Even a Google search will reveal that it was built in 1915 and it’s a 107,000 barrels per day refinery. It has been on shut down by the regulators since early last year. Not only that, when you buy a refinery you buy its assets and the liabilities.”

He maintained that many people do not know the financial transactions that go into some negotiations, saying that it is needless to compare a combined refinery of 210, 000 barrels to a much smaller and much older refinery which has many issues with regulators.

“Simple due diligence was not conducted before those comments were made. They have asked why we don’t just build a new one. What does it take to build a refinery of this status today? It’s anywhere between $7 billion to $12 billion to construct a refinery of this nature. This is what we call battery limit construction. That’s the estimate you see in the public space.

“There are things you do outside the battery limits like the tank and other utilities that are never accounted for when the estimates of this nature are done. That’s about 25 per cent of the total cost. So, when you say refineries can be built for $6 billion or even $10 billion, you should also think about the 25 per cent you will add to it,” Kyari said.

He said that another option would have been to scrap the current one and build a new one, but added that the resources are not available while the banking sector is not ready to put in the money because they no longer fund oil projects of that magnitude.

Kyari said that the refineries are national assets that must be used to ensure energy security for the country, maintaining that if a new refinery is started, it cannot become functional in less than four years, which means Nigeria will keep importing in the next four years.

According to him, even for national strategic purposes, that would be a wrong decision, with the last turn-around-maintenance of the Port Harcourt having been done 21 years ago.

The GMD stated that the current huge cost of rehabilitation was because the last turn-around-maintenance was badly carried out.

He said all stakeholders and agencies of the government were involved in the process leading to the award, saying that it wasn’t a TAM that was currently being carried out but total rehabilitation, which means that major components will be replaced, new items will be introduced and an upgrade of the plant.

Kyari argued that the process went through the Bureau of Public Procurement and other such bodies, saying that he was confident that the best decision was taken after the tender process.

He stressed that the process was delayed for the past 10 years because of unwarranted interferences and strategy problems, including going to the original refinery builders, which he said was the wrong thing to do.

Kyari said that the borrowing angle was introduced because typically, lenders will give conditions, one of which is an Operations and Maintenance contract arrangement, meaning that NNPC will not operate the plant, as it will be done in consonance with what he described as the best global practice.

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Aviation

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight

Published

8 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight

An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.

The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.

All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.

A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.

Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.

The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.

“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.

“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.

“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”

Business

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

Published

9 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).

The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.

“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.

Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

Business

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

Published

9 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

The Federal Government has secured a loan facility of $134million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.

This is contained in a statement issued by Anthonia Eremah, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on Thursday, in Abuja.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made his know at the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State capital.

Kyari explained that with the re-introduction of the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production, the loan would be handy and guarantee national food security in the country.

The minister said the initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.

He said the federal government had declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy access to quality and nutritional food at affordable rates.

Kyari also said government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increase in production of some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.

He added that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season.