Passage of PIB will unlock several midstream gas opportunities - Sylva

 Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources says the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law will unlock several midstream gas opportunities and enhance domestic gas utilisation.

Sylva said the Federal Government was also ready to collaborate with all stakeholders to initiate national activities that would make Nigeria actualise its declaration of 2021-2030 as the ‘Decade of Gas Development’.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sylva spoke on Thursday at the ongoing 12th Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) International Conference 2021.

The conference had the theme: "Powering Forward: Enabling Nigeria’s Industrialisation via Gas."

The minister who was represented by his Technical Adviser, Gas Business and Policy Implementation, Mr Justice Derefaka, noted that Nigeria's

over 200TCF proven reserves of natural gas must be utilised for economic growth and development.

He said: Our efforts will continue to focus on gas to transmute Nigeria from the conventional dependence on white products to a cleaner, more available, accessible, acceptable, and affordable energy use in gas. 

"This will not only cushion the effects of current deregulation but also create enormous job opportunities for Nigerians. 

"For this reason, we are proposing grand fathering in the new PIB.

The proposed PIB now before the National Assembly when passed into law will also unlock several midstream gas opportunities to further enhance domestic gas utilisation

"The revised PIB framework is based on core principles of clarity, dynamism, neutrality, open access and fiscal rules of general application. "

According to him, the priority of  President Muhammadu Buhari's administration is the

development of Nigeria’s vast gas resources and strengthening of the gas value chain as encapsulated in the National Gas Policy of 2017. 

Sylva said the president had outlined

some strategic priorities for the ministry aimed at stimulating  the sector to foster the sustainability of the Nigerian economy, enhance energy availability, create well paid jobs, and take millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

"As a government, we are pursuing programs to grow our gas economies through the development of industrial and transport gas markets, in juxtaposition with gas-to-power initiatives," he added.

He listed the achievements of the government to include the construction of the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipelines, inauguration of the National Gas Expansion Programme and the commencement of the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme. (NAN)

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NASS pledges support to quick completion of Dangote Refinery

The National Assembly Ad-hoc Committees on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) on Tuesday pledged their support to the quick completion of the Dangote Refinery in Lagos because of its importance to the nation's economy.

The committees also assured Nigerians on the quick passage of the PIB which according to them would make the Nigerian oil and gas industry operate in line with global best practices and attract investors.

 

The committees made the pledge during an inspection visit to the sites of the Dangote Refinery, Petrochemicals Complex, Fertiliser Plant and Subsea Gas Pipeline projects in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos.

The lawmakers  were led  on the visit by Sen. Sabo Nakuda, Chairman, Senate Committee on PIB and Mr Mohammed Monguno, Chairman, House Committee on PIB respectively.

They were received by Mr Devakumar Edwin, Executive Director, Strategy, Capital Projects and Portfolio Development, Dangote Group.

Speaking with newsmen, Nakuda said refineries were part of downstream operations of the Petroleum Industry, adding that the committee intend to visit all the refineries in the country.

Nakuda said : "We were in Kaduna yesterday and today we are in Lagos. We will also go to Port Harcourt and Warri to know what the industry entails and what needs to be captured in the PIB.

"I am totally overwhelmed with what I have seen at the Dangote Refinery. 

Looking at this Investment here, it is unbelievable that a single individual can confront this project at this time of our economic life.

"I am sure that by this time this refinery come on stream that even our currency, the Naira is going to be strengthened because we are spending millions of dollars on importing petroleum products. 

"Here we have an edifice that can supply the country's petroleum needs and we as a National Assembly are going to make sure that we give him all the necessary support because it is like a matter of life and death.”

On the PIB, he said the lawmakers were working assiduously to ensure its passage within the next two months.

Also speaking, Monguno said the bill would make the nation's oil and gas industry competitive and attract the much need investments.

"The world is moving away from oil and gas towards renewables and as such there is need for us to maximise our potential that is yet to be exploited particularly with regards to crude and condensates," he said.

According to him, Nigeria has between 10 and 20 years to judiciously utilise its oil and gas resources to develop its infrastructure and transform the country's economy.

He lauded the President of the Dangote Group, Dr Aliko Dangote for having the foresight in embarking on the projects, adding that it would generate a lot of multiplier effects in the downstream sector.

"It will create employment for our teeming unemployed youths, 

diversify our economy and help us to boost our foreign exchange reserve," the lawmaker added.

On his part, Edwin lauded the commitment of the government and the legislature to pass the PIB this year.

He said the three million Metric Tonnes Per Annum Fertiliser plant would improve the agricultural sector and stop importation of fertiliser into the country.

Edwin noted that the 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery could meet 100 per cent of the Nigerian requirement of all liquid petroleum products and would have surplus for export.

"The refinery project will create 1,600 permanent jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs. It will save Nigeria over $9.8

9 billion annually through import substitution, " he said. (NAN)

Marketers seek FG’s intervention to halt hike in cooking gas prices

The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has appealed to the Federal Government to urgently intervene in arresting the galloping hike in the prices of cooking gas across the country.

NALPGAM made the appeal in an open letter jointly signed by its Executive Secretary, Mr Bassey Essien, and its National Public Relations Officer, Mr Raphael Aguele, on Friday.

A copy of the letter which was addressed to Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

NAN reports that the price of 12.5kg of cooking gas has increased from N3,300 to N4,200 and N5,500 at retail outlets in the last few months.

NALPGAM appealed to the government to put in place a policy that would encourage full domestication of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas.

The marketers said every local producer of gas should be mandated to domicile all molecules produced in the country as against the situation of being a major exporter of gas produced as well as a major importer of gas.

“If all molecule of gas produced should be domesticated, the local markets will be adequately supplied and prices stabilised.

“By this way, the concerted efforts of the Federal and State government agencies to encourage the use of gas would not be in vain.

“Thus, we urge your urgent intervention to address the plight of stakeholders; else all the expansion programmes of the government would be an exercise in futility,” NALPGAM said.

The marketers noted that the government in line with its aspiration to deepen gas utilisation in Nigeria, had urged investors to harness investment opportunities in the entire gas value chain to bridge the gap in other domestic gas usage in the country.

They said the significant growth in local consumption of LPG had been hinged on many Nigerians converting to cooking gas for domestic and commercial uses.

According to NALPGAM, the country’s local consumption which hitherto stood at about 70,000 metric tonnes as at 2007 had grown to over one million metric tonnes as at end of 2020.

“A major challenge with LPG utilisation in Nigeria is the issue of inconsistent availability and ever galloping gas price with the attendant depot landing costs and other associated charges.

“The domestic availability has been skewed majorly to 65 per cent import dependence, while only 35 per cent has been attributed to local supply.

“The price of LPG has exponentially skyrocketed over the last few months.

The cost of LPG early in 2020 was N3.4 million per 20MT truck, but by December 2020, it had gone up to N5.4 million; N5.6 million in January, 2021 and N6 million per 20 MT by February.

“The galloping price increases have not only choked marketers but have also strangulated consumers, thus making a mockery of the whole gas expansion plan of the government,” the marketers said.

They noted that the gains made in the huge conversion rate to LPG usage which had moved the per capita consumption from 1.5kg to over 3kg have gradually reduced because of the domestic costs of LPG.

The marketers said a majority of users of LPG were gradually reverting to the use of kerosene and firewood with the obvious known health implications.

NALPGAM also alleged that LPG operations at the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company ( Oredo IGHF Plant), Ologbo, Edo State were dominated by “middlemen”.

They said: “These middlemen without identifiable LPG bottling plants are hawking LPG allocations from plant to plant for patronage at exorbitant prices.

“Equally, disturbing is the fact that gas plant owners in the Edo/Delta region with their verifiable large storage capacities have not been granted any off taker facility despite the location of the project in the region.” 

Nigeria will maximise AfCFTA opportunities with full deregulation of downstream sector, says NAC secretary

 Mr Francis Anatogu,  Secretary, National Action Committee for the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) says Nigeria can maximise the opportunities of the agreement with full deregulation of the downstream sector.

Anatogu made the assertion while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

NAN reports that Nigeria is among the African countries that has ratified the AfCFTA which began its implementation on Jan. 1, 2021.

The AfCFTA aims to redefine trade relations within African states and proposes creating a central market for goods and services, with free movement of people and investments across 54 countries.

Anatogu noted that refined petroleum products was Africa's number one import with African countries importing over $36 billion of petroleum products per annum.

He said: "So, Africa presents huge market for our oil and gas sector, especially the midstream and downstream sector.

"The very first step is for deregulation to happen and there is a level playing field for businesses to make investments.

"For the petroleum industry, without deregulation we will not be able to maximise the benefits of AfCFTA.

The first thing is to even get the marketers to even import and sell in Nigeria. 

"They need to feel confident to import petroleum products and sell in their home country before they can move to other African countries.

”What we now need to do as a country is to make sure that our businesses are best equipped to get into that market in Africa.What that means is that we need to encourage investments. 

”With deregulation, businesses are encouraged to invest because they know they can charge competitive prices and recover their investments."

Anatogu also harped on the need to create a level playing field for marketers and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to create competition in the downstream sector.

He noted that while this could drive up the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit in the short term, it would eventually lead to stability as witnessed in the deregulation of other products like diesel.

Anatogu said: "What we have now is NNPC being the sole importer of products but we believe that if you allow it to float, the price might go up a bit in the short term but it will stabilise.

”With deregulation, if we look at the West African coast for instance, going to Cameron, Niger, Benin; imagine the number of Nigerian trucks that can be supplying these countries.

"Also, there are those that are concerned that if we allow deregulation that a lot of people will be impoverished.

 "The truth of the matter is that the amount of jobs it will create in the medium term far outweighs the risk of the short term spike."

While commending the government for removing subsidy on PMS, he noted that the increase in the pump prices had been marginal and due to market forces. (NAN)

Sahara Group unveils 2019 sustainability report

(L-R)Executive Director, Sahara Group, Ade Odunsi, Director, Governance and Sustainability, Pearl Uzokwe, Executive Director. Moroti Adedoyin-Adeyinka and Executive Director, Kola Adesina at the unveiling of the Sahara Group 2019 Sustainability Report in Lagos on Wednesday.


Energy Conglomerate, Sahara Group, has released its 2019 Sustainability Report which reflected  its commitment to creating shared value for stakeholders through economic development, protection of the environment and building a sustainable society.
The report tagged: ” Transformative Innovation” was released by the Director, Governance and Sustainability, Sahara Group, Mrs Pearl Uzokwe on Wednesday in Lagos.
Uzokwe said the report highlighted  how the firm continues to leverage innovation and technology in achieving its corporate goals and sustainability ambitions across its businesses in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
She said the group had continued to foster partnerships and initiatives which had co-created a desirable future through innovation.
Uzokwe said: “We have aligned our business operations within our entities with the demands and expectations of our changing world – digitisation – which in turn increases our competitive advantage for sustainable growth.
” Beyond measuring our performance in numbers and outcome, we have raised our lever of sustainability excellence by committing to more strategic partnerships and setting targets to achieve sustainable development from the micro to global scale.”
She said Sahara had aligned its operations and processes in furtherance of the urgent global transition to cleaner energy and low-carbon solutions. 
Uzokwe said “Sahara entered an MoU with the United Nations Development Programme in 2019 to provide access to affordable and sustainable energy in sub-Saharan Africa. This is in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 7.
“During the year, we were pivotal to the success of the United Nations Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG).
“We joined hands with other stakeholders in  advancing the mission of the African Influencers for Development (AI4Dev) World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and other institutions in providing a better quality of life to the world,” she said.
According to Uzokwe, Sahara inaugurated its Green Life Initiative in 2019 in line with its commitment to fostering sustainable environments via the protection of the environment, promotion of a circular economy and recycling of waste within and outside our business. 
 
“Among other activities, we established a Recycling Exchange Hub in the Ijora Oloye community and executed upcycling vocational training for the conversion of tyres to usable products,” she said.
 
Uzokwe also reiterated the firm’s commitment to environmental sustainability and compliance with the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARA) standards – the only pan-African organisation for the African downstream oil sector. (NAN)

DPR warns depot owners against hoarding of petroleum products

Mr Sarki Auwalu, Director, DPR

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has issued warning to depot owners against hoarding of petroleum products in their facilities. 

Mr Sarki Auwalu, Director, DPR , issued the warning in a statement issued on Wednesday in Lagos.

Auwalu said it was necessitated  by reports received by the agency  on the wholesome activities of some depot owners who have created artificial scarcity by hoarding products in some parts of the country.

According to him, their nefarious activities is causing untold hardships to Nigerians. 

He stated that from available records,  there was product sufficiency in the country and that there was no need for such practices by these group of unpatriotic citizens. 

Auwalu emphasised that the Department, as the licence issuers to all oil and gas facilities in Nigeria including the depots, would not hesitate to apply appropriate sanctions on any depot found wanting in this regard. 

He further stated that the agency has set up a special taskforce to intensify surveillance and monitoring of all depots to check this anomaly. 

The Director assured that DPR would continue to provide its regulatory focus of quality, quantity,  integrity and safety ( QQIS) for the   effective operations of the Downstream sector.(NAN)

Deregulation : LCCI tasks FG on social pricing window for vulnerable Nigerians

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government to set up a social pricing window for vulnerable Nigerians to mitigate the impact of deregulation policy .

Mr Muda Yusuf, Director General, LCCI, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

Yusuf said the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, would cause some challenges which could be for a short term if the right programmes were put in place.

He said: ” I will say that the deregulation policy is something that should be sustained and we should be looking at how we can mitigate the short term challenges on Nigerians.

“In the short term, we can look at a social pricing window for the vulnerable segment of society.

“The way we think this can work is to designate all the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stations and provide a social pricing mechanism in the NNPC stations alone.

“The Federal Government can set aside a certain amount to subsidise in these windows and it should not be more than 10 per cent of the total consumption of fuel in the short term before we transit into full deregulation.

”For instance, if our total consumption is 50 million litres, we can earmark like five million litres for the purpose of serving these vulnerable groups through the NNPC stations which we have all over the country.”

According to him, the other petrol stations should be allowed to function fully within the deregulation framework and provide services for more economically empowered persons.

“The vulnerable people who can afford to queue for some hours can use the NNPC stations but those who have the ability to pay can go straight to other stations to buy fuel.

”This is a model that we can consider and it will also bring some comfort to the Organised Labour that something is being done immediately to assist the vulnerable groups in society.

“Of course, there will be issues of corruption but we have to live with some of these things in this transitional phase so that we can move forward otherwise government will be seen as being very insensitive.

“That is why I think that we should have that kind of social pricing window to take care of vulnerable Nigerians using only the NNPC stations,” Yusuf said.

He noted that another way to mitigate the impact was to look at the challenges it posed to cost of the transport and energy cost for Small and Medium Enterprises in particular.

Yusuf said: “We need to look at the issue of mass transit once again. We need to ensure that we structure our budgets both at the national and sub-national levels to ensure that we prioritise mass transit.

” We also need to accelerate the process of ensuring that we produce refined petroleum products domestically and in order to accelerate that, this deregulation has to be in place.

“I have heard arguments that we should allow refineries to be working before we deregulate but that is not going to work.

”Unless we have a deregulation policy in place, it will be difficult to attract direct capital into the refineries.

“So, deregulation should come before attracting investment to the refineries because as things stand, we cannot depend on government owned and managed refineries.

”It has been proved that this is not sustainable. We should be looking at how we can incentivise private investment in refineries. We need this policy reform to make that happen.”