Tag: Warri refinery

Petrol Now Sells For N150 Per Litre In Benin City

Petrol Now Sells For N150 Per Litre In Benin CitySome independent petroleum marketers in Edo state are now selling petrol for 150 naira per litre instead of the regulated price of 145 naira.

Motorists, as well as petroleum marketers, who spoke to Channels Television in Benin City, the Edo state capital, lamented the increase in the price saying it has brought more hardship on the people.

Meanwhile, some fuel stations in the state did not have products for sale. Some who had the product were selling above the approved price of 145 Naira a litre.

A fuel marketer, Valentine Aisuen, said: “PMS is not readily available in most of the depots and apart from that, the price at which we are buying it is high because of the limited product that is available.

“We are buying at 145, we haulage for three naira and it gets here at 148 and we now sell for 150.”

The marketers who were seen selling at the recommended price said it would not be for long before they join the fray as they were not making profit from their sales.

“If you check our pump price now we still remain at 145 naira per litre, our meter reading is accurate.

“We are keeping that to make sure we remain with our customer but we are going to do it for the time being, pending when the union will come up with their report for us to shut down because the cost of buying now, I don’t think anybody is making profit if you cannot sell above 145 naira per litre.”

Unstable Power

Some motorists also lamented the hardship the increase in price has brought to the people.

A driver told Channels TV: “Passengers complain, drivers too are complaining because things are difficult. We heard they have increased it to 200 naira; this morning some people bought for 150, some others for 200.

“Selling above that 150 is really biting us and things are not moving well. Supposing things are moving on and the power is stable then we can cope. But the power is not stable and the energy we are getting which is the fuel is very high, so it’s biting everyone one of us; we are feeling it real bad.”

Attempts to ascertain the cause of the scarcity at the Benin depot of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was met with stiff resistance by the chief security officer who denied the news crew access to key officers of the depot.

“I am working under instruction, don’t provoke me this afternoon; I beg you in the name of God don’t provoke me,” he warned.

Although the head of the Department Of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was not on seat, another official who wished not to be named said that the scarcity was due to power outage at the Warri refinery which has now been addressed.

He promised that the situation would normalize soon.

Nigeria’s Refineries Record High Performance

RefineriesA financial and operations report just released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) shows that Nigeria’s three refineries witnessed a dramatic increase in refining capacity utilization in March 2016 for the first time in eight months.

The refineries are the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Port Harcourt Refining Company, and the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.

The report, explains that they processed crude at an average capacity utilization of 17.51% in March compared to 1.84% average capacity utilization the previous month.

The NNPC attributes the improvement to success achieved in the repairs of vandalized crude pipelines feeding the refineries.

Capacity utilisation of the refineries is expected to rise further in the coming months following the re-commissioning of the Escravos-Warri-Kaduna pipeline.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, on Tuesday again apologized to Nigerians for the prevailing long queues for petrol saying all is being done to bring the situation to normalcy.

Mr Kachikwu alongside five other ministers rendered account of what has been done in terms of government policies since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration during the second federal government town hall meeting in Kaduna State.

 

FG Regrets Petrol Scarcity Hardships – Kachikwu

Ibe Kachikwu- PetrolThe Minister of State for Petroleum says difficulties faced by Nigerians in the last two months in getting petrol is regrettable.

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu made the statement on Monday at a Federal Government town hall meeting held in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.

He said that efforts were being made to enable motorists drive into service stations with ease and come out with the product.

“Be patient with us, lose not your calm yet. We are getting there very quickly,” he said.

The Minister also offered assurances that the nation’s refineries would work in full capacity under the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration.

“I am happy to say for the first time in seven years, we commissioned the crude supply pipelines both in Brass, from Brass to Port Harcourt refinery and from Escavos to Warri refinery.

“We are presently pumping crude through the pipeline to Kaduna and Kaduna (refinery) will be back on stream by the end of next week,” he said.

In the face of the short term measures, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu lamented the diversion of petroleum products conveyed in trucks to other countries and called on security agencies to help tackle this challenge.

Kachikwu was at the town hall meeting along with other ministers where they spoke to artisans, traditional rulers, students and a cross section of the public.

The town hall meeting which is an interaction between the government and persons from different sectors of the economy, is expected to hold in six geo-political zones and two other cities, Abuja and Kano.

Other Minsters present were Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah and Minister for Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi were also in attendance.

The Minster of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola and the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed also made presentations at the meeting.

The Change You Voted For Is Real – Lai Mohammed

Fuel ScarcityThe Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed, has assured Nigerians that the change they voted for is real and good life awaits all citizens once the planning stage is over.

He said that he was aware that many Nigerians are already doubting the APC’s promise of ‘change’ but the 2016 budget is a statement that clearly explains the Nigerian government’s economic direction and plan for the citizens.

He said this in response to questions about the economic policies of the Buhari-led administration while speaking on Sunday Politics on Channels Television.

He explained that 40% of all expenditure in the budget has been dedicated to capital projects which are roads, power, railroads and other infrastructure.

Asides helping to reflate the economy, Mr Mohammed said that this is expected to create an enabling environment for the manufacturing sector and ultimately strengthen the non-oil sector.

“If you look at our budget for 2016, this is the first time in Nigeria that the government has gone for what I call an inclusive budget. This is where everybody is taken care of.

“Before now, you do not see this social inclusion in our budget. You have small pockets of alleviation of poverty here and there but for the first time the government is taking a bold step to set aside the sum of 500 billion Naira for social intervention,” he said.

Doubts about how realistic the social intervention plan is led the Minister to explain the ways in which the government hopes to execute the project which he insisted had been well worked out.

The Need To Borrow

As more Nigerians continue to question the rationale behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s trips abroad, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said Nigeria does not have an option for now as the government needs to rejig the economy.

He explained that the revenue of the country has dropped significantly and rejigging the economy can only be done through help from other nations.

The decision of the government to borrow has also received heavy criticisms from Nigerians and the opposition political parties but Alhaji Mohammed said that the decision is justified.

“There is no way, in the situation we have found ourselves, that we will not run a deficit budget. When your income is not enough to cover your expenditure, you borrow but what is important is what you do with the money you borrowed.

“Whatever money we borrow today is not going to be used for recurrent expenditure. It is going to be invested in railroads, roads, power, providing infrastructure for agriculture and solid minerals.”

He declared that indeed the President would be negotiating a loan on his trip to China, adding emphatically that there is no apology for the decision.

Although he would not state specifically how much the President would be hoping to borrow from China, he said that the country had a deficit of about two to three trillion Naira, explaining further that if Nigeria had been able to generate enough income the APC government would not have considered borrowing.

“What do you expect us to do? When we were earning 100 dollar per barrel, we had the same workforce as today when we are earning 40 dollars per barrel.

“When we had 100 dollars per barrel we had the same overhead as we have today and we still have to maintain the same infrastructure and still improve on it. Of course there is no other way than borrowing.”

Mr Mohammed also condemned the criticisms trailing the decision to borrow, stating that the Federal Government deserves some credit for the manner in which it has managed the nation’s economy in the face of dwindling revenue, “otherwise the situation would be worse by now”.

He cited the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as a move that has shored up the finances of the government. He said that the Buhari administration has also brought more discipline into government and has been “able to block so much leakages”.

He gave the assurance that the government is very careful not to go beyond the ratio of debt to income, “I know that whatever we borrow today is within the limit and capacity of government to pay.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has travelled to China and the Presidency has explained that the trip is aimed at securing greater support from Beijing for the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure, especially in the power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply and housing sectors.

Fuel Scarcity

The Minister also had some words of appreciation and encouragement for Nigerians who have had to endure weeks of hardship due to the fuel scarcity across the states.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed empathized with Nigerians on the pains they have gone through over the last one month as federal authorities are doing everything within their powers to normalize the situation.

“I have said it on many fora that the government is keenly aware of the hardship and difficulties Nigerians have gone through in the last couple of weeks and we do empathize with them.

Fuel scarcity“Not only do we empathize with them but we appreciate their perseverance and we have also been working round the clock to ensure that we are able to bring the situation back to normal,” he said.

He said that the efforts have paid off as the fuel situation was gradually being normalized with cargoes of refined product being discharged in major cities across the country.

In addition, the Warri refinery, according to the Minister of Information has since been working and has 19 million litres of the product, helping to put the quantity of product in the reserve to 430 million litres.

“As from tomorrow we are going to deploy 1,300 trucks all over Nigeria to ensure that the fuel situation gets much better,” he said, expressing confidence that this quantity being distributed daily would put an end to the fuel scarcity.

“We empathize with Nigerians, we salute their courage and perseverance and I want to assure them that the change they voted for is real, that change will come and that all the challenges we are facing today are very temporary.”

The Minster went further to name the lack of foreign exchange and the crash in the price of crude which has been Nigeria’s only source of revenue as factors responsible for the fuel situation.

He also said that the federal government plans to build modular refineries to further boost the availability of the product.

FG Apologizes To Nigerians Over Fuel Scarcity

Fuel ScarcityThe Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed on Sunday empathized with Nigerians on the pains they have gone through over the last one month owing to fuel scarcity across the states.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, he said that federal authorities were doing everything within their powers to normalize the situation.

“I have said it on many fora that the government is keenly aware of the hardship and difficulties Nigerians have gone through in the last couple of weeks and we do empathize with them.

“Not only do we empathize with them but we appreciate their perseverance and we have also been working round the clock to ensure that we are able to bring the situation back to normal,” he said.

He stated further that the efforts so far made by the federal government have paid off as the fuel situation was gradually being normalized with cargoes of refined product being discharged in major cities across the country.

In addition, the Warri refinery, according to the Minister of Information has since been working and has 19 million litres of the product, helping to put the quantity of product in the reserve to 430 million litres.

“As from tomorrow we are going to deploy 1,300 trucks of all over Nigeria to ensure that the fuel situation gets much better,” he said, expressing confidence that this quantity being distributed daily would put an end to the fuel scarcity.

“We empathize with Nigerians, we salute their courage and perseverance and I want to assure them that the change they voted for is real, that change will come and that all the challenges we are facing today are very temporary,”the Minister said.

He also said that the federal government plans to build modular refineries.

IPMAN Pleads For Supply Of Fuel From NNPC

Fuel Supply: Western IPMAN Urges NNPC For ConsiderationMembers of the Western Zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have appealed to NNPC for consideration while supplying fuel.

They also urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) not to limit the distribution to major marketers alone in order to cushion the effect of fuel shortage in the country.

The South-west Zonal Chairman of IPMAN, Mr Debo Ahmed, made the call after an emergency meeting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital in Southwest Nigeria.

Mr Debo asked for the supply of fuel to most government depots in the zone that are currently short of petroleum product.

He noted that the constant fuel scarcity was of great concern to the zone and called for pumping of fuel to depots in the south-west especially in Ilorin and Mosinmi so as to reduce the hardship on motorists.

The petroleum marketer said purchasing the product from private depots has negative impacts, lamenting that the private depots sell above official price thereby, forcing them to do the same.

He stressed that they had called on the NNPC to pump fuel to government owned depots so as to correct the situation, he also noted that going to Lagos for loading usually adds up to the cost.

On the non-availability of kerosene in the zone, the IPMAN Chairman disclosed that about one billion Naira had been paid to Warri refinery to load kerosene for the past 19 months.

He attributed the closure of the facility to the inability to load kerosene, recommending the transfer of their request for kerosene to Lagos in order to sell at official price and also reduce its shortage in the market.

Fuel Queues Reappear In Ogun, Edo

fuel There are growing concerns among residents and motorists in Ogun and Edo state following the return of fuel queues in most petrol stations.

In Abeokuta, long queues of vehicles were sighted at the capital city with motorist struggling for the product at the service points.

There were also people with jerry cans hoping to get the product either as use in their vehicles or generators to power their homes.

Some stations remained deserted as a result of non-availability of the product.

It was the same situation in Benin City where long queues have also been seen around the city.

Some of the motorists complained of difficulty in getting petrol, asking the federal government to intervene in order to bring the situation under control.

The NNPC had given assurances that it has enough supply and had warned buyers against panic buying.

Residents have, however, appealed to the authority concerned to do the needful in bringing the situation under control for the good of the residents

Stop Panic Buying, NNPC Urges Nigerians

NNPCThe Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has urged Nigerians to stop the panic buying of petrol across the country.

Most filling stations in Abuja and other parts of the country have been inundated with cars forming long queues in an attempt to get petrol.

However, in a statement signed by the Spokesman of the NNPC, Mr Ohi Alegbe, the NNPC said that there is adequate product to last the country for 23 days.

The statement put the quantity of petrol stock at over 927 million litres.

The statement further warned marketers not to engage in products hoarding and diversion as the monitoring committee from the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) is empowered to sanction anyone engaging in sharp practices.

The NNPC had on Monday said that there was no iota of truth in the news making the rounds that the organisation had reduced the pump price of fuel.

The Group General Manager of NNPC, Ohi Aligbe told Channels Television on Monday that stories about the pump price being reduced has gone viral on the internet, but maintained that pump price of petrol remains 87 naira per litre.

NNPC Denies Slashing Petrol Pump Price

NNPC The NNPC says there is no iota of truth in the news making the rounds that the organisation has reduced the pump price of fuel.

The Group General Manager of NNPC, Ohi Aligbe told Channels Television on Monday that stories about the pump price being reduced has gone viral on the internet, but maintained that pump price of petrol remains 87 naira per litre.

He called the rumour the handiwork of detractors, saying that the management is not contemplating price reduction as at now.

Fuel Importation To Reduce As Port Harcourt, Warri Refineries Begin Operation

Refinery-KadunaThe Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, is optimistic that fuel importation will reduce, with the commencement of production at the Port Harcourt refinery.

He said that the Port Harcourt refinery was producing five million litres of petrol every day and that the refinery in Warri, Delta State, would begin production soon.

The NNPC boss made the revelation to reporters on Wednesday during a visit to the Port Harcourt refinery in Alesa Eleme, in Rivers State.

Fuel Importation Reduction

According to Mr Kachikwu, the production rate signifies that fuel importation will reduce significantly from now on.

He also said that before the end of the week, the Warri refinery will also resume production.

The GMD explained that the target of the NNPC was to ensure that all states’ refineries would begin to refine petroleum products, with operation at full capacity.

“All the refineries put together could supply 20 million litres of petrol on daily basis,” he said.

He also hinted that “when all the pipelines across Nigeria are fixed, the Nigerian Air Force will be engaged to provide aerial survey of the pipelines.

The GMD then told Journalists that a major plan was on the way to unbundle the pipelines and products marketing into three different companies that would focus primarily on maintenance of the pipelines and all the 23 depots across the country.

NNPC appoints new MDs for Port Harcourt, Warri refineries

The management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday approved the appointment of Ian Udoh as the new Managing Director for the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) and Paul Obelley as the MD of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC).

The NNPC made this announcement in a statement by its acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Fidel Pepple.

Mr Pepple said the NNPC also promoted some staff while others were re-deployed.

Those promoted according to the NNPC spokesman include Farouk Ahmed, formerly Executive Director, Commercial in the Pipelines And Products Marketing Company (PPMC) now the Managing Director of the Nigeria-Daewoo Shipping (NIDAS); Samuel Babatunde, formerly Executive Director Operations of the Warri Refinery, now Project Director Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas Project.

Also promoted are Abdullahi Dandume, formerly Executive Director Operations, Nigerian Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), now Managing Director NETCO and Aliyu Sambo, who was General Manager, M&P, now Group General Manager, Accounts.

Aholu Beks was also promoted as Group General Manager Information Technology Division from his previous position as head of Information Services Department.

Edwin Bako, Medical; Sylvester Idemudia, Greenfield Refineries and Okhes Jonathan, Power, were also promoted as Group General Managers.
Others are Benjamin Obaigbena, Research and Development and Dan Efebo, Human Resources.

Those re-deployed include Gabidon Meheux, former Senior Technical Assistant to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, now Managing Director, NNPC Services and Chris Osarrunwese, former Group General Manager, Human Resources, now Group General Manager, Downstream Business Development.

Bayo Ibirogba, former Group General Manager, Greenfield Refineries, now takes charge of engineering in the same capacity.

The NNPC spokesman said all the appointments took immediate effect.

Petroleum minister says maintenance of refineries will cost N250 billion

The Federal Government plans to spend N250 billion on the Turn-Around Maintenance of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Aliso-Madueke

This was disclosed by the Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke on Monday while being grilled by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) over the failure of the government to fix the refineries.

The minister said the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2014, the Turn-Around Maintenance project would have been completed, and the three refineries would be producing 370, 000 barrels per day, which is about 90 percent of the 445,000 barrels needed daily.

The project would start with the Port Harcourt refinery and Mrs Alison-Madueke said the government will spend $146 million out of which $32million (75 percent) had already been paid for the materials needed.

On why petroleum is selling at varying prices across the nation, the minister merely said: “Since the price was changes in January, it has become difficult for the market forces to stabilise at the official price. There is a major issue of supply partly due to subsidy payments. We are battling hard to ensure sufficient supply.”

Asked if the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was helpless at checking the disparity in prices, she replied: “If you are covering a country as large, there will be issue of pricing”.

“The DPR is, however, moving aggressively in the last months to check the anomaly. Of recent, 75 filling stations have been sealed up across the country over disparity in pricing”, Alison-Madueke told the committee.

She informed the committee that the vandalisation of NNPC pipelines in Arepo, Ogun State was a major reason responsible for the recent fuel scarcity in some parts of the country and especially in the South West.

She noted that in the process of repairing the damaged pipelines, three NNPC officials were kidnapped, confirming that the three officials had been killed.

But the committee said petroleum was selling at varying prices because that the minister was allocating the product to the independent marketers with preferential treatment.

The chairman of the committee, Magnus Abe, said: “How can filling stations sell at N97 per litre when the PPMC, as we have discovered, collected money from marketers without supplying them the product on time. Honourable minister, have you ever gone to the depots to see what marketers go through. We were told that you are giving allocation to only those who have godfathers. Unless this anomaly is removed from the source, we can’t force filling stations to sell at official prices.”

The committee also asked the minister to “digitalize” the process of allocating the products to enhance transparency, saying the “current analogue process is creating hidden costs”.