Pascal Arogorn Ibe
……..DPR warns IPMAN against exploitation
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says 78 companies will bid for the rehabilitation of oil pipelines and depot infrastructure across the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that over 300 companies applied through the official portal published in the national dailies on Aug. 7 and only 78 companies met the expiration time of noon on Sept. 18.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, at the virtual public bid opening for the rehabilitation of the NNPC group downstream critical pipelines and associated depots/terminal infrastructure on Friday in Abuja, said the corporation was committed to transparency.
Kyari said that the process of selection of companies would be transparent and those who would win the bid would undergo a process of Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) system.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari had mandated the corporation to ensure transparency and accountability in all its operations.
He said that this would help the NNPC to deliver its services to all stakeholders efficiently, especially to the ordinary Nigerians, adding that the management of the corporation had aligned to the order.
The GMD said that it was unfortunate that the oil pipelines deteriorated over the years with activities of hoodlums and vandals, forcing its to be underutilised. .
He assured that the technology that would not be compromised by vandals would be deployed by the selected companies for the rehabilitation.
“You know that this project requires huge finances that is why we are adopting BOT, pipelines globally are managed by the private sector. What we are doing today is in line with global best practices.
“The NNPC is challenged because of resources constraints; today, we do not have all the resources required to reform this asset which has become so vulnerable and have lost their values and integrity over the time.
“Some of them are as old as 40 years, they are due for replacement and when you want to do replacement of this scale, we do need a lot of resources, which we don’t have.
“We have decided that we will bring in private partners who will rehabilitate the pipelines, they will fund it, they will operate it with us and ultimately, they will recover their investment from tariff on the pipelines.
“As soon as they recover their costs, earn their margins, they will hand over to the country, that is what we want to do,” he said.
Kyari said that the selected companies would have maximum of two years to deliver on the project, adding that by first quarter of 2021, the names of selected companies would be announced.
In his remarks, Mr Musa Lawal, the representative of the NNPC downstream, said that the corporation operated about 5,120km pipelines across the country.
He said that most of the companies had been inactive due to vandalism and activities of hoodlums on the lines, adding that it had also led to crude oil and revenue loss to the country.
He assured that the process of selection would be transparent as stakeholders were invited as observers to monitor the process.
“NNPC as an IETI company will continue to ensure accountability and transparency in line with this; we have virtually invited other partners as observers.
“We have Infrastructure Concession Regulations Commission (ICRC), Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiatives (NEITI), Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), among others as our observers,” he said.
The Director-General of ICRC, Mr Chidi Izuwah commended the corporation for its efforts to adopting proper Public Private Partnership (PPP) in infrastructure rehabilitation in the country.
“This means that things can be done better in the country, we are happy with the show of interest in PPP, ICRC that will ensure that this project is carried out in a credible manner for Nigeria to see its benefits,” he said.
Meanwhile the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has warned Independent Petroleum Marketers (IPMAN) in Osun against exploiting motorists in the sales of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
Mr Olusegun Daboh, the DPR Operations Controller in the state, gave the warning on Friday in Osogbo when he received the newly elected IPMAN Executives.
Daboh said the department would continue to monitor all filling stations in the state to ensure that they dispense accurately.
The controller said any marketer caught under-dispensing product would have their filling stations sealed, and pay N100, 000 as fine on each pump discovered to be under-dispensing product.
He described as disheartening the way some independent marketers engage in sharp practices, adding that the DPR would not relent in its surveillance operations in the state.
Daboh, however, assured them of necessary support to succeed and advised them to always abide by all precautionary regulations.
Also speaking, Mr Femi Ogunmuyiwa, DPR Head’s of Operations, appealed to the marketers to always train their attendants on safety practices.
Ogunmuyiwa noted that some of the attendants lack requisite knowledge on safety procedure involved in the sales of oil and gas.
Earlier, Alhaji Bukola Mati, the IPMAN Chairman, solicited for the support of DPR for the new executives and the association at large.
Mati said support of the DPR was necessary for their business to thrive
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