APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited will commence the supply of 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day to the Dangote Refinery, which begins operations next week is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that as the Dangote Refinery begins operations next week, the supply of 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to the facility is going to commence, the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, announced on Thursday.
Kyari, who disclosed this at the ongoing 4th Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, also urged all stakeholders to join the national oil company in growing crude oil and gas production in Nigeria.
He said the NNPCL, which had 20 per cent stake in the refinery, was ready to meet its crude supply obligations to the facility, stressing that with the coming on stream of the refinery next week, the national oil company “wll be supplying 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Dangote.”
He was quoted in a statement as saying, “We want to address the energy challenges so that industrialisation can come to the country. 48 per cent of all revenue that comes to the government comes from the oil and gas sector and we are in a very good position to support the growth of the economy.”
Early this month, The PUNCH reported that the Dangote Refinery, established by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 22.
A presidential aide, Bashir Ahmad, had tweeted that the inauguration would be done by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
“Efforts by the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in local refining of crude oil to save the scarce foreign exchange used in the importation of petroleum products have received a boost as the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery, is set for inauguration on May 22nd, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari,” Ahmad announced.
The 650,000bpd facility, estimated to worth over $19bn, is an integrated refinery project under construction in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, Nigeria. It is expected to be Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility.
The newspaper says that about 65 world leaders, including Heads of State, have been invited to grace the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who will be sworn in as the 16th President of Nigeria on May 29.
Also expected at the nation’s seventh transition ceremony are past presidents, diplomats, heads of international organisations and prominent Nigerians and representatives of foreign governments and agencies.
The inauguration programmes will begin on Thursday with the investiture of Tinubu with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic and the Vice-President-elect, Kashim Shettima, as the Grand Commander of Order of the Niger.
A director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to The PUNCH on Thursday that several African leaders had indicated interest in attending the inauguration ceremony which would take place at Eagle Square, Abuja.
“We have 54 countries in Africa and most of them have been invited to the inauguration; so, we don’t expect less than 65 world leaders from Africa, Europe and America at the event,’’ said the director, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the issue.
Representatives of Nigeria’s traditional allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, China, Germany, Finland, Jamaica, Japan, Israel, Turkey and several others are expected at the high-profile event.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday as activities for the transition of power to the incoming administration began, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, disclosed that scores of world leaders would attend the event.
The preparation for the swearing-in of the former Lagos State governor is gathering steam as the battle to nullify his election victory by the standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi continues at the Presidential Election Petitions Court.
On Thursday, the PEPC adjourned further proceedings in Atiku’s petition till Friday (today) to continue further pre-hearing sessions as well as to hear pending applications that were filed by the respondents.
The Punch also reports that the Nigerian Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has urged exporting manufacturers to key into the trade immense benefits of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme.
The call was made at a workshop on “The unhindered market access the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme offers.”
The workshop was organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lagos.
The ETLS is a tool for achieving a free trade area. The tool consists of elements such as the rules of origin and other elements of the procedure to benefit from the ETLS.
It is a trading instrument aimed at encouraging duty-free trade among ECOWAS member states, a bloc which averages at least $12bn in trade annually.
In his remarks, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, said the workshop was informed by the need to create awareness for the ETLS.
According to him, the workshop is to ensure that Nigerian companies fully maximise the opportunities of the scheme in the overall interest of the country’s economic growth and development.
He noted that the scheme would deepen ECOWAS sub-regional integration.
He added that the ETLS mechanism presents a unique opportunity to advance Nigeria’s goal for sustainable economic growth and development, as the scheme would boost trade, capture new markets and in turn generate foreign exchange.
The Guardian says that Nigeria may see the coming on stream of over $32.5 billion worth of oil and gas projects as the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited and International Oil Companies operating in the country yesterday show readiness to sign Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) on some projects.
The development is coming as the country is expected to see its oil production rise to 1.8 million barrels per day in July, amidst calls from industry stakeholders for the country to urgently address loopholes in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and immediately finalize the Host Community fragment of the law.
The move also came as NNPC Limited said $3.8 billion had been paid to oil operators in the country to clear all outstanding Joint Venture (JV) cash-call debt.
The cleared outstanding, according to the NNPC, re-energised the JVs to recalibrate their focus towards sustaining production and increasing their spending to procure the necessary services required to do so.
Gathered in Yenagoa at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF), organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the operators disclosed that Total Energies’ Ubeta, Preowei, Escravos Gas Plant Degasser Project, Chevron’s Agbami, Shell’s Bonga and ExxonMobil’s Owowo are coming on stream this year and would by 2024 push the country’s production to about three million barrels per day.
The concerns for the operators bordered on the need for the Nigerian government to urgently address challenges that diminish the bankability of the country’s energy industry, especially insecurity, crude theft, community issues, poor governance framework, sanctity of contracts, contractor capability, gas fiscals for deepwater and dry gas, projects economics as well as clear operationalization of the PIA fiscal system.
In terms of revenue, investment, production and reserves, the odds have been against Nigeria in the last eight years over investors’ divestment while funds move to other African countries.
GIK/APA