Business

NNPC Secures $2bn Discounts On Re-Negotiated Contracts

Published

9 years ago

July 7, 2017

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says it has secured $2 billion dollars discount from re-negotiated upstream contracts being executed by its various service providers in the last one year.
The Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr Maikanti Baru, made this known in a message to mark one year of his headship of the organisation.
In a statement by NNPC Group General Manager, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, Group Public Affairs Division, Baru said that the discount was got in the quest to continually drive down the high cost of production in the oil industry.
He said that the corporation had successfully reduced cost of producing a barrel of crude from 27 dollars per barrel to 22 dollars per barrel.
He said that in the upstream segment of the sector, cost reduction and efficiency were key features that the corporation would focus attention on.
Baru said that there had been significant increase in crude oil reserves and production, averaging national daily production of 1.83 million barrels of oil and condensate.
He disclosed that currently, “the year-to-date 2017 average production hovers around 1.88 million barrels’’.
He said that with improvement in security and resumption of production on Forcados Oil Terminal (FOT) and Qua Iboe Terminal pipelines, average national production was expected to increase.
According to him, it will surpass 2017 target of 2.2 million barrels of oil and condensate per day.
“In October last year, the Owowo Field, located close to the producing ExxonMobil-operated Usan Field was found, and the Field’s location could allow for early production through a tie-back to the Usan Floating Production Storage and Offloading.
“The Field added current estimated reserves of one billion barrels to the national crude oil reserves.
“The corporation has grown the production of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), NNPC’s flagship Upstream Company, from 15,000 barrels of oil per day to the current peak-operated volume of 210,000 barrels per day in June, 2017.
“The ownership of Oil Mining Licence, OML13, has been restored to NPDC following a presidential intervention, with first oil from the well expected before the end of the year.
“The confidence of the NNPC Joint Venture (JV) partners to pursue new projects has been rekindled following the repayment agreements for JV cash call arrears.
“The arrears were negotiated and executed for outstanding up to end 2015 by all the International Oil Company Partners,” Baru said.
He also said that gas supply to power plants and industries in the country had significantly increased.
Baru listed NNPC’s accomplishments during the period as completion of repairs of vandalized 20″ Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System ‘A’ in August, 2016 which ramped up Chevron Escravos Gas plant supply from nil to 259 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).
Another, according to him, is the completion of repairs of the vandalized Chevron offshore gas pipeline in February, 2017 which took the company’s gas supply to 430mmscfd.
He said that others were completion of repairs on vandalized 48″ FOT export gas pipeline in June, 2017 and inauguration of NPDC’s Utorogu NAG2 and Oredo EPF 2 gas plants.
The GMD explained that the FOT export pipeline had reactivated shutdown gas plants, including Oredo Gas Plant, Sapele Gas Plant, Ovade Gas Plant, Oben and NGC Gas Compressors.
He said that the concomitant effect of the attainments was a significant growth in domestic gas supply in the last few months.
He added that during the period, domestic gas supply increased from average of 700mmscf in July, 2016 to an average of 1,220mmscfd currently, with about 75 per cent of the volume supplied to thermal power plants.
“A lot of Generation Companies, as a result, are rejecting gas due to the inability of Transmission Company of Nigeria to wheel-out the power generated”, Baru said.
He also said that since he resumed office, resources had been deployed to the Benue Trough, with exploration efforts commencing there in earnest.
“Seismic data acquisition is ongoing in the frontier region using the services of Integrated Data Services limited (IDSL) and her partners to pursue government’s aspiration to grow the reserves base of the country.
“Drilling activities are expected to commence in Benue Trough in the fourth quarter of this year.
“We are working with the security agencies for an early return to the Chad Basin.
“Drilling activities will be a priority on resumption while continuing with seismic data acquisition with improved parameters,” he projected.
In the downstream sector, Baru explained that NNPC had stabilized the market with sufficient products availability across the country through modest local refining efforts as well as Direct Supply Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme.
According to him, the scheme has saved the nation about N40 billion in 2017.
“We have also commenced the resuscitation of our products transportation pipelines network, thus enabling us to move products to depots at faster rate and cheaper distribution costs to consumers.
“The Aba, Mosimi, Atlas-Cove and Kano depots have all been re-commissioned and are currently receiving products, thereby enhancing products availability across the country,” he said.
Baru said that under him, NNPC had improved capacity utilization of the refineries with the projection that they would attain supply of 50 per cent of non-gasoline white products, including diesel and kerosene, to the nation.
“After more than seven years of dormancy, the Asphalt Blowing Unit of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) was resuscitated to meet road construction needs in the country.
“Efforts are ongoing to secure third party financing to revamp the refineries to their full operational capacities,” he said.
He commended the corporation’s staff and industry’s in-house unions – Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for their support.

Business

Boat Mishap Kills Pastor, Wife And Church Members In Brass Water

Published

8 hours ago

May 18, 2026

The Tide

A boat accident in Bayelsa state has killed a serving Pastor, Wife and other church members along Brass waterways

The sad incident happened at Odioama in Brass local government area of Bayelsa State when the Pastor, wife and members of his church were in a programme.

?Tide confirmed that the lifeless body of the Pastor’s wife has been found and deposited in a mortuary while the remains of her husband ,the Pastor is yet to be recovered

as search party are still ongoing.

Although the real cause of the boat Mishap is not yet known as at the time of this report, our Correspondent gathered that the identities of the Pastor, wife and church members were not disclosed to the public.

The mishap, Tide gathered occurred on Friday morning when the church members were on a boat transit

The Bayelsa State government and the state police command are yet to issue official statement’s on the sad accident

By: CHINEDU WOSU

Business

Rivers Workers Seek Scrapping Of Contributory Pension Scheme

Published

8 hours ago

May 18, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Council of Nigeria Civil Service Union has called on the State Government to urgently scrap the contributory pension scheme, describing it as unfavourable to long-serving civil servants in the state.

Chairman of the union, Chukwuka Osuma, said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, recently.

Osuma said the current pension structure has continued to worsen post-retirement hardship for workers.

He noted that the contributory pension scheme had failed to provide adequate retirement security for workers who had spent many years in service, especially those approaching retirement age.

According to him, civil servants who had served for more than 20 years were among the worst affected under the scheme, insisting that many retirees could no longer cope with prevailing economic realities.

He also informed that the Union has made moves to showcase their concerns, pleading with Governor Siminalayi Fubara to abolish the pension policy and introduce a more favourable arrangement for affected workers.

“The union was not opposed to pension reforms, the contributory scheme should only apply to newly employed workers or those with fewer years in service”, he said.

Osuma explained that workers who had already spent decades in the civil service ought to remain under a more secure pension structure capable of guaranteeing stability after retirement.

The labour leader further noted that inflation and the rising cost of living had continued to erode the value of retirement savings, thereby increasing the suffering of pensioners across the country.

He also appealed to the state government to consider extending the years of service in the civil service from 35 to 40 years and the retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

Osuma argued that such adjustment had become necessary in view of present-day economic realities and changing conditions in the workplace.

The unionist also reviewed that similar policies had already been adopted in some sectors and jurisdictions, expressing optimism that the State could also implement the reforms for the benefit of workers.

He however, commended Governor Fubara for approving an N85,000 minimum wage for workers in the state, noting that the amount was above the national benchmark of N70,000.

Osuma also acknowledged the government’s efforts in the area of workers’ promotions and bonuses, but insisted that pension reforms and extension of years of service remained critical to the long-term welfare and stability of civil servants in Rivers State.

By: King Onunwor

Business

FG Begins South-West Tour To Promote New Cooperative Bank

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2026

The Tide

The Federal Government has launched the South-West zonal engagement and ministerial advocacy tour on the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria share capital mobilisation, sensitisation and cooperative sector digitalisation.

Reports say the initiative was launched through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

According to reports, the advocacy tour, organised by the ministry’s Federal Department of Cooperatives, began on Monday in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Dr Aliyu Abdullahi, said the initiative was part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Abdullahi described the exercise as a strategic effort to reposition the cooperative sector as a key driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity.

“Today represents a defining moment in our collective determination to reposition the cooperative sector as a major driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity,” he said.

The minister noted the modern cooperative movement in Nigeria originated in the South-West following the 1934 Strickland Report, which led to the enactment of the Cooperative Societies Ordinance of 1935.

According to him, the decision to commence the sensitisation and share capital mobilisation tour in the region is symbolic, as it marks a return to the roots of cooperative development in the country.

Abdullahi said the advocacy tour was a direct outcome of resolutions reached at the 8th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Cooperative Affairs held in Abuja in March 2026.

He said the council approved the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme, a comprehensive framework designed to strengthen the cooperative sector and align it with the administration’s goal of building a one-trillion-dollar economy.

“The reform programme focuses on seven strategic pillars, including governance reforms, cooperative financing and the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, digitalisation, capacity building, value chain development, inclusion of youths, women and persons with disabilities, and strategic partnerships,” he said.

He said the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria and the digitalisation of the cooperative sector were the two major transformational initiatives under the programme.

“The Cooperative Bank of Nigeria is aimed at rebuilding a strong cooperative financial system capable of supporting cooperators, farmers, artisans, traders, SMEs, youths, women and persons with disabilities with accessible and affordable financial services,” he said.

Abdullahi emphasised that the proposed bank would be government-enabled but not government-funded.

“Government is not establishing the bank as an owner, nor will it rely on Treasury Single Account funds.

“The role of government through the FMAFS is to provide policy support, stakeholder coordination, regulatory facilitation and an enabling environment under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme,” he said.

Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to cooperative sector transformation.

She described cooperatives as critical tools for promoting inclusive growth, grassroots productivity, food security, financial inclusion and community wealth creation.

Ambrose-Medebem said Lagos State would continue to support reforms and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (2025–2030).

“Together, let us build a cooperative ecosystem that is modern, transparent, digitally enabled, financially inclusive and globally competitive.

“Let us build cooperatives that not only mobilise savings, but also mobilise prosperity,” she said.