Oil & Energy
Proposed BCP, FSO: Belemaoil Assures Adherence To Guidelines
Ahead the schedule for the proposed Belemaoil Crude Pipeline (BCP) and installation of Floating Storage and Off-loading (FSO) Vessel Offshore project in Kula community, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, Belemaoil Producing Limited, has assured absolute compliance to established rules and regulations.
Vice President of the company, Collins Amadi, gave the assurance at the Panel Review Meeting of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed project by the Belema Sweet Export Terminal Limited, held at Hotel Presidential, PortHarcourt, at the Weekend.
Speaking to Newsmen, Amadi said that the project is undergoing it’s process, inclusive of the EIA, maintaining that upon the process completion, the company would ensure a total adherence to guidelines and involvement of all concerned parties.
Amadi said “It’s a process. Developing a terminal is not something you get in a swift. You can not just go in without meeting up with all the required regulatory measures. And the EIA is part of the process. The project has not started. Once it starts, we will abide with all the rules and regulations governing it”.
Amadi who noted that the company had been in the oil and gas business for a while stated that it has always upheld the interest of it’s host communities saying “from all our value chain, we take them along. We ensure that every community that is impacted is here . We engage them and they know when we say we’ll do this, we do them”.
According to him, the EIA panel review meeting had both the federal and state ministries of environment who act as advocates and defendants of the project’s host communities “ensuring that as the government , whatever we do will not affect the people negatively”.
Also speaking, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ajivin Group of Companies, who is also the Technical Consultant to Belema Sweet Export Terminal Limited, Dr. Vincent Ajilo, insisted that the project, once in operation, would help to meet the needs of the people.
“It’s lovely because it accommodates the needs of the environment. With this project, there will be economic development in Kula kingdom.
Describing Kula as one of the communities that houses a lot of assets, Ajilo regretted that the area is still impoverished stating “so with this project, there will be facilities, funds and opportunities for the community”.
Earlier in his Opening Remarks, the Minister of Environment, Balaraba Abbas Lawal, said the Belema Crude Pipeline project is one that the government had hope on to help leverage on employment and capacity development.
Represented by Shittu Hussain, Lawal said “the Belema project is a project that we are hoping would help to accomplish the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda of the President. The company has made effort to ensure that they are consistent with the law. The project will help to eliminate unemployment and boost capacity development as people engaged in it will at the end, benefit “.
On her part, the representative of the Rivers State Ministry of Environment, Dr (Mrs) Ibi-faa Kio, stressed the need for a proper impact mitigation on the host communities and its environs upon commencement of the project.
“Please, consider what is meant to be done for the community especially the women and even men who rely on the sea for their livelihood to mitigate their impact”, she said.
By: Lady Godknows Ogbulu
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Oil & Energy
Dangote/NUPENG Feud: Tanker Drivers Disown ‘PTD Elders Forum ‘, Seek Impostors’ Prosecution
Petroleum Tanker Drivers(PTD), an affiliate union of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers(NUPENG), has disowned a group parading itself as the ‘PTD Elders Forum’ amid a feud with Dangote Refinery.
The drivers from across the Kaduna, Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Warri zones, during a Press Briefing, at the Weekend, described members of the said forum as fake impostors with no recognition under PTD or NUPENG constitutions and hired to wreck havoc on the union.
They appealed to security agencies to investigate and prosecute those behind the forum.
Speaking on behalf of Kaduna Zone, Bashir Izalan, said the group was unknown to PTD, stressing that Egbon’s leadership had been transparent and responsive to members’ welfare.
He noted that drivers benefited from union-backed insurance, medical support and intervention in workplace disputes.
Representative of the Lagos Zone, Itanola Abiodun, maintained that the so-called elders were not members of the union, pointing out that every legitimate PTD member belonged to a unit and zone.
He urged the group to identify their units if they were genuine members, insisting that they were “hired hands” out to destabilise the union.
In his words, “Everybody who belongs to a union has a unit and zone where that unit is located. Then, they have the PTD branch. Those units where they claimed they come from do not exist. We in those zones do not know them.
“Their names are not known to us at all. They should mention the units they belong to for discerning minds to vouch for their authenticity.
“They cannot even say the units or zone they belong to. They are not speaking for us. They are impostors, hired to wreak havoc in our union”.
From Port Harcourt Zone, Chukwudi Okafor, dismissed allegations that PTD leadership mismanaged check-off dues and loading fees, clarifying that the funds, contributed by truck owners, are used for drivers’ health insurance and welfare.
He said members were satisfied with how resources are managed, urging the government to support PTD.
Dennis Akore of Warri Zone alleged that the controversy was linked to former PTD members who lost out in the July, last year’s delegates’ conference, claiming that the group was attempting to regain control of the union after being voted out by drivers.
Earlier, NUPENG President, Comrade Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale, had also warned against the activities of the “PTD Elders Forum,” describing them as infiltrators working to sow disaffection within the union.
All is now set for the unveiling of the indigenous $400m Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Terminal in Rivers State, billed for Wednesday, October 8, and to be performed by the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The facility, developed by Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11, located in Ikuru-Town, in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, is the first wholly indigenous onshore terminal built in Nigeria as the last of such facility, the Forcados Terminal, was commissioned back in 1971.
The unveiling would attract top government officials, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and other major stakeholders across the nation’s oil and gas sector.
With the much struggling with declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and rising operational costs in recent years, the Otakikpo Onshore Terminal further underscores the Federal Government’s renewed efforts to restore investor confidence in the nation’s oil sector.
The Executive Director, Legal and Corporate Services, GEIL, Olusegun Ilori, in a Statement, last Thursday, said the terminal aligns with President Tinubu’s drive to boost crude oil production and address Nigeria’s long-standing evacuation challenges.
“This project is a strategic infrastructure that supports the administration’s commitment to raising output while reducing costs,” Ilori said.
On his part, the Chairman and Chief Executive, GEIL, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the terminal as a “game-changing national infrastructure.”
Adegbulugbe said “What we have achieved here is not just a storage solution, but a pathway for about 40 stranded oil fields to finally contribute to the economy”.
It would be noted that industry operators, over the years, have consistently highlighted evacuation bottlenecks as a major impediment to meeting the Federal Government’s production target of 3m bpd.
The Otakikpo terminal is expected to serve as a lifeline to more than 40 stranded oil fields by providing a reliable evacuation outlet, potentially unlocking millions of barrels of crude previously trapped underground.
With an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, expandable to three million barrels, and a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day, the facility is also projected to reduce production costs for indigenous producers significantly.
By: Lady Godknows Ogbulu
Nigeria is pumping more crude and drilling harder than it has in years, thanks to reforms under President Bola Tinubu that are finally coaxing cash back into the upstream. Daily output has climbed to between 1.7 and 1.83 million barrels, while active rigs surged from 31 in January to 50 by mid-year, Minister of State for Petroleum Heineken Lokpobiri told delegates at Africa Energy Week.
The turnaround is pinned on the “Project One Million Barrels” initiative and the long-delayed Petroleum Industry Act, which the government insists has created a predictable playing field for investors. Lokpobiri pointed to over $5.5 billion in fresh investment decisions tied to asset divestments by IOCs—moves he said are adding some 200,000 bpd to national production. Nigeria, he declared, is “open for business.”
But problems persist downstream. The country’s crown jewel refinery—Aliko Dangote’s $20 billion, 650,000-bpd plant in Lagos—is mired in strikes, sabotage claims, and financial headaches. Earlier this week, Nigeria’s top oil union launched a nationwide walkout after 800 refinery workers were sacked for alleged “acts of sabotage.”
Dangote insists he’s rooting out bad actors; unions say he’s firing organizers. The strike has already shuttered offices at NNPC and key regulators, raising fears it could spill over into production if not resolved.
Even before the labor brawl, the refinery was under pressure. Dangote has admitted to reselling crude cargoes and halting local fuel sales as currency distortions made operations unprofitable.
Buying crude in dollars and selling fuel in a weakening naira is a recipe for red ink, and calls for government-backed import bans have underscored just how fragile the model is.
Nigeria’s oil reforms may be luring rigs back to the delta, but if its refining dream continues to falter, the paradox remains: a top global crude exporter still at risk of shortages at home.
By Julianne Geiger