Energy Worth

By Energy Worth The monitoring team of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has embarked on a tour of filling stations across Lagos metropolis to check the excesses of some owners whose dishonest activities are frustrating government’s efforts at easing the fuel crisis being experienced nationwide. The tour which kicked off Saturday, at Maryland, Lagos is coming on the heels of allegations of pump price hike and hoarding by some filling station owners who connive with black marketers to make brisk business at the expense of the masses. At virtually all the stations visited, the product was available and being sold at the official pump price of N145 but the fuel attendants were seen giving priority to buyers with big rubber gallons while motorists waited patiently in queues until officials of PPPRA intervened. At Majok filling station, Ladipo, the monitoring team seized some already filled 25litre gallons of fuel because the gate of the station was closed to motorists...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has successfully cleared the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol queues in Abuja and Lagos with the commitment to increase truck-outs to other states to restore normalcy to the petrol supply and distribution across the country. Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, made this disclosure Friday after visiting some filling stations in Abuja. “As far as truck out is concerned, we have more than doubled the number of trucks that are going out into the country. Yesterday, we loaded and distributed products from coastal and strategic inland depots like Jos. We loaded I,733 trucks yesterday and the actual normal number of trucks we required to keep the country wet is about 700 but we have been doing 800 to 850 trucks before the petrol scarcity. We have stepped up the number of truck-outs to 1,733 as a minimum and we have sustained this for a week and there will be more than enough products for motorist...

Chevron has recently announced a contribution of $500,000 from the Chevron Global Community Fund to the American Red Cross in support of relief efforts for the wildfires in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. “Chevron, like others in California, wants to help with the response to these devastating wildfires,” said Mike Wirth, Chevron’s vice chairman and executive vice president. “Our heartfelt thoughts are with the people affected by the fires, including the brave firefighters working so hard over the holidays to contain them.” Chevron, based in California for more than a century, makes it a priority to provide support to the communities where it operates. Chevron will match any qualifying donations to wildfire relief efforts made by its employees and retirees.

*Babatunde Fashola, Minister for Power, Works and Housing. At the last monthly power sector operators’ meeting held on Monday, December 11 in Lokoja, Kogi State, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola had claimed power generation had increased from below 5000 megawatts, MW, to 7000MW. “By collective action of Government and all of you, many of these challenges have either been fully overcome or brought under control and management. Government has responded with policies and actions like the N701 Billion payment assurance guarantee which has brought confidence to the production side of the power business and resulted in increased power production taking us to an all-time high of over 7,000 MW of power availability”, the minister had said in his opening remarks at the meeting in December. What the minister’s statement meant was that increase in power generation from below 5000MW to 7000MW, had occurred after their meeting in November, as checks by SweetcrudeReports found...

By Energy Worth The Group Managing  Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has explained the need to subsidize the petroleum products, saying that the government does not want the pump price to go beyond N145 per liter. Fielding questions from State House corespondents after observing Juma’at prayers at the State House Mosque, he said President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that all parameters be maintained to ensure that the pump price does not exceed N145 per liter. When asked to clarify the issue of payment of subsidy, he said: “Do you want me to remove subsidy? What I am saying is that the landing cost as should be sold in the pump without under-recovery should be N171.40. “However, Mr. President has directed that we should maintain all the parameters to ensure that it is sold at N145 per liter. And that is why we are selling at depot at N133.28.” He said the situation of petroleum supply in the country has normalized as he noted th...

*OPEC Headquarters Oil traders are going to have their work cut out for them in 2018. OPEC and its allies are heading into the second year of supply cuts to wipe out the global oil glut, while rising U.S. output is threatening those efforts. Geopolitical tensions also add a wild card to the market mix. As oil watchers seek to plot a course through the year ahead, they’ll be paying close attention to signals ranging from timespreads to options contracts. Here are five key barometers to watch as 2018 unfolds: 1. The Shale Signal WTI’s discount to Brent closed at its widest level in more than two years on Tuesday as an explosion at an oil pipeline in Libya boosted the global benchmark. That came after Hurricane Harvey kept supplies locked in the U.S. earlier in the year, providing the first trigger for a wider spread and bumper U.S. exports. With shale growth driving forecasts of record U.S. supply in 2018, that could lead to a further expansion in the discount, which neared $7 a barrel o...

*A burnt transformer at the station. By Energy Worth The  Management of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) regrets the fire incident that affected a 60MVA  Transformer at Dan Agundi Substationin  Kano on Thursday, 21 st  December, 2017 at 1.30pm. This caused power supply constraints to  some sections of Kano for two days. However, TCN in collaboration with Kano  Electricity Distribution Company Limited  has transferred some of the loads  of the affected areas to  Dakata  substation and the balance to the unaffected 60MVA Transformerat  Dan Agundi Substation . This has significantly  mitigated the problem . TCN has also inaugurated a committee to review protection systems of the company’s installations nationwide in order to forestall such ugly incidents in the future. According to TCN’s General  Manager  (Public Affairs), a contractor had  commenced installation  of the  third 60MVA  Transformer...

*A plenary session of the Senate on Thursday. By Energy Worth The Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) headed by Senstor Kabiru Marafa on Thursday, announced its resumption from the end of year recess by summoning the Minister of State for Petromeum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National.Petroleum Corporations (NNPC) Dr. Maikanti Baru. A statement by Senator Marafa on Thursday said: “Members of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) have cut short their Christmas/New Year break to address the lingering fuel scarcity in the country. “To this effect, the Committee has invited the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. lbe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru. “The Minister and the GMD are to appear before the committee on Thursday, 4th January, 2018 to explain the measures so far taken to end the fuel scarcity in the country. The session would be aired live on NTA t...

*NNPC GMD, Dr Maikanti Baru (middle) dispensing free fuel to motorists in Abuja during the raid. In a bid to curb diversion of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) by unscrupulous marketers, a team monitoring fuel distribution made up officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has intensified its clampdown on illegal filling stations known for receiving diverted products and selling same to motorists at cut-throat prices in Abuja and environs. So far, between yesterday and today, seven of such stations along the Kubwa and Airport Road axes of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have been clamped down with the petrol found in their storage tanks dispensed free of charge to motorists by members of the team led by the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru. Speaking during the raid on an unnamed filling station in Byazhin community, Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, which was c...

By Energy Worth The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Wednesday, announced the temporary suspension of products dispensing activities at its mega station along Lagos Road in Port Harcourt due to a fire incident near the station. It said the fire was as a result of a car explosion that occurred outside the station after petrol was dispensed into an in-built locally fabricated tank designed to siphon fuel. Though  the fire did not affect the station, the corporation noted that it was imperative to suspend operations in order to enable security agencies to clear the resultant traffic situation at the scene. The national oil firm also stated that a combined team of its officials and those of the Department of Petroleum Resources, led by the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, heightened the tempo of unscheduled visits to fuel stations suspected to be involved in underhand dealings across the Federal Capital Territory.

  Libya’s oil industry revival suffered a setback Tuesday after an explosion at a pipeline carrying crude to the OPEC nation’s biggest export terminal. Oil rallied as a result. Production will drop by 70,000 to 100,000 bopd after the explosion, the state-run National Oil Corp. said in a statement. The pipeline, operated by Waha Oil Company, carries crude to the Es Sider terminal. The blast occurred 81 mi south of Sidra. Output in Libya, where oil fields have endured sporadic shutdowns and disruptions due to protests, power blackouts and fighting, rose to about 1 MMbpd this year, the highest level in four years, and was recently about that level. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose as much as 2.5% after news of the explosion. Waha is a joint venture between Libya’s National Oil, Hess Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and ConocoPhillips. Libya and Nigeria are supposed to restrict their combined production to no more than 2.8 MMbopd, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said after t...

*Shell engineer on field. The Rivers Government and Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the distribution of gas to industries in the Greater Port Harcourt area and its environs. The signing of the MoU was announced in a statement on Tuesday in Port Harcourt by Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Shell Nigeria Media Relations Manager. Mr Richard Hart, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, signed for the state government while SNG Managing Director, Mr Ed Ubong signed for the company Odugbesan said that the MoU set out broad terms and conditions to guide the two parties in the development of new gas distribution opportunities in the Greater Port Harcourt. According to him, the new gas distribution opportunities covered by the MoU is in addition to its existing distribution network in the state. Hart said: “The agreement is key in the efforts of the government to boost industrialization in Rivers State. “We believe that the agreed terms ...

By Energy Worth Relief may be on the way for commuters as fuel supply to Lagos shows signs of improvement with queues at filling stations in the metropolis thinning out Tuesday. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo had spent the Chrismas day touring Lagos depots and filling stations, empathising with distraught Nigerians, many of who had spent long hours at the stations without getting petrol to buy, and assuring them that the products would be available shortly. But the scarcity of petrol in service stations within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and its environs, which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Sunday said would begin to ease off in 48 hours lingered with a lot of stations remaining shut or still with long vehicular queues. This is just as petrol marketers under the aegis of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) exonerated themselves from the current fuel crisis across the country, stating that they presently do not have fuel in the...