The Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) has invited seven firms to bid, following the
cancellation of crude oil swap contracts, as well as Offshore Processing
Contracts (OPA), which the corporation entered into with traders under
the previous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The NNPC said in a statement Wednesday
that, “After due appraisal of performance trajectory, we have invited
Messrs. Oando, Sahara Energy, Calson, MRS, Duke Oil, BP/Nigermed and
Total Trading to bid for the new Offshore Processing Agreement while we
have engaged AITEO, Sahara Energy and Duke Oil to exit the current
OPA.’’
The corporation also announced new
measures aimed at cost reduction and strengthening of operational
efficiency across its value chain.
The NNPC stated that after proper
evaluation and in line with the terms of contract for the delivery of
crude oil to the nation’s refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna,
it cancelled the current contract due to exorbitant cost and
inappropriate process of engagement.
The Corporation noted that as a stop-gap
measure, NIDAS Marine Limited, a subsidiary of the NNPC has been
engaged to provide crude delivery service on negotiated industry
standard rate pending the establishment of substantive contract.
The release by Group General Manager,
Group Public Affairs Division, Ohi Alegbe, quoted the corporation as
saying “We have also commenced a rigorous and transparent process of
securing capable and competitive contractors for the delivery of crude
oil by marine vessels to Port Harcourt and Warri/Kaduna Refineries
pending the restoration of the Crude Pipeline infrastructure.”
The NNPC explained that it resorted to
the delivery of crude oil to the refineries by marine vessels following
incessant attacks on the Bonny-Port Harcourt refinery pipeline and the
Escravos crude pipelines by vandals and oil thieves resulting in the
complete unavailability of the pipelines in 2013.
The corporation also said the OPA
contracts it entered in January 2015 with three companies, namely- Duke
Oil Company Inc., Aiteo Energy Resources Limited and Sahara Energy
Resources (Nig) Ltd, has been cancelled because it was “skewed in favour
of the companies.”
Under the agreement NNPC allocates a
total of 210, 000 barrels of crude oil per day for refining at offshore
locations in exchange for petroleum products at pre-agreed yield
pattern.
“However after detailed appraisal of the
operation and its terms of agreement, the NNPC is convinced that the
current OPA is skewed in favour of the company’s such that the value of
product delivered is significantly lower than the equivalent crude oil
allocated for the programme,’’ the Corporation said.
The NNPC also observed that the
structure of the agreement does not guarantee unimpeded supply of
petroleum products, as delivery terms were not optimal.
To address these lapses, the NNPC
informed that it has commenced the process of establishing alternative
OPA based on optimum yield pattern with tender processing fees.
On the status of the Crude for product
exchange agreement (SWAP) reportedly entered into by the NNPC and some
oil traders, the corporation informed that the last SWAP arrangement
lapsed in December 2014 and was never renewed.
The NNPC also informed that it has
obtained the permission of President Muhammadu Buhari to kick-start the
tendering process for the 2015/2016 Crude Oil Term Contract for the
evacuation of Nigeria’s crude oil equity from the various crude and
condensate production arrangements.
The Corporation noted that the process
which would commence with the advertisement of the Crude Oil Term
contract in both National and International print media for a period of
one month has been carefully structured to weed out “briefcase
companies’’ and rent seekers.
Ref: http://businessdayonline.com/2015/08/nnpc-invites-7-firms-to-bid-after-cancellation-of-crude-swap-opa-contracts/
No comments:
Post a Comment