The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) started its week with a cheering news from the United States Department of State applauding the corporation’s high level of transparency.
The U.S. Department of State while applauding the Transparency Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE) agenda of Malam Mele Kyari-led NNPC described it as a major stride in the anti-corruption drive of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
The U.S. also commended NNPC for publishing its 2018 and 2019 audited financial statement.
This commendation was contained in the 2020 country report on human right practices recently published by the U.S. government.
Also on a cheering note, the NNPC announced a 37.21 per cent decrease in cases of pipeline vandalism across the country in January.
The good news hit the airwaves via the corporation’s January Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) released by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr Kennie Obateru.
The report indicated that a total of 27 pipeline points were vandalized in January down from the 43 points recorded in December 2020.
The Mosimi Area accounted for 74 per cent of the vandalized points, while Kaduna Area and Port Harcourt accounted for the remaining 22 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.
The corporation noted that it was continuously working in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders to reduce and eventually eliminate the pipeline vandalism menace.
The NNPC in the statement also revealed that a total of 1.44billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), translating to 46.30million litres/day were supplied across the country in the period under review.
In the Gas sector, a total of 223.55Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in the month of January, translating to an average daily production of 7,220.22 Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (mmscfd).
The 223.55BCF gas production figure also represents a 4.79m per cent increase over output in December 2020, while the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants increased by 2.38 per cent to 836mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 3,415MW.
For the period of January 2020 to January 2021, a total of 2,973.01BCF of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7,585.78 mmscfd.
Obateru further revealed that period-to-date production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) contributed about 65.20 per cent, 19.97 per cent and 14.83 per cent respectively to the total national gas production.
Out of the total gas output in January, a total of 149.24BCF of gas was commercialized consisting of 44.29BCF and 104.95BCF for the domestic and export markets respectively.
This translates to a total supply of 1,428.65mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,385.57mmscfd to the export market in the month under review.
According to him, “this indicates that 67.15% of the daily gas output was commercialized while the balance of 32.85% was re-injected, used as upstream fuel, or flared.
“Gas flare rate was 7.73% for the month under review (i.e. 554.01mmscfd) compared with average gas flare rate of 7.19% (i.e. 539.69mmscfd) for the period of January 2020 to January 2021.”
Also in the week under review, the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), a subsidiary of NNPC made a giant step in its quest to boost its revenue generation capacity.
NETCO said it was exploring business opportunities in Equatorial Guinea in line with its vision to become the hub of Engineering, Procurement and Construction in the West African sub-region, and a major revenue earner for the NNPC.
Mr Usman Baba, Managing Director, NETCO, made the disclosure during an oversight visit of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) to the company on Wednesday in Lagos.
Usman revealed that NETCO was established in December 1988 to provide an efficient and reliable engineering base for the NNPC Group and the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
According to him, NETCO has been involved in some key projects in the Oil & Gas sector in the last five years including the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Train 7 project, refineries rehabilitation project and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas pipeline project which are ongoing.
He said that the company was also involved in capacity building in the industry, adding that about 80 young engineers were currently undergoing training in NETCO.
Usman said though business opportunities had been negatively impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NETCO Management had designed various strategies to ensure the profitability of the company.
He said that the company’s acquisition of a land to build a fabrication yard in Akwa Ibom State was an indication of where the company wants to be in the nearest future, as part of the plan was to reduce capital flight when operational.
While thanking the committee for the visit, Usman sued for their continuous cooperation and support to enable NETCO actualise its mandate.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Musa Adar, said NETCO had a key role to play in helping to curb unemployment through provision of training opportunities for young Nigerians.
Adar said the oversight visit was part of the committee’s statutory duties to support the company to achieve its lofty ideas using legislative instruments.
The NNPC within the week made its presence felt in Bmuko Village in Dutse Alhaji with the donation of a motorised borehole, through the Chief Officers Management Development Programme (COMDP) Batch 091, code named ‘Entrepreneurs’ of the NNPC.
The COMD programme is the transition training for senior officers who are prepared to progress to the management cadre in the Corporation.
The team made the donation to the community, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
Speaking on the rationale for the borehole, the President of COMDP Batch 091, Mr Makinde Solomon, said the project was executed to complement government’s efforts in providing basic social amenities for the residents of the village.
The Coordinator of NNPC COMDP, Mrs Taiwo Akinbisola, posited that the donation by COMDP Batch 091 was in line with the NNPC philosophy of touching the lives of Nigerians in many positive ways.
The Chief of the Village, Hassan Shadpara, described the borehole project as a welcome development, noting that members of his community have gone through a lot of hardship due to water scarcity.
Other residents of the community who were visibly excited with the borehole project commended the NNPC for wiping away their tears by providing portable water for the community.
The event was witnessed by members of the Bmuko Community who saw the opportunity to celebrate their new win. (NAN)
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