Presidency queries PPPRA over alleged N120b subsidy debt

The Presidency has ordered a quick resolution of issues around the delay in the 2014 first quarter fuel importation, **Daily Independent** gathered on Wednesday.
In a swift reaction to Sunday’s warning by the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) of an impending acute shortage of products, a source at the Presidency told our correspondent that an inquiry has been launched into the allegation as part of efforts to nip the fuel scarcity in the bud.
**Daily Independent** learnt that the Presidency, is looking into the allegation that the Federal Government is owing its members N120 billion debts under the subsidy support fund.
Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Thomas Olawore, had explained that N20 billion of the debt is an accumulated interest on foreign exchange incurred on bringing fuel into the country between third and fourth quarter of last year.

Fuel supply: Tackling demurrage, losses with jetty investment

Infrastructure deficit at the Lagos Port’s  fuel jetties is causing delay in petroleum products’ discharge and huge losses in form of demurrage.  Experts, however, say  new investments will reverse this trend, DAYO OKETOLA writes

With a daily consumption of over 31 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) in Nigeria, about 12 trillion litres of PMS is imported into the country annually. Fuel jetties at the Apapa, Lagos Wharf serve as the major entry points for vessels bearing PMS, Automotive Gas Oil (diesel), Dual Purpose Kerosene, and Aviation Turbine Kerosene, among other products.

For instance, the Nigerian Ports Authority, on Tuesday, said about 18 vessels laden with PMS, AGO and DPK are among some other vessels expected to berth at the Lagos pilotage district soon.

But experts said the infrastructure constraint faced by these vessels was huge; adding that the inability of the fuel jetties at Apapa Wharf to accommodate large volumes of fuel imports hindered vessels’ effort to discharge at the port. Due to this, some major fuel importers have over the years developed a preference for discharging their products outside Nigerian waters, specifically at the ports in Cotonou, Niger Republic and Lome, Togo.

Corporate governance as business driver for Seplat

The Enron debacle focused renewed attention on corporate governance and organizational failures and successes. Since then a number of studies have shown that there exists a nexus between positive implementation of corporate governance and company performance with many scholars connecting the outright failure of a good number of blue chip organizations to lack of good corporate governance.

This failure, which translates into an inability of organisations to meet expectations of their various stakeholders and investors have often been traced to weaknesses in internal control, operating system, and a lack of commitment to the highest ethical standards.

Corporate governance refers to the way in which companies are governed and to what purpose.

It is concerned with the practices and procedures for trying to ensure that a company is run in such a way that it achieves its objectives.

‘Flared gas enough to solve Nigeria and Africa’s electricity crisis’

Representatives of Soprise Impact Organisation, an oil and gas consultancy firm based in Europe and the United States, on Monday told the Senate Committee on Gas that Nigeria was wasting about 1.1 million cubic feet of gas daily, which was capable of providing electricity to 20 million houses.

The Chief Executive Officer, Soprise Impact Organisation, Mr. Peter Jensen, lamented that the gas already wasted in the Niger Delta region, if harnessed and processed, would have addressed the power problems of the entire African continent and beyond.

To address the problem, Jensen explained that his firm, which has branches in Norway, United Kingdom and the US, had concluded arrangements to hold a conference on gas in Nigeria on March 12.

He said the forum would attract critical stakeholders in the sector, while experts would speak on the theme: ‘Deepening domestic gas implementation.’

Kerosene subsidy removal: Consumers seek cheaper gas alternative

Consumers have asked the Federal Government to spend the saving on the removal of subsidy on kerosene on making the acquisition of cooking gas kits affordable.

Despite the huge spending on kerosene subsidy, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Mr. Dakuku Peterside, recently bemoaned the situation whereby the masses could not buy the product at the regulated price of N40.90k per litre.

Only those who can bear the long queues at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s outlets and a few other outlets are able to buy the product at the government approved price despite the huge subsidy expenditure over the years.

Without any hope of getting the product at N50 per litre, consumers are envisaging a hard time and lament the lack of financial wherewithal to switch to Liquefied Petroleum Gas as an alternative.

Eighty per cent of Nigerian households depend on kerosene as their cooking fuel, with an average consumption rate of eight million litres per day.

Libyan port rebels see deal possible within weeks

A deal to lift an armed blockade of Libyan oil ports and restart exports could be possible within two weeks, after talks with the government advanced on key demands, a senior leader of the protest movement said.

Abb-Rabbo al-Barassi, prime minister of the self-declared eastern region government, told Reuters that Tripoli and his federalist movement are closing the gap, and a deal to resolve the standoff at oil ports could be weeks away.

“I see progress with the state, the government, the General National Congress assembly,” he said in an interview at the group’s base in Ajdabiya. “I think it won’t take longer than two weeks to reach a deal, God willing. Maybe even less than that.”

The group, led by a former rebel who once battled leader Muammar Gaddafi, seized three major eastern ports in summer to demand a greater share of oil wealth and more regional autonomy, choking off 600,000 barrels per day of oil exports.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s government in Tripoli has been trying to reopen the ports as it faces a budget crunch that risks deepening unrest in the OPEC producer. Oil exports, Libya’s lifeline, have more than halved since summer.

N27.7bn Chad basin oil exploration suffers setback

The Federal Government’s desire to achieve commercial oil production in the Chad Basin this year may not come to fruition, due to insecurity caused mostly by Islamic insurgency under the code name, Boko Haram.

Vanguard learnt that the various technical personnel who provided support services for exploration activities have left the region from fear of being killed, while geologists in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), also shunned the volatile Basin in Borno State for fear of losing their lives.

With this insecurity situation, the over N27.7 billion investments may not be realised as scheduled. Vice President Namadi Sambo said last year that oil prospecting in the Chad Basin was yielding promising results, and may lead to commercial exploration of oil and gas this year.

The Vice President, who visited the region, disclosed that the project had gulped about $75 million (about N11.9 billion) in 2012, while another $100 million (or N15.8 billion) was earmarked for it in 2013. “I want to inform you that government is committed to the oil and gas search in the Lake Chad basin,” he said at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Garbai. Sambo also said three blocks have been identified in the area after series of research.“These blocks have great potential for oil and gas exploration.

Afren hits production target, sees double-digit growth next 5 years

Nigeria-focused oil firm Afren posted oil output slightly above it 2013 target and said it foresaw double-digit production growth over the next five years.

The company expected 2014 gross production of 62,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up on the 59,926 in 2013, but that net production to Afren would stand at 40,000 boepd, lower than the 47,112 boepd in 2013.

The firm said the lower net figure was due to extension work at its Ebok field in Nigeria that would close the site for about 20 days as well as ongoing regional developments in Kurdistan.

The company, whose main producing assets are in Nigeria, but which also operates in Kenya and Kurdistan, said on Tuesday that its Ogo oil discovery in Nigeria, with an estimated 774 million barrels of oil equivalent, was one of the largest discoveries in the world.

The Ogo discovery was made last year and was labeled “giant” by analysts at the time.

The company said in October that output would be at the top end of its range after a step-up in production at its Ebok field in Nigeria, its main producing asset.

Overall, 2013 production came in at the top of its annual guidance of 40,000 to 47,000 boepd.

Afren’s market cap stood at 1.58 billion pounds ($2.62 billion).

Your Cellphone Could Be a Sonar Device

Submarines have used sonar for decades. Bats and dolphins have used it for millions of years. And thanks to a little math, humans could soon be echolocating with their mobile phones.

At the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, experts in signal processing discovered a mathematical technique that allows ordinary microphones to "see" the shape of a room by picking up ultrasonic pulses as they bounce off the walls. The work was published in this week's edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Microphone echolocation is harder than it sounds. Ambient noise in any room interferes with the sounds used to locate the walls, and the echoes sometimes bounce more than once. There is also the added challenge of figuring out which echoes are bouncing off which wall.

NNPC must account for missing $10.8bn – TAPAN

The minister finance, Ngozi  Okonjo- Iweala,  must ensure that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)  accounts for the alleged missing $10.2 billion.

This is the position of  the Tax Payers Association of Nigeria (TAPAN). The association made its  position known in Abuja, yesterday, through its Board of Trustees chairman, Comrade Valentine Nzekwe, and the president, Mr Phillip Ilukhulo.

The body also  called for the amendment of  Section 85 (2) of the 1999 Constitution which  empowers the auditor-general of the federation or anyone authorised by him to audit “the public accounts of the federation and of all offices and courts of the federation” and submit his report to the National Assembly, but says the office cannot audit the NNPC but can only provide NNPC and similar bodies with a list of qualified external auditors to choose from, guide on fees to pay the external auditors, comment on their accounts and the external auditor’s reports.

According to TAPAN “ the finance minister is a woman of integrity and must therefore ensure they account for it as she promised. She has worked so hard for the nation and we believe she would ensure all the monies are accounted for.

Speaking on the  missing $10.8 billion from the Federation Account, at the Budget presentation last week, Okonjo-Iweala vowed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) must account for the missing fund.

According to her, the  role of the Federal Ministry of Finance is to ensure that the maximum amount of revenue  flows into the Federation Account.