September edition

Lagos to produce oil next year ...23m barrels Aje field to launch state into oil producers’ league

P/06

Baker Hughes develops solution for conventional, unconventional technologies - Shote P/15

A Review Of The Nigerian Energy Industry September, 2014

VOL 02 N0. 18

U P DAT E S

Nigeria records improved gas, power supply

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Egypt to borrow $1.4bn to pay foreign oil debts

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consortium of local banks is set to secure a $1.4 billion loan for the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to pay back debts to foreign oil companies, a source from the petroleum sector told Al-Ahram's daily newspaper.

The consortium will include four banks and will be led by one of Egypt's biggest, the source said, adding that 25 percent of the loan will be in US dollars.

According to Al-Ahram, part of the debt to the foreign companies is expected to be paid by the end of September or early October.

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Contents

02

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Editor’s note

I

t is cheery news that gas is now going to the thermal power stations to the extent that power generation has hit a two-year high of 4,044 megawatts, with noticeable improvement in supply to consumers. Coming from stakeholders in the electricity sector, who should know, there is no doubting the authenticity of this information. It must be a happy time for managers of the power generating and distribution companies in the country, including Mr. Mike Uzoigwe, managing director, Egbin Power Station, who had earlier in the year lamented his company's loss of N570 million in six months due, among other issues, to the absence of gas to power its plants.

Away from power and natural gas supply, Lagos could become the new addition to the exclusive club of Nigeria's oil producing states from next year. That is if the joint venture companies - comprisingYinka Folawiyo Petroleum, First Hydrocarbons Nigeria, Panoro Energy, Jacka Resources, Energy Equity Resources and New AGE - see through their plan to start producing oil from the offshore Aje field in OML 113 as from 2015. This, though, is almost a certainty given the action plan released by the joint venture, which points to the achievement of first commercial production from the field by the end of 2015. Like the joint venture

companies, the Lagos government must be looking forward to this development with high expectations.

Still on a happy note, Eland Plc, a company focused on oil and gas exploration and production in West Africa, has recommenced production at Nigeria's onshore Opuama field. The company plans a seven-well development drilling programme in the field, directed at attaining 7,000 barrels of oil per day gross production. With output stabilising currently at an average rate of over 3,500 barrels of oil per day, this is a welcome addition to national production.

The alleged scam and opacity surrounding kerosene importation, distribution and sales is one issue that can't just go away. The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, this time, is calling for 'a high-powered' presidential probe into the matter just as the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has tasked the Acting Inspector General of Police to unmask and bring to book officers and men of the Force conniving with criminals to perpetrate pipeline vandalism.

We expect all these, plus our car guide showcasing the best cars for you and your family in terms of body type and price, to make this edition an interesting read.

Enjoy!

4 6 13

COVER Nigeria records improved gas, power supply OIL

Lagos to produce oil from next year

FOCUS Nigeria needs over 8,000 skilled workforce to sustain 40,000mw by 2020 -NAPTIN Boss

15 21

GAS

26 29 32 35 37

FINANCE

40 44

Nigeria’s LNG export falls in face of shale gas

POWER

Nigeria to generate 30% electricity from coal – Minister

Nigeria exports N3.22tr worth of crude oil in 3 months

LABOUR NUPENG seeks probe of kerosene distribution, sales SOLID MINERAL

Steel Intervention Fund needed to revive sector - Stakeholders

FREIGHT NIMASA to bridge infrastructure gap with ship, dock yards

MOTORING 14 Car Guides: Research for your next car by bodytype, price or family size

TECHNOLOGY Electric power transmission

COMMUNITY Civil Defence seek communities’ support on pipeline vandalism

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Hector IGBIKIOWUBO EDITOR Chuks ISIWU ASSISTANT EDITORS Yemie ADEOYE Toju VINCENT Eluonye KOYEGWUAEHI

SNR. CORRESPONDENT Oscarline ONWUEMENYI

GM, Marketing Nkem IGBIKIOWUBO

+234 08060249746

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2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

03

Cover Story

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

04

Power plant

Nigeria records improved gas, power supply Power generation hits two-year high Accomplishment underscored by failed targets CHUKS ISIWU & KUNLE KALEJAYE

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head the Federal Government's pledge of steady power supply across the country next month, electricity industry players say gas supply to the thermal power generating stations has improved.

This, they said, has also led to a marginal increase in power supply to distribution companies, which has, in turn, brought about a slight improvement in power supply to consumers.

The development is, however, coming amid a litany of failed targets in the power value

chain and caution by stakeholders against rising expectations due to the fact that factors that could still frustrate gas supply still exist.

Both the power generating companies or Gencos and the distribution companies or Discos sampled by SweetcrudeReports alluded to the improved gas supply and increase in power generation and supply, but, did not avail us of necessary figures to back up their claims.

The Group Executive Director in charge of gas development at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. David Ige, told SweetcrudeReports earlier this year that gas

supply to power stations had increased to about 1 billion standard cubic feet per day from an earlier figure of less than 600 million standard cubic feet. But, an official at one of the power firms, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the current level of gas supply might have surpassed that level.

A l s o , c h e c k s b y SweetcrudeReports with the Ministry of Power revealed that power generation has reached a two-year high of 4,044 megawatts, mw, though this is still below the peak generation level of 4,517.6mw recorded on December 23, 2012. At the consumer end, supply has only improved

This, they said, has also led to a marginal increase in power supply to distribution companies, which has, in turn, brought about a slight improvement in power supply to consumers marginally, with a cross section of Nigerians saying in separate interviews they were anxiously awaiting the new Federal Government target of October for achieving steady power supply.

Confirming the increase in gas supply to the generating

plants as well as increase in power generation in the country, Managing Director, Egbin Power Station, Engr.

Mike Uzoigwe, said in a telephone interview: "Gas supply has increased, and as long as there is an increase in

CONTINUES ON PAGE 5

Cover

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

05

Improved gas, power supply amid litany of failed targets

Crude oil vessel

Olorunsogu power plant CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 gas supply, there will be an increase in power generation and supply".

Uzoigwe did not provide statistics on the previous or current levels of gas supply to the power plants, but, revealed that it was mainly due to the improved gas supply that national power generation had climbed to over 4,000mw. He urged consumers to be patient "because there is going to be more increase in power supply," stressing: "Nigerians should be ready to pay realistic electricity tariff. In as much as there is gas supply, power generation and supply will continue to increase."

"The increase in power supply is not because gas suppliers who are owed N25 billion have been paid. As we speak, nobody has been paid, but there is increase in gas supply," Amadi said.

A source in one of the distribution companies in Lagos, said, "generation has improved, that's why distribution has improved too".

General Manager, Public Affairs, at the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Mrs. Seun Olagunju, who admitted to increased power supply in the country, also attributed this to improved gas supply to the thermal power generation plants.

When contacted by Olagunju put TCN's current SweetcrudeReports, Chairman transmission capacity ‎ at o f N i g e r i a E l e c t r i c i t y 5,000mw imbalance and up to R e g u l a t o r y C o m m i s s i o n , 7,000mw balance, but said the NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, also company's aim is to improve confirmed that more gas is now its transmission capacity to being supplied to the power 6,000mw by December. plants. " There is no secret to Besides gas supply, one other the increased power supply in the country. The thermal power factor that has played a major generation plants now receive role in improved power enough gas and they are generation in the country is operating at different capacity. the completion and delivery of

some National Integrated Power Projects, NIPPs, conceived in 2004 by the exPresident Olusegun Obasanjo government to address the issues of insufficient electricity generation and excessive gas flaring from oil exploration in the Niger Delta region, but, which remained stalled for years due to lack of funds.

Earlier this month, six of the 10 power stations under the first phase of the NIPP were completed and have been churning out over 2,000mw to the national grid.

Mr. Yakubu Lawal, General Manager, Communications and Public Affairs at the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC - in charge of the execution of the NIPPs told SweetcrudeReports that the remaining four located in Alaoji, Aba, Abia State; Gbarain, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State; Omuku, Rivers State and Egbema, Imo State were at various stages of completion.

The 10 power plants, including the ones yet to be completed are up for privatisation and Lawal said the share purchase agreements

Earlier this month, six of the 10 power stations under the first phase of the NIPP were completed and have been churning out over 2,000mw to the national grid

on the plants were being finalised with the new investors.

But even at that, the 10 plants were scheduled to have been completed last year and their non-completion on schedule has been robbing Nigeria of their overall 4,774mw.

Again, the agreement is already several months behind schedule, according to the timelines unveiled in June 2013, which also provided for hand over of the plants to their new owners by June this year.

Added to this failure to bring the plants on stream as

scheduled and the time lag in execution of specified tasks as outlined in the timelines, some gas delivery projects meant for power plants are also lagging behind.

Observers have expressed deep concern about the sustainability of the improvement in gas supply to the power stations. They also warn that the issue is not really the completion of the power projects but the ability to protect the pipelines from vandalism that would cut off gas supply to the plants and ultimately ensure another drop in national power generation and supply.

Oil

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

06

Lagos

Lagos to produce oil next year …23m barrels Aje field to launch state into oil producers' league SAM IKEOTUONYE

C

rude oil production is likely to commence in Lagos as from 2015, given recent indications by partners in the oil-rich Aje field located offshore Badagry in the western part of Lagos.

Located in Oil Mining Lease, OML, 113, about 24 kilometres off Badagry shore, Aje field was discovered in 1996 and is estimated to hold about 23.4 million barrels of crude oil.

Commencement of production from the field is expected next year and with it, Lagos would launch itself into the exclusive league of Nigeria's oil producing states, which currently comprises Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Edo and Ondo.

Others oil producing states

are Imo, Delta and Rivers.

Anambra State was two year's ago declared Nigeria's ninth oil producing state by President Goodluck Jonathan, though the state government's claims over oil deposits on the Omambala River basin is being seriously challenged by Kogi State, causing frequent clashes between neighbouring communities on the boundaries of the two states.

Local player Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum is the operator of Aje field, other partners in the joint venture being First Hydrocarbons Nigeria, Panoro Energy, Jacka Resources, Energy Equity Resources, and New AGE. “Jacka is pleased to achieve this milestone in the development of the Aje Field and of the company," Max Cozijn, chairman, Jacka

Resources said in a statement in reference to the completion of development-planning studies of the field by the joint venture partners and their plans to proceed with field start-up arrangements.

He added: Following the final investment decision by the joint venture the first significant activity in the field will be the drilling of Aje-5 and the completion of this well and the existing Aje-4 well, in first quarter 2015.

"Installation of the production facilities, including tying the wells to the FPSO, will occur later in 2015. Jacka looks forward to achieving first commercial production at the end of 2015”.

OML 113 covers an area of 835 square kilometres and lies in water depths ranging from less than 100 metres to

Following the final investment decision by the joint venture the first significant activity in the field will be the drilling of Aje-5 and the completion of this well and the existing Aje-4 well, in first quarter 2015 approximately 1,500 metres. Aje's field development plan, FDP, was approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, in the first quarter of this year.

Jacka Resources said a new 3D seismic survey, covering the whole of OML 113, was acquired earlier in 2014 and would be used

CONTINUES ON PAGE 7

Oil

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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Eland seeks $125m for Ubima field development …Recommences production at OML 40 expenditure of $125 million.

A recent statement by the company in Lagos said Wester Ord, the subsidiary of Eland, entered into a farm-in agreement with the Farmor for a 40 percent interest and as consideration for the assignment, will pay a signature bonus of US$7 million to the Farmor and, contingent on production and receipt of Ministerial Consent to the transfer of the participating interest, a production bonus of US$3 million.

The statement stated that Wester Ord also entered into a separate commercial agreement to fund the initial work programme. The terms of this agreement entitle Wester Ord to 88 per cent. of production cash flow from Ubima until the costs have been recovered.

The statement reads “the Company will guarantee the obligations of Wester Ord under the farm-in agreement and the signature bonus will be paid from existing cash resources. The Company is currently in discussions to increase the existing debt facilities to fund the Ubima development.

An oil field in Nigeria

E

land Plc, a company focused on oil and gas exploration and production in West Africa, needs $125 million as development capital expenditure for the Ubima field.

The company recently acquired 40 percent participating interest in the Ubima field in Oil Mining Lease, OML, 17 from All Grace Energy Limited.

Eland also says production at the Opuama field, covered by the OML 40 license, has recommenced with production stabilising at an average rate of over 3,500 barrels of oil per day.

The company disclosed in August that it was planning a seven-well development drilling programme in the Opuama field, onshore Nigeria, with the aim of completing at least one producing well by the end of 2014, with expectations of achieving 7,000 barrels of oil per day gross production at the OML 40 site by its year-end.

Chief Executive officer of Eland, Leslie Blair, who described the acquisition of 40 percent participating interest in the Ubima field as an

attractive and accretive deal for his company, stated that a proportion of the anticipated expenditure would be met from early cashflows from the extended production test.

Eland acquired the 40 percent participating interest of the field which lies onshore in the northern part of River State through its wholly owned subsidiary Wester Ord Oil & Gas. OML 17 is held by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Total E&P Nigeria Limited and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited.

It is believed that the most recent independent 2C resources (Contingent Resources) estimate for the Ubima Field is 34 million barrels of oil reserves.

There is also a significant upside 3C resource (Contingent Resources) estimate of 66.9 million barrels of oil, with an extra 2C resource (Contingent Resources) estimate of 97 billion cubic feet of non-associated gas in two reservoirs.

Also, the field is reported to have 3D seismic coverage and four wells which have been drilled in the field between the

1960s and 1981 with hydrocarbons being encountered in all four wells in multiple stacked reservoirs.

The Ubima 1 well was suspended and identified for completion and production by the previous operator, but this programme was not executed.

However, with the acquisition, Wester Ord is planning to reenter this well and perform an extended production test. Oil produced will then be trucked to

the nearest sales point prior to the Ubima export pipeline being in place.

The company believes that subsequently, an initial four development wells can be drilled and put into production nine to 12 months from commencement of the full work programme.

The full work programme, according to the company, is estimated to require development capital

“The completion of the transfer of the 40 per cent participating interest from the Farmor to Wester Ord is contingent on the approval of the Head-Farmors and the Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources.

“Pending receipt of Ministerial Consent to the transfer of the 40 per cent participating interest, Wester Ord will exercise the rights and benefits of its 40 per cent interest in Ubima via the Financial and Technical Services Agreement which takes effect from completion.

Lagos to produce oil next year in mid-2015.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 for locating subsequent development wells and to pursue exploration and appraisal targets, including the possible extension of the Ogo discovery from the adjacent OPL310 exploration area.

The initial field discovery well, Aje-1 was drilled in 1996. A total of four wells have now been drilled on the Aje Field and hydrocarbon resources proven at three reservoir levels (Turonian, Cenomanian and Albian).

The company further stated: “An initial field production rate of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day is anticipated. Solution gas will be used as fuel. Drilling and completion operations are expected to commence in Q1 2015, with FPSO installation

“All major contractors have been identified (FPSO, installation, flowlines, drilling among others) and contracting discussions are advanced, in most cases to draft contracts; which provides assurance on cost and availability of services.” it stated.

“No crude sales agreements have yet been entered into for the project but as the Cenomanian oil is a light crude and the project is located on major shipping routes to and from Nigeria’s main oil producing areas, sales and access to transport is not expected to be a problem.

“Following the approval of the FDP by the Nigerian authorities in Q1 of this year, there are no major environmental or regulatory approvals outstanding”.

Oil

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports it is our desire to continually make a different not only on our employee but also our customers.

08

explained that during production, cost effective technologies is needed to deal with water management.

He stated that $40 billion is “We also have the Baker Hughes operating system spent to deal with unwanted ‎ w h i c h i s a n i n - h o u s e water during production but development where we have with Baker Hughes Chemical all our policies and procedures solution (AquaFix, and other located on a single platform technologies) for water control, and we use it not only as the cost can be reduced. training reserves, but as Wilson also stated that Baker quality management reserves.

Hughes has other technologies “We are able to achieve success in our operations because we focus on training.

such as GeoFORM, EXCLUDER 2000 to deal with sand in fields.

He stated that $40 billion is spent to deal with unwanted water during production ‎but with Baker Hughes Chemical solution (AquaFix, and other technologies) for water control, the cost can be reduced We do not employ people and think that they know everything. So we are focus on building a talented field organisation and as at this 2014, we have the target to employ 968 field engineers and mathematicians and that is 30 percent of what we did in 2013.

Out of these we have 27 PHD holders.”

Crude oil terminal

John Wilson, who also spoke

The essence of these technologies, Wilson said is to keep the oil flowing from the reservoir for as long as possible.

Leonard Okoronkwo, another speaker at the Techno Day conference organise by Baker Hughes, said another technology within the company’s reach which has been used and tested in other African countries is the

Nigeria'll account for 'big portion' of Africa's oil growth -Baker Hughes KUNLE KALEJAYE

I

nvestment in Africa’s oil and gas business is expected to continue to rise, according to the managing director of Baker Hughes Nigeria, Mr. Ayo Shote.

Shote said investment will continue to flow into the continent because of huge potentials in Africa’s oil and gas business. Key focus of this growth will be in West Africa, East Africa as well as North and Central Africa countries.

He said Africa could not be left out by development in the global energy landscape, emphasizing that “we will continue to remain important

and grow. The big portion of this growth is Nigeria. We have been in Nigeria since the beginning".

“Nigeria is a big market globally and in Africa, but we have a huge spread across Africa. In Nigeria we are seeing the increasing importance of indigenous participation,” Shote stated as he spoke at his company’s Techno Day conference and Exhibition in Lagos.

The Baker Hughes managing director stated that in support of increased investment in Africa’s oil and gas business, his company has a huge presence on the continent.

He explained that energy

goes beyond oil and gas, but includes the availability of safe and affordable energy so that the life of the man on the street will be affected for good.

To support oil and gas investment in Nigeria, Shote said the company has spent above $500 million on research and development.

He said: “We focus much on talent and capability development. In Nigeria within the Baker Hughes family, we are net exporter of talent, we actually take send more people out than we take.

“We have 92 percent of nationalised work force in Nigeria today. That is because

at the conference, said to enhance production capacity for mature fields, Baker Hughes has state-of-the-art technology that can meets challenges in such field.

For

instance,

Wilson

Snapshot and Snapscreen live well deployment system.

According to him, the essence of the technologies is to help increase production potentials from marginal fields.

Oil

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

09

Pipeline vandalism: Nigeria may lose $10tr capital investment

Oil handling facility KUNLE KALEJAYE

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he nefarious activities of pipeline vandals may cause Nigeria to lose about $10 trillion in capital investment in its oil and gas sector between now and the next 11 years.

This loss of global investment in the oil and gas business for Nigeria from 2015 to 2025 will be the result of its inability to compete regionally, continentally and globally in the oil space as the activities of pipeline vandals and the resultant loss of huge volumes of crude as well as loss of funds to repair works on damaged facilities continue to make the contrry less attractive to existing players and potential investors.

with three other Kwale Cluster Marginal Field operators, lose 25-30 percent of crude injection to theft daily.

"We suffer 10,000 bopd (barrels of oil per day) defered production behind pipe due to pipeline vandalism and crude theft. We lost about $200 million to crude theft in 2012 -2013," he said.

This amount may be minimal compared to losses by bigger industry players and the mulinational oil companies, including Shell, Chevron and Agip, which have separately reported huge losses.

A recent investigation by SweetcrudeReports, for instance, showed that the eastern operations of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, SPDC, suffers an average of six cases of vandalism of its pipelnes per week and that vandals have resorted to setting the vandalised lines ablaze.

Nigeria’s Corporate Media Relations Manager said.

cases in five major states in the country since then.

The Nigerian government estimated crude oil theft and associated deferred production at over 300,000 barrels of oil per day, bopd, in 2013, although industry sources said this might have been much more.

Continuing, the Managing Director of Energia stated that crude oil theft was a global problem that hurts the world's trade since it involves international trade, foreign banks and global companies.

Amieyeotori added that liquid, solid wastes and residues from dumps which were not properly disposed or treated usually caused contamination of domestic water supplies, leading to various kinds of health hazards.

The Energia boss, however,

According to a study by the UKEngr. Amieyeotori explained explained that efforts to curb the ‎ based Chatham House, Nigeria that apart from the economic menace of pipeline vandalism lost between $10 and 12 billion to i m p l i c a t i o n s o f p i p e l i n e have been put in place by the crude oil theft between 2009 and vandalism, there were also National Economic Council 2011. environmental and health Committee against crude oil theft consisting of six state T h e N i g e r i a n N a t i o n a l consequences. governors, members of the state Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, According to him, whereas security agencies, the petroleum on its part, reported last week about 30 percent of refined oil minister, National Planning and that from the first recorded case was recovered during pipeline J u s t i c e , N N P C o f f i c i a l s , of pipeline vandalism and vandalism, about 70 percent of NIMASA and all the IOC's, rupture in 1999 within Nigeria, the product was often discarded headed by the Delta State there have been 34,041 other into the environment.

Governor.

…Records 34,042 cases of pipeline vandalism in 14 years

More over, several other African countries have made entry into the oil and gas rom the first recorded case of pipeline vandalism and rupture in 1999 within business, presenting stiff Nigeria, there have been 34,041 other competition to Nigeria as cases in five major states in the country since preferred investor-destination.

Indications are that the volume then, according to the Pipelines and Products Also, Nigeria is ranked above lost to the incidence of crude oil Marketing Company, PPMC. Me x i co , I ra q , R ussi a a nd theft and shut-ins suffered by ‎ The five major areas where vandals carry out Indonesia as the most oil theft- the company’s operations in the their nefarious operations, often referred to as plagued country in the world. area now exceeds 300,000 ‘hot spots’, include Gombe, Kaduna, Mosimi in These are the submissions from barrels per day and continues to Ogun State, Port Harcourt (Rivers State) and t h e r e c e n t 2 0 1 4 a n n u a l mount.

Warri in Delta states. conference of the National "On average, around According to facts and figures released by A s s o c i a t i o n o f E n e r g y 32,000bopd were stolen from PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Correspondents in Lagos.

SPDC JV pipelines and other Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, 2010 saw the facilities, whilst the joint highest recorded cases of 5,518 vandalism.

Managing Director of Energia, 2011, 2012 and 2013 followed with 4,468, 3,708 Engr. Felix Amieyeotori, who venture lost production of and 3,571 cases respectively. around 174,000 bopd due to hinted of the possible loss of Managing Director of PPMC, Mr. Haruna about $10 trillion by Nigeria shutdowns related to theft and Momoh, who stated this at the 2014 annual within the next 11 years, stated, other third-party interference," conference of the National Association of Energy Mr Precious Okolobo, Shell for instance, that his company,

F

Correspondents in Lagos, said activities of pipeline vandals in the country have led to the loss of 712, 776 cubic meters, M3, of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol in the last four years.

Within the same period, he said the country lost 1,310,139 cubic meters of crude oil, 9,548M3 of Dual Purpose Kerosenes, DPK, and 37,054M3 of Automated Gas Oil, AGO, also known as diesel.

The PPMC boss, who was represented at the event by Mr. Frank Amego, also stated that these activities of economic saboteurs led to disruption of crude oil supply from Escravos to Warri and Port Harcourt refineries.

Momoh further explained that due to this problem the Federal Government had been forced to use marine vessels for crude oil deliveries to the refineries.

Oil

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

10

Shell facility

Shell in fresh assets sale in Nigeria

T

he Royal Dutch Shell has sold four oil fields in Nigeria, in its ongoing global asset sales to cut

costs.

The multinational oil company last year put up for sale its 30 percent shares in four oil blocks in the Niger Delta – Oil Mining Licence, OML, 18, 24, 25, 29 – as well as a key pipeline, the Nembe Creek Trunk Line.

“We have signed sales and purchase agreements for some of the oil mining leases, but not all that we are seeking to divest,” a Shell spokesman said.

In several rounds of divestments, Shell has been moving away from Nigeria's onshore oil, which is plagued by industrial scale oil theft, security problems and oil spills, the latter having become a growing legal liability for major oil companies.

Politics have also played a role.

The government is keen to put indigenous operators in charge of onshore oil extraction, leaving the international majors to manage more difficult and capital-intensive deep-water projects offshore.

Firms have also been hampered by uncertainty over the particulars of an oil bill designed to overhaul the industry, which has been stuck in parliament for two years and looks unlikely to be passed before February 2015 elections.

Other companies including

Total, Eni, and Chevron have also looked to dispose of assets.

ConocoPhillips sealed a $1.5 billion deal with Nigeria’s Oando last month.

No details were available on the value of the deals Shell signed, nor when the full process would be completed. Oando’s deal with ConocoPhillips took more than 18 months to sign off.

France’s Total and Italy’s Eni are also set to raise revenue from the sale of 10 percent and 5 percent stakes in the assets.

Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) is a Shellrun joint venture 55 percentowned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, with the other 45 percent split between Shell, Total and Eni. LOCAL BUYERS The Financial Times recently reported that Shell was close to selling the assets for about $5 billion to domestic buyers, citing banking sources.

In March, Reuters reported that Nigerian firms Taleveras and Aiteo had made the highest bid of $2.85 billion for OML 29, the biggest of the four oil fields.

Two market sources said Aiteo had won that bid, although it was not clear whether the two companies were still working as partners. One banking source said Aiteo may have gone in without Taleveras.

A senior Taleveras official said the company could not comment

until Shell announcement.

makes

an

A senior Nigerian oil executive said a consortium headed by Pan Ocean Oil Corporation had bid for OML 24 at a price of about $1 billion.

He said it worked out to about $10 per barrel of crude in the ground, similar to Oando’s deal, and that the price was “high, especially considering the issues with the trunkline”.

The banking source said Crestar had clinched OML 25. It wasn’t clear who had got OML 18, the sources said. The FT reported it went to Eroton, a consortium of Midwest Oil and Gas and Mart Resources.

Cement and food tycoon Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man with a fortune of some $20

He said it worked out to about $10 per barrel of crude in the ground, similar to Oando’s deal, and that the price was high, especially considering the issues with the trunkline billion, was among the bidders on the blocks, although he didn’t win anything, the sources said.

Programme and human rights groups for failure to adequately clean up decades of oil spills.

There is widespread speculation in the local market that Shell is also seeking to offload OMLs 11 and 17 in Ogoniland, where it has faced criticism from the United Nations Environment

A Shell spokesman declined to comment on this. Shell, along with many other oil majors, is undergoing a broad process of asset sales across the world in an effort to cut costs and boost profits.

NNPC wants Police protection for oil facilities

O

bviously worried by the loss by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, of an estimated $243 million to oil pipeline vandalism and theft of the product in recent years, new Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Joseph Dawha, has solicited the assistance of the police in protecting its pipelines.

Dawha made the request when he visited the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, in Abuja, saying the development will help check vandalism as well as crude oil and refined products’ theft.

The NNPC helmsman, according to a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, also solicited for

the assistance of the police in protecting top management staff of the corporation, as, he said, peace and security were essential ingredients for the socio-economic growth of any nation.

He congratulated Abba on his appointment, and thanked the Force for maintaining what he called the “age-long collaborative relationship” between the corporation and the Force.

Responding, Abba said the police would continue to give maximum protection to oil facilities and personnel of the corporation.

Abba said the Force was exploring modern techniques of surveillance for the protection of critical national infrastructure.

Oil

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Don says modular refineries’ll curb petroleum products scarcity MKPOIKANA UDOMA

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The university teacher explained that modular refineries were cheaper to establish and operate than medium refineries.

According to him, “The modular refineries are moderate because it is a small one. For instance, if you want to make gasoline, you will have to add the catalytic system to crack the molecules so that you can get the gasoline that you want. If you want to make kerosene, you just add another unit; if you want to make petrochemicals, you will just add another unit, depending on what you want.

"It is not too expensive to operate, with just about $200 million, the whole business can be set up”.

The 3rd International Downstream Conference and Exhibition on Gas, Petroleum Refining, Petrochemicals and Fertilisers was billed to hold at the university campus from August 27 to 28.

NIGERIA CONTENT INITIATIVE Dr. Ibilola Amao

professor of Petrochemical Engineering at the University of Port Harcourt has advocated called for the setting up of modular refineries in Nigeria to compliment the production capacity of the nation’s domestic refineries.

Professor Adewale Dosunmu made the call on the sidelines of a press conference on the 3rd International Downstream Conference and Exhibition on Gas, Petroleum Refining, Petrochemicals and Fertilisers at the University of Port Harcourt.

11

The Obama Power Africa Initiative and Nigerian Content

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t is quoted that over 170 million Nigerians currently survive on less than 5000MW of power provided on the national grid. President Barack Obama’s Power Africa initiative which was established in

June 2013 is aimed at providing electricity to over 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. At the recently concluded Washington summit of African leaders in August 2014, the US led Power Africa’s plan to boost generation capacity by 30,000MW, was discussed and US private sector made a commitment to fund power programmes to the tune of $20million alongside commitments worth $6 billion. Commencing with

Modular refinery

six focus African countries, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania, the Power Africa Initiative places a demand on African

Aramco to invest $40bn yearly for next decade

governments, private sector and other development partners such as the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB) to improve power generation by 10,000MW. Unlocking other power sources such as: wind, solar, hydropower, natural gas, and geothermal is

included in the

holistic, high-level strategy to deliver power, eradicate poverty,

S

audi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, plans to invest $40 billion a year over the next decade to keep oil production capacity steady and double gas production, Chief Executive Khalid Al-Falih has said.

empower youths and encourage Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) to thrive in economies where the middle class has been stifled.

The importance of sufficient power to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDG) such as: poverty eradication and women empowerment cannot be overemphasised. Successor companies are now in place in Nigeria to deal with generation, distribution and transmission of electric

State-owned Aramco sees more capital going into offshore projects and expects rising costs across the oil sector to underpin oil prices, Al-Falih told a conference.

power. Nigeria currently has 6 GENCO’s (Shiroro Hydro Power, Kainji Hydro Power, Afam Power, Sapele Power, Ughelli Power and Geregu Power). 1 TRANSCO (Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)) and 11 DISCO’s (Abuja Electricity Distribution, Benin Electricity Distribution, Eko Electricity Distribution, Enugu Electricity Distribution, Ibadan

“To meet forecast demand growth and offset (global output)decline, our industry will need to add close to 40 million barrels per day of new capacity in the next two decades,” AlFalih said.

“Although our investments will span the value chain, the bulk will be in upstream, and increasingly from offshore, with the aim of maintaining our maximum sustained oil production capacity at twelve

GE launches new Xmas tree to meet deepwater challenge

G

E Oil and Gas chose ONS week to launch a new Deepwater Vertical Xmas Tree specifically designed to meet the challenges of subsea projects at depths of up to 3,000 metres (9,850 feet).

Launched last month at GE’s new Technology Solutions Centre in Stavanger, the DVXT is aimed at expanding the company’s portfolio of pre-engineered, pre-qualified modular systems that are designed to enable products to be brought to market faster.

“The tree is a global product. It has been developed having had dialogue with our major customers: the Chevrons, Exxons and Shells of the world. Their input on schematics, functionality and qualification has all been built into this tree. And we continue to have that dialogue with these majors to constantly improve and enhance this tree,” Mike Wenham, GE’s Subsea Trees Senior Applications Engineer, told reporters.

“One of the big messages from ONS this year is the cost of development of the product and everything that goes into it. By investing significant cash into the development of this, with the engineering commitment and the facilities supporting it, we’ve looked to reduce the engineering cost, the lead time and the risk to the customer and, of course, to GE.”

Electricity Distribution, Ikeja Electricity Distribution, Jos Electricity Distribution, Kaduna Electricity Distribution, Kano Electricity Distribution, Port Harcourt

Electricity Distribution and Yola

Electricity Distribution). Partnerships are currently evolving under the umbrella of Power Africa, with companies such as GE, Alstom, Siemens at the fore front and financiers such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, African Finance Corporation etc as well as

Oil rig million barrels per day, while also doubling our gas production.”

Al-Falih said that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, or the International Energy Agency, IEA, should not try to control oil prices but fundamental problems within the industry, like rising costs, increasing technical challenges and the falling size of finds would support the price.

“I share … the belief that this is a market driven business, it’s not OPEC, the IEA, and consumers that should be in the business of trying to control the market,” AlFalih said. “OPEC will take the price as it comes.”

To tap these increasingly expensive oil resources, oil prices will need to be healthy enough to attract needed investments … (and) long-term prices will be underpinned by more expensive marginal barrels, he said.

commercial banks with strong energy, gas and power desks joining the game..

Milestone achievements to date are: 1.

July 2013 issuance of a $1BEurobond. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Honourable Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala led the drive through the Debt Management Office (DMO) which is considered integral to unlocking the nation’s economic potential: gas to power, transmission rehabilitation; and also to increase Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET)’s capitalization as a credit worthy off taker and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) signed a Funds Management Agreement for the $350M allocated to NBET. 2.

Eko Electricity Distribution Company of Nigeria Plc has concluded plans to generate over 1000mw of electricity through embedded power generation model by 2019 4.Global Edison Corporation has concluded plans to construct a $2.5 billion, 1500mw gas power plant in Anambra State within the Power Africa initiative.

5.To evacuate about 660 megawatts of “stranded electricity”, on-going are installation of new, Upgrade of old and rehabilitation of vandalized transmission lines such as ALSCON – Ibom 330KV Lines in Akwa Ibom State; Igangan –Igbora Substation and Ikorodu-Odiganya –Shagamu Transmission Lines in Lagos and Ogun States. $11.2 m contract for the 746 kilometres of the Onitsha-New Haven, Abakaliki and Makurdi 330KV power transmission line etc 6.The cost of doing business in Nigeria is reducing through increased power supply to the existing national power system.

Budgetary provision has been made for the revamping of: Ughelli Power Plc, $604m, Sapele Power Plc, $394m, Afam Power Plc, $850m, Geregu Power Plc, $200m, Kainji Hydro, $456m, Egbin Power Plc, $1.700b and Green Field IPP, $ 7.5b

Oil

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

12

Umusadege averages 7,439bpd in July Oil rig

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anada-based Mart Resources Incorporated says production from its Ngerian core strategic asset Umusadege field during July 2014 averaged 7,439 barrels of per day, bopd.

The company also said aggregate Umusadege field downtime during the month was approximately 11.7 days due to shutdowns of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited, NAOC, export pipeline, resulting from operational interruptions due to general pipeline repairs and maintenance.

There were five full down days during the month, Mart Resources further stated, adding that the average field production based on producing days was 11,958 bopd in July 2014.

Total net crude oil deliveries into the NAOC export pipeline from the Umusadege field for July 2014 were approximately 210,566 bbls before pipeline losses.

Based on the 12-month rolling average rate of pipeline and export facility losses from July 2013 to June 2014 of

22.35%, Mart estimates pipeline and export facility losses for July 2014 will be approximately 47,052 bbls.

Using this estimated pipeline and export facility loss volume, Mart estimates that the total net crude deliveries into the NAOC export pipeline from the Umusadege field for July 2014 less estimated pipeline losses will be 163,514 barrels.

Pipeline and export facility losses reported by NAOC and allocated to Mart and its coventurers for June 2014 were 55,087 bbls, or 27.0% of total crude oil deliveries into the export pipeline for that month.

Pipeline and export facility losses allocated to Mart and its co-venturers from January to June 2014 have averaged 17.8% of total crude oil deliveries into the export pipeline for 2014.

As previously announced, total net crude oil deliveries into the export pipeline from the Umusadege field for June 2014 were approximately 203,786 bbls.

Accordingly, after deducting the actual pipeline and export facility losses allocated for June 2014, the total net crude

oil deliveries less losses for June 2014 were 148,699 bbls.

Mart previously estimated pipeline and export facility losses for June 2014 to be approximately 46,353 bbls, based upon the 12-month rolling average rate of pipeline and export facility losses of 22.75% between June 2013 and

May 2014.

July 2014 pipeline and export facility losses have not yet been reported by NAOC. Umugini Pipeline Update Progress continues as the Umugini pipeline construction and tie-in near completion.

Radiographic testing of the

welds on the pipeline is complete. Pre-start-up assessment is ongoing.

Midwestern, the company managing the construction and operation of the Umugini pipeline, is targeting completion by the end of August 2014.

Gambia renames national oil company

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new national oil company called the Gambia National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC, which takes over the state-owned Gambia National Petroleum Company Limited has been created by law.

The National Assembly meeting in Banjul passed the Gambia National Petroleum Corporation Bill, 2014 which provides a legal framework for the establishment and operations of the corporation.

The new law also enables the corporation to continue to do business in the upstream and downstream petroleum sub-sectors. The bill was presented by minister Bala Garba Jahumpa on behalf of the Vice President.

industry in The Gambia”.

Establishment of a national oil company was “a laudable initiative” and a “strategic” move “at the early stage of our petroleum exploration endeavours, he added.

Since its creation, the GNPC has been actively involved in the petroleum exploration business in which it has a legal mandate, according to the national petroleum law, to have a percentage share in all petroleum exploration and production licenses signed by the government.

The GNPC is under the ministry of Petroleum, which is under the office of the President in Banjul.

The company has been working closely with the Ministry of Petroleum in the negotiations of petroleum exploration licences, petroleum policy matters and human resources capacity development, among others, the minister further stated.

Juhumpa told deputies that in 2003 the government set up the Gambia National Petroleum Company Ltd, which was registered as a state-owned oil company, “to serve as the business arm of government in the oil and gas

The national oil company (now the GNP corporation), GNPC, owns 7 per cent shares in the Gampetroleum fuel storage facility at Mandinary, and operates nine petroleum service stations countrywide.

Focus

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

13

Nigeria needs over 8,000 skilled workforce to sustain 40,000mw by 2020 – NAPTIN Boss

Oil workers

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ore than 8,000 new electricity workers would be required to replace aged and retiring workers and to bridge the gap in the power sector if government plans to actualise its dream of generating and sustaining 40,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2020, according to Engr.

Reuben Okeke, Director-General of the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria, NAPTIN. Okeke also says, in this interview with OSCARLINE ONWUEMENYI in Abuja, that most of the owners of the privatised electricity generating and distribution companies may not afford to establish their own training schools, hence the need to partner with NAPTIN to provide them with worldclass training.

Excerpts: What has NAPTIN been doing lately?

NAPTIN has been doing very well. In the past one or two years we’ve initiated a lot of programmes that are running very well and our activities have been recognised even beyond the shores of this country. Precisely on the 24th of June this year, we were invited for a global recognition through a golden trophy award for customers’ satisfaction and business prestige.

NAPTIN was amongst 58 organisations from 50 countries across the globe that were invited to come to Rome for this recognition. We don’t know how

we were selected, but, we went and we have presented the trophy to the Honourable Minister of Power and he was so excited that the Ministry of Power is doing something in the area of capacity building. At least, it is something that has encouraged us that we are focused and being recognised beyond the shores of this country.

We also have our fresh trainees who will soon graduate under our NAPTIN Graduate Skill Development Programme, NGSDP. We have about 243 of mechanical and electrical engineers that have been with us for the past ten months because they will be rounding off by October and they will be released

to the power sector to start their career. It is a programme which NAPTIN started last year and it is running very well.

Again, in order to fast track bridging of the gap that exists in the power sector as far as human capital is concerned, the Ministry of Power is about to get us almost 2,000 young Nigerians that will spend between nine months and one year on what you can take as an internship programme, but, majority of them will undergo the same programme like 243 people I earlier talked about, who will be completing their training in October. About 500 of them, for transmission, will be engaged by the end of this month (August).

They will be going for their oral interview this week and by the time they are engaged, the whole 500 of them will be here with NAPTIN for one year for training in the NGSDP programme, Apart from that 500, another 1,500 is being arranged by the Ministry of Power.

These are young Nigerians, both engineers and craftsmen, that will be sent to NAPTIN to enable them acquire skill because as you know, the Federal Government is putting a lot of new power stations and new transmission facilities and distribution facilities into the network, into the grid and manpower are required to

operate and manage them, and the manpower are not there now. So, that is why, on a fast track, the Ministry of Power has decided on its own that they have to train about 2,000 that will be ready in nine months to one year from now to man these equipments.

What specific criteria was used in selecting these 2,000?

Well, it’s entirely within the discretion of the Ministry of Power, but, there must be a qualification because we are the people that will train. First of all, you have to be an engineer, you have to have a B.Sc or HND in electrical engineering, electrical electronics and for craftsmen, you must have OND at least, or government examination trade certificate and, of course, you must have been employed because these are people that we will have to take out from where they are working - the lines men, the cable jointers, the fitters - to train them. The ministry is making arrangements for at least 500 of these category because they are very important.

The lines men, those who climb the poles, they are ageing and on a fast track. We have to replace them, so the Ministry of Power is

making that arrangement. The ones we are training now that are likely to join and get work immediately with transmission will be graduating in October. So, that is exactly what we are doing, but apart from that, in order to make sure that we strengthen our training capability or our training capacity, we have been talking with people like General Electric of the US. They were here last week for us to have a meeting on how they are going to support us both in looking at our present curriculum, in looking at our faculty of those who train and even our training aid and equipment. And of course, they have promised that they are going to assist NAPTIN to be able to develop this on a fastest means.

Then, we have the GIZ of Germany; they have taken an office here. Theirs is to assist NAPTIN in organisational and curriculum development and as well to strengthen us in the areas of renewable energy, training the manpower because they are to do model solar energy plants in about four states of the federation. That they have placed on hand already and they need to train the manpower that will work in these four states and they have chosen NAPTIN for this, so

CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

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2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

and make it safe for people; so, what we are doing, the impact is noticeable and when these people that are being employed now by power transmission and distribution companies, and by ministry of power is there, NAPTIN is still going to let them have the skill.

we are going to handle that. It is expected that before the end of 2014, we would have been able to train a lot of people, some of them will be engineers, but majority of them will be craftsmen, young technicians who did not go to the university. These are some of the programmes that we have at the moment.

What do you foresee as the role of NAPTIN in the era of privatisation in the power sector?

What are the specifics of these partnerships with GE and GIZ?

NAPTIN is completely owned by the Federal Government, and it is not slated for privatisation.

It’s going to be commercialised.

NAPTIN is going to be made to be a commercial entity that will fend for itself over time. The role we are going to play is going to be greater because the new owners of the successor companies that are coming in under privatisation will still have to work with skilled staff, those who can make use of their hands and their heads to keep up their investment.

I mentioned development of our curriculum or reviewing because we have our curriculum and we have just finished developing national occupational standard with the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE. It is a big document in five areas, namely mechanical auxiliary, electrical system operation, electrical system protection, turbine operation and electrical maintenance.

We have a National Operational Standard which we have developed with NBTE and other stakeholders. Now, General Electric is going to help us look at this national operational standard vis-à-vis our curriculum, they have accepted to help us to see that our curriculum which we are using now is aligned with the National Operational Standard in these five areas in the power sector.

They are as well looking at the facilities we have for training, then upgrade them for us. They will also assist us as well to profile our faculty whom we are using to do the training.

They are doing the partnership because, according to them, their destination for next progress in service to humanity is assisting Nigeria to develop its infrastructure in power.

Presently they have 32 turbines in Nigeria and they want to be sure that at least those who are going to man and operate these turbines in Nigeria are trained.

That is their interest. They recently signed an MoU with the government to generate about 10 gigawatts or 10,000 megawatts.

Of course, for you to achieve that, you need skilled manpower. That is the interest of GE and they have chosen NAPTIN to be their local development partner in Nigeria. We have started discussions and they have broken ground for a $250 million Academy in Calabar for oil and gas as well as power.

The GIZ partnership is the one I’ve talked about in the area of renewable energy in Nigeria and assisting NAPTIN to be a self sustaining organisation between now and next five years so that we go out from the envelope of the Federal Government; but they are also targeting and encouraging renewable energy development in the country.

How much has NAPTIN been doing in the area of vocational training?

All these things I have

14

Engr. Okeke

‘Nigeria needs over 8,000 skilled workforce to sustain 40,000mw by 2020’ described are related to our vocational training mandate.

Vocational study mainly has to do with skill acquisition. You finish from the university, you’ve had your first degree, then you need to acquire the skill itself so you can make use of your hand and your brain. So, what we have been saying is that people should come with us who want to pursue their career in the power sector.

Presently, NAPTIN remains the only place for technical people and engineers interested in enhancing their skills in the power sector. Now, if we are putting all these in place, we’ll have to let the public know so that they can take advantage of it.

How do you gauge the impact of the training you have today vis-à-vis the state of the manpower in the energy sector? What is the impact of NAPTIN in the past few years in terms of making up for the deficit in manpower in the power sector?

Since we started in 2009, we have been able to train about 5,244 of those who are in PHCN, and when you talk about PHCN you are talking about almost the entire power sector because PHCN is almost about 95 percent of the power sector in

Presently they have 32 turbines in Nigeria and they want to be sure that at least those who are going to man and operate these turbines in Nigeria are trained. That is their interest. They recently signed an MoU with the government to generate about 10 gigawatts or 10,000 megawatts Nigeria. Before we started this training, the newspapers were filled daily with reports of power accidents and failure of equipment, and it was rampant.

This means that even though the level of generation got up to 4,500MW, if people are not getting this power it would be of little or no consequence how much power you generate. So, for you to get the 4,500MW to those who need it, a lot of things have to take place and the biggest of them all is manpower.

Failure of equipments has reduced, rate of accidents both to customers and staff has reduced

and we can conveniently affirm that the training that we are doing has had a direct impact on the improvement in these areas and I can tell you that, that must have been one of the things that gave us a global recognition that we are talking about. So, it (our training) has impact but we are not yet there. First of all, employment in the power sector has not started, we are dealing with those who are already in and like you know majority of them are retiring, so we have huge manpower gap. NAPTIN does not employ, we train and we give the skill that can make electricity supply sustainable

For them to run their investments and make profits, they will need skilled workforce and if you compare what it will cost you to take a potential engineer probably to the United Kingdom to get the skill and what it will cost you to send a potential engineer to NAPTIN to obtain the same skill, then you will choose to come to NAPTIN. Therefore, we are going to have a bigger pressure in terms of in volume of those that will be demanding for our services. We are going to play a bigger role for the privatised entities than what we are doing right now because the private owners of these entities know very well the importance of training and re-training much more than when it was in the hands of government.

We are going to have competitions because some of the private companies themselves might decide to set up their own training institute within the companies but the fact still remains that whatever you set up is going to be reined, customised to your own unit with result that if anything happens to those you have trained, you are bound to look to somewhere else and that takes time; but the training that you acquire in NAPTIN is universal - you can work in a hydro power station, you can work in thermal power station, you can work in transmission, you can work in distribution.

It's universal. The private owners may not afford to establish their own training school, but, we are not forgetting that they can and some other training institutions can spring up in power and that is why we are working towards becoming a world class training institute.

For example, anywhere you mention GE or Siemens, these are top class. So, if we are working with these organisations and they lead us through to come up to their own standard in NAPTIN then why would you have to send somebody to United States in GE school instead of sending him here.

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2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

15

Baker Hughes develops solution for conventional, unconventional technologies - Shote

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r. Ayo Shote is the Managing Director of Baker Hughes in Nigeria. In this interview with Asst.

Editor YEMIE ADEOYE and Correspondent KUNLE KALEJAYE on the sidelines of his company's annual Techno Day seminar and exhibition in Lagos, Shote opens up on a number of issues concerning the company’s operations, including its success with solutions that are designed to lower costs, reduce risks and improve productivity for the global oil and gas industry.

He also speaks on the Nigerian content initiative and how Baker Hughes is giving support to the laudable initiative.

Excerpts : What is the feedback you have gotten since you held the first edition of Baker Hughes Techno Day? I think the major feed-back that we have gotten is the fact that the time we spend presenting papers on some of our technologies and some of the things that we have done in other places shows that we have resonated well with our customers. We then decided to repackage a second edition for this year not only showing what we have done this year but also to showcase new technologies and to reinforce the fact that we are not a wood-jet company that just brings in tools. Rather we are a company that is in business to provide solutions. We will keep looking for opportunities to bring different products and services together in order to find solutions to our customers' needs in the sector.

Currently, we are seeing a con c e n t ra t i o n o n o f f sh o re production from the IOCs. How are you meeting up with this trend in terms of solutions and s e r v i c e s .

We are keying into the recent trend of IOCs moving offshore.

When you look at my presentation (at the Techno Day), there was a list of deep water technologies and one of the critical one there is the fast-track technology which is a drilling service technology. It is a technology that while drilling, you can stop and take samples, because in the past when you drill, you have to wait a while to get samples. But with this

t e c h n o l o g y, it makes the operation faster and it eliminates extra runs.

We have the Tele-coil which is basically a coil tube when you log a cable into the coil tube, whereby you can actually log your coil tube down hole to either clean up the well or you either go through high-dog legs. When you are actually pulling out of the hole you can actually log into the coil tube.

So, when you look at Baker Hughes, our research and development activities are actually innovative and are actually directed not only at conventional technologies but also the unconventional technologies plus deep water. So, we are focused and moving with t h e I O C s .

Does that mean you may not be able to provide needed solutions to indigenous operators who are seen to be taking over onshore operations?

We are actually prepared for them as well and we have technologies for their oil production. What we have presented here is not only the deepwater technologies, but we also have technologies that indigenous operators can use because we are an integral part of the development of local content in Nigeria. We believe in the local content and we are working with these companies to develop the service side of their operations.

What we do on the onshore side is that we work through our local content partners because we have local content partners by

Shote

product line and in some cases, we have more than one product line where we help them to develop human capacity and in development of tools. We also sell tools to some of them.

What has been your experience working with local partners?

Obviously, there are challenges and I will not mention specifics, but, in every process that you start or every process that you do there will always be teething problems and obviously there are challenges from what you said whereby in some cases there might be some who are not ready.

But if you step back and look at the whole intent of Nigeria content, it was to develop local c a p a b i l i t y .

When you want to develop local capability, you have to be patient enough to work with those in that sector to be able to develop that capability. Now some will develop it fast and some will develop it slow, but, it all depends on their strategic intent because every company has strategic intent, every company knows where they want to go, every company knows what they want to do and how to do it because there are strategic intents they have with available tools they want to use to achieve their various intents such as people, cash and infrastructure.

So, there are teething problems.

However, even in a race where everybody starts together, you will get to a point where you have to step ahead of others and some will lag behind. So when you look at the broad spectrum of those we work with, we have some that we are working with, we have some that are lagging behind, we have some that have issues with the

What we do on the onshore side is that we work through our local content partners because we have local content partners by product line and in some cases, we have more than one product line where we help them to develop human capacity and in development of tools.

way we go about, we have some that are happy and are willing to work with us.

In a nut-shell, yes, there are teething problems but I think the Nigerian content is maturing and has matured a lot more than it was 10 years ago.

But, do we have capacity to improve further? Absolutely!

As a technical person, are there things that can be done to assist indigenous companies on these teething problems?

I think everything that will aid the group is already out there such as tools, access to technology, access to training and development and I can only talk about Baker Hughes.

We have a process whereby our local content partners can send their people to our training facilities in Dubai and in some case in the USA to help train their people. These are people that are working with us in some

projects. And the reason it has to be people working with us in our projects is because they will be buying, using or renting our technologies, so we have to ensure that we develop them.

On rig count, how many of these are operational in N i g e r i a ?

I think it is about 30 or thereabout that are operational and you know that rig counts can be tricky because it would be misleading to count the physical rigs and the reason is that in drilling, when the rig is turned to the right it means the drill string is clock-wise and it is drilling.

So it goes to show that in a month, they might not turn to the right, so there will be flat times either you are running casing or cementing. So, the rig is still operating but it is not turning to the right.

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2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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Gas tanker

Nigeria’s LNG export falls in face of shale gas OSCARLINE ONWUEMENYI

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iquefied natural g a s , L N G , shipment from Nigeria to the United States is on a steep decline on the back of increasing shale gas production, state oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has said.

LNG production from the plant to 30 million metric tonnes per year by adding a seventh train.

The NNPC data projects that Nigeria’s LNG exports may shrink further, given a steady climb in shale gas share of total gas supply, from eight percent to 32 percent, and the US becoming a net exporter of natural gas this year.

“Nigeria LNG share is declining even faster. In 2011, Nigeria exported just 2.3tcf (trillion cubic feet), representing one percent of total LNG export to US compared to about 12 percent (95tcf) in 2007,” according to data released by NNPC and obtained by our correspondent in Abuja.

NNPC said while Nigeria estimates to hold 600tcf of proven shale gas reserves, it however, faces the tough challenge of attracting needed investment to bring the gas to p r o d u c t i o n .

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke had equally warned that US shale oil and an increase in America’s gas production was already affecting Nigeria’s exports to the United States, a major importer of Nigeria’s oil.

Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, exports LNG from its six train, 22 million metric tonnes per year Bonny Plant.

The country has plans to raise

Director-General of Nigeria’s Budget Office, Bright Okogu noted recently Nigeria would be losing $32.9 billion annually to cut in US oil imports.

Nigeria has also come under intense pressure from America’s rising domesticallyproduced crude.

Nigeria was coming under increasing competitive pressure from US Gulf Coast refiners cutting imports in favour of domesticallyproduced crude. US purchases of crude fell to a five-year low in the last few months, pushing Nigeria to sixth position from fifth among suppliers to the world’s largest consumer.

“US shale oil and an increase in their gas production is already affecting our exports to the United States. Bear in mind that the United States is one of our major importers in this sector,” the minister said.

Between 2007 to 2013, shale gas share of total gas supply increased from eight percent to 32 percent. Consequently pipeline and LNG import share of total gas supply declined from 16 percent and three percent in 2007 to 12 percent & one percent respectively.

As a result of shale gas production, it is projected that US will become a net exporter of natural gas in the year 2014.

Despite the general decline of

LNG export to US, Nigeria LNG share is declining even faster. In 2013, Nigeria exported just 2.3 tcf representing one percent of total LNG export to US compared to about 12 percent

(95 tcf) in 2007.

On country basis, China has the highest shale gas reserve of 1,275 tcf representing 19.4 percent of global total, followed

by US 862 tcf (13.1 percent).

Uquo JV to supply gas to Calabar NIPP, Ibom Power Station

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he N90 billion Uquo Gas Gathering facility inaugurated recently by President Goodluck Jonathan in Esiet-Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, is set to supply 131 million standard cubic feet per day, mmscfd, of gas to the Calabar National Independent Power Plant, NIPP, and the Ibom Power Station, beginning from the fourth quarter of 2014.The gas gathering facility is a joint venture between Frontier Oil Ltd and Seven Exploration and Production Limited.The facility will be supplying the gas to Ibom Power station and Calabar NIPP power station to enable them provide 750 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to some ten per cent of Nigeria’s generating capacity.

Frontier Oil Ltd and Seven Exploration and Production Limited said the gas delivery plan was designed in a way that would ensure the safety of communities located along the pipelines routes.

The inauguration ceremony marked the formal commencement of gas supply to Ibom Power Company, owned by the Akwa Ibom State government.

According to the Uquo Gas Gathering facility Joint Venture partners, the gas facility is the biggest project of its nature undertaken by independent indigenous partners in Sub-Saharan Africa.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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Govt knocks IOCs' resistance to domestic supply obligation for gas

Gas facility

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h e F e d e r a l Government has warned that objection by International Oil Companies, IOCs, to its domestic supply obligations projections would come to naught, stating that its gas policy is calculated toward ensuring efficient and sustainable gas exploitation and consumption in the country.

The Group Executive Director, Gas, at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. David Ige, who stated this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, explained that the Federal Government was more interested in setting up the right structures and infrastructures to ensure increased local consumption of gas.

He noted that, “The truth is our gas consumption as a nation up until about five years ago, apart from exports, was non-existent.

It is important to state this fact for people to understand how far we have come.

“In terms of creating the structure, we have done a lot to get to where we are today. We have implemented the most aggressive infrastructure implementation in the last three or four years. "We have moved significantly on pricing, and we

are moving in a very orderly journey towards export parity in pricing beyond which we will now move to a fully liberalised pricing framework.”

several other countries all have this mandatory dedication to supply the domestic gas market as a condition for access and operations.

Ige explained that on domestic supply obligations, government has “systematically increased domestic supply to point now that we are about a 1500mmscf from less than 500mmscf a few years ago, adding, "We are looking to more supplies going forward. And we have got quite a few projects going on to continue that upward trend in the domestic supply obligation to meet up the demands that we are talking about.”

“These countries have dedicated specific production of fields for domestic markets. In these countries, the operating companies are required to make tangible investments (15%, usually) in the domestic gas market before exports can be made”.

According to him, “It is pertinent to note that while we may be getting resistance over certain parts of this process, particularly the Domestic Supply Obligation (DSO), we feel we are doing the right thing for our country".

Ige further stated, “When we introduced the gas domestic obligation, it was not an unusual thing. Some people (mostly multinational oil and gas companies) will like to tell you it is imposed, but I assure you that everywhere in the world where gas is produced and sold, such obligations exists. Trinidad and Tobago, Western Australia, Argentina, Qatar, Egypt, and

He added, “The key point here is that contrary to all the noise you hear, when we developed the Gas Master plan, we went around the world to see what best practices obtain. So, there is nothing that we have done that is unusual in anyway.

“Since this administration, we basically have been working aggressively on those three three-point strategy and policy to create a robust engine that would take us to where we need to be. We focused essentially on domestic supply obligation, the gas infrastructure and the commercial framework.”

The NNPC Gas boss noted that there is no way one would expect the international oil companies to just agree to any measure that will impinge on their profit making, even narrowly.

NLNG resumes legal battle with NIMASA over tax

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fter nearly a year of peaceful business relationship, the Nigeria LNG Limited, iquified Natural Gas, NLNG, says it has resumed legal battle against the Nigerian Maritime Safety and Administration Agency, NIMASA, and Global West Vessel Specialist Ltd, GWVS, in its bid to be exempted from paying freight levies on its gas export cargoes.

The NLNG said its action is sequel to a ruling on August 11, 2014 by the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos which upheld its (NLNG’s) request to sue Global West Vessel Specialist Ltd, a private security company employed by state maritime security agency NIMASA to carry out blockade of shipment of LNG cargoes from the NLNG plant on Bonny Island, Rivers State, between May and June, 2013.

Gas exports by NLNG were halted within the period after NIMASA blocked ships from entering and leaving the Bonny LNG plant’s loading bay. The blockade led to more than N76 billion losses in revenue to NLNG in 2013, the company said.

NIMASA then wanted NLNG to pay $140 million to cover freight levy arrears. But, NLNG, which operates six LNG trains at the Bonny plant with an overall capacity of some 22 million tonnes per annum of LNG and 4 million tonnes per annum of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, said then that Nigerian law exempts it from paying freight levies, and took NIMASA and Global West to court challenging the imposition of the levies and the resulting blockade.

After initially withdrawing the case, which allowed the blockade to be lifted, NLNG said recent that the Appeal Court ruling “affirmed a previous judgment by a Federal High Court also in Lagos, which granted NLNG the rights to sue security company Global West, for its role in the blockade of the gas export cargoes.”

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Gas

Construction

18

of gas pipeline

NNPC to accelerate construction of gas pipeline to Kano, Kaduna ...As GMD Chairs project Steering Committee

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major step aimed at fast-tracking the Federal Government’s Gas Rev olut ion Agenda was taken recently by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, with the establishment of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano, AKK, Gas Pipeline Project Steering Committee with the mandate of ensuring efficient and accelerated actualisation of the task.

The project, approved under the National Gas Master Plan by the Federal Executive Council, is designed to transport gas for power and manufacturing industry usage to the key northern axis from Ajaokuta to Kaduna, and from there to Kano.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Committee, Group Managing Director, GMD, of the NNPC, Dr. Joseph Dawha, described the AKK assignment as a national priority project which is one of the cardinal

programmes of the transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration.

Investment as members. Also listed as a member of the PSC is the Coordinator, Corporate Planning and Strategy.

He noted that while progress is being made in the execution of the adjoining OB3 gas pipeline project as well as the looping of the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System, ELPS, implementation of the AKK Project is slow and out of sync with Government’s desire for accelerated implementation.

The PSC will be responsible for providing general guidance and direction for the project, grant approval for business models, equity participation, budgets, contracting strategy and appropriate reporting to the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources as well as endorse strategic investors and recommend as appropriate to Government for approval.

"In order to strengthen this critical Government National Priority Project and have it refocused for accelerated implementation, there is the compelling need for the establishment of a dedicated AKK Project Steering Team with clear governance structure,’’ the GMD said.

The Project Steering Committee, PSC, comprises of the GMD NNPC as Chairman with the Group Executive Directors of Gas and Power, Exploration and Production as well as Commercial and

The AKK Project Support Team on the other hand consists of a group of 10 personnel drawn across various divisions of the Corporation with Mallam Rabiu Bello, General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, as the Team Lead.

Mallam Bello is to coordinate the activities of the Project Engineering Procurement &Construction, EPC, Team and the Project Support Team.

In its terms of reference, the team is mandated to review all existing contractual, technical,

commercial, financial issues relating to the project, among other items.

Ghana gas project ‘could start by year end’

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hana’s delayed project to supply gas from its offshore Jubilee oil field will start production by the end of the year, President John Mahama has said during a visit to the site.

The $850 million project was supposed to have opened in December but stalled largely because of difficulties securing the disbursement of $600 million from the Chinese Development Bank, part of a $3 billion loan agreement signed in 2011, Reuters reported.

As a result, Mahama’s government has struggled to tackle the country’s energy supply deficit and has spent more money than its budget projections on oil imports. This in turn has worsened a fiscal deficit.

Mahama said during an inspection of the terminal at Atuabo the project will be a “gamechanger” for the economy and save $1.5 billion per year in foreign exchange and other costs.

“Some gas will start flowing soon but commissioning will be when the full volume of 120 million standard cubic feet of gas is being transmitted to Aboadze and I suppose that will be sometime by the end of this year,” he told reporters.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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Lagos takes LPG campaign to grassroots ...Targets 1m cylinders distribution in 5 years

Trailer-load of gas cylinders KUNLE KALEJAYE

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he Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has t a k e n t h e campaign for the use of cooking gas to the grassroots with the distribution of free Eko Gas cylinders and accessories to residents of Alimosho Local Government Area.

It is part of efforts by the government to encourage the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas, in the state.

Speaking at the event where the cooking gas accessories were presented to the beneficiaries, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mrs. Regina Iyabo Obasa, disclosed that the government was determined to ensure that Lagos homes imbibed the use of LPG because of its inherent advantages.

She disclosed that the state government introduced Eko Gas Scheme as a domestic fuel of choice for Lagosians in order to reduce carbon emission from the use of firewood and kerosene and because of its

inherent advantages such as being cleaner, healthier, safe, more efficient and convenient to use for cooking.

The Permanent Secretary said, "Lagos State Government is set to introduce one million gas cylinders to Lagos homes in the next five years to make the use of LPG a success.

"This exercise of sensitising and distributing free Eko Gas stove cylinders to Lagosians has been undertaken in Isolo LCDA, Eredo LCDA, and Badagry Central LCDA." She added that the state, in conjunction with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has mapped out plans to sensitise and distribute Eko gas cylinders with full accessories to other LGA/LCDAs every week till the end of year 2014.

Also speaking at the event, representative of the President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Adewuyi Makinde, enjoined Lagosians and, in particular residents of Alimosho, to embrace the use of a cleaner fuel for cooking.

He disclosed that the LPG was the cleanest and most

efficient fuel available today as he reiterated the determination of his organisation to partner with Lagos State Government in safeguarding the environment against hazardous substances emitted while cooking with charcoal, firewood and kerosene.

Chairman of the Local Development Area, Hon. Israel Olusola Adekunle, expressed his delight at the initiative, saying "words cannot express how delighted and inspired my humble self and members of my cabinet are because this initiative which is clearly an indication of tremendous democratic development and equitable distribution of the dividends of democracy’’.

The chairman, who was represented by the Head, Human Resources, Mr. Oluwo Ojo, re-emphasised that "through the use of LPG in rural and low income household, Lagosians can be assured of better health, a cleaner environment and more efficient and faster cooking times’’.

Present at the sensitisation programme were notable politicians, clerics, market

women leaders, youth leaders, council workers and community leaders in the Area.

Highlight of the event was the presentation of free Eko Gas stove cylinders to residents of the locality, including former NULGE national deputy president

Alhaji Arashi Omikunle and some food vendors.

The sensitisation on the use of LPG and the distribution of free portable Eko Gas stove cylinders commenced last month at the Isolo LCDA. The campaign train had visited Eredo LCDA and Badagry LCDA.

AfDB expects positive returns on Namibia's Kudu gas

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he African Development Bank, AfDB, says it foresees ‘positive economic returns’ on Namibia's Kudu Gas Project.

This is the result of the due diligence conducted by the African bank after it was commissioned by the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy to conduct the study.

Bank of Namibia governor Ipumbu Shiimi disclosed this in Windhoek, saying the study by the bank found that the economic benefits will be favourable.

The gas fired plant is expected to cost US$1,2 billion and will use natural gas from the Kudu fields off Namibia’s southern coast.

Early this year, NamPower signed an agreement with Zambian private firm, Copperbelt Energy Company, which will see the Zambian firm taking up 30% equity and buying power in the range of 200MW to 300MW from Kudu.

NamPower will hold 51% stake in the plant.

The plant is expected to produce about 800MW to 900MW of electricity of which half will be consumed in Namibia and the rest will be exported.

Gas

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Going Green: Techno Oil donates gas cylinders to Auchi residents

Auchi town in Etsako West Local Government Area, Edo State

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s part of efforts to promote a c l e a n e r , healthier and s a f e environment in the country through the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, as domestic cooking fuel, Techno Oil recently distributed free three kilogrammes and six kilogram branded cylinders in Auchi, Edo state.

The campaign, aimed at popularising the use of cooking gas in the community, was supported by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, and the Gas to Health Initiative, GTHI. The event is also in furtherance to the Federal Government’s policy of promoting the use of the LPG in households across the country.

The traditional ruler of Auchi Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Alhaji Haliru Momoh, in his remarks, pleaded with the organisers of the event to sustain the LPG campaign.

Before now, Techno Oil in a statement said it has worked in collaboration with the NNPC, PPMC and Gas to Health Initiatives, a body campaigning to sustain healthy living and preservation of the environment through the advocacy for safer and healthier source of domestic energy source, in taking this advocacy through many states, including Bayelsa, Kaduna, Lagos, Oyo and Abia States.

Speaking at the ceremony to present the cylinders to the Auchi residents, the PPMC Manager, LPG, Mrs. Betty Ugona, assured beneficiaries that the company would continue to partner with companies engaging in the promotion of LPG use.

Mrs Ugona, reiterated that government was determined to ensure rural dwellers embraced the use of LPG. She lauded Techno Oil for its consistency in popularising the use of LPG, saying that the PPMC would continue to collaborate with

organisations working hard to promote nation building.

Techno Oil in a statement said “Nigeria is a predominantly gas province with untapped huge expanse of gas reserves in excess of 187tcf and an average production capacity of over three million metric tons (MT) per year. But in spite of this huge endowment, Nigeria regrettably, has the lowest per capita Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) consumption of 1.1kg in Africa.

“However, in recent times, things are beginning to look up with aggressive deployment of gas stoves, skid plants and awareness campaign by indigenous companies. The increase in cooking gas usage was also made possible by the commitment to steady supply of cooking gas in the domestic market by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Ltd. The company recently announced an increase in the quantity of LPG to the domestic market from 150,000 to 250,000 MT.

Speaking at the ceremony to present the cylinders to the Auchi residents, the PPMC Manager, LPG, Mrs. Betty Ugona, assured beneficiaries that the company would continue to partner with companies engaging in the promotion of LPG use

“All these are indications that there is light at the end of the tunnel for cooking gas consumption in Nigeria. It is envisaged that with more interventions from the

Federal Government, States and private investors like Techno Oil, this would further deepen the switch from the use of Kerosene/ Fire wood to Cooking gas.”

Power

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Nigeria to generate 30% electricity from coal – Minister

Coal-powered plant

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he Federal Government says it has a target to produce 30 per cent of power in the country from coal by 2015.

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Musa Sada, made the disclosure in Abuja as he stressed that the the government was determined to address the country’s power challenge through coal.

He said the ministry was taking steps towards meeting the target by making effort to determine the amount of coal deposit in the country.

The minister explained that the quantity and life span of coal deposit in the country would determine the basis for designing the coal power plant to generate power supply.

He said the Federal Government would ensure that gas, solar and wind energy contributed to power generation, adding that all the countries that had steady power supply did same.

“What we are looking at now is the targeted contribution

from coal and we must take the right step towards achieving it so that we don’t get stock along the way.

“It is very important that we determine the amount of coal deposit that we have because that is the basis for the designing of power plant itself, otherwise, our efforts will be speculative.

“The problem in the gas power plant is that pipelines have not reached where some of the power plants are located and we don’t want that to happen with coal,” he said.

Sada said there were no coal power plants operating in the country currently because there were factors to consider in designing and running them.

“For you to be able to build a coal power plant, you must determine the amount of coal deposit you have and how many years it can last.

“Once you start a coal power plant, you cannot switch it off and that is why we are at the stage we are now.

“Most of the companies we

have engaged now are working on the quantity of coal we have because that is the basis upon which power plant can be built,” he said.

The minister said he was not aware of any power generation company in the country that imports coal from South Africa or any other part of the world.

Sada explained that those importing coal might be doing so for other purposes and certainly not for power generation.

He explained that some of the cement factories that use coal only used it to fire the limestone they use for cement making to save the power that they could have used for that.

“Coal is as volatile as any combustible mineral because if you pack a heap of coals here, it has a very high tendency to catch fire.

“Storage of coal is not an easy thing because you cannot put coal in a container or in a room; it must be stored in the open and consistently watered. “I am not sure there are facilities to handle coal at our ports currently,”he said.

Govt re-awards contract for Ebonyi power transmission lines

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he Federal Government has re-awarded contract for the engineering design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of 2X60MVA, 132/33KV at Amasiri and 2X132KV line bays extension at Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, for the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN. The new contract was re-awarded to Messrs North China Power Engineering Limited and NCEP (Nig) Limited following the termination of the original contract awarded to Messrs Techno Electrical Engineering Company.

The re-awarded contracts are in the sum of $5,835,368.47 (five million, eight hundred and thirty five thousand, three hundred and sixty eight United States Dollars and forty seven cents) payable at the prevailing exchange rate at the time of payment plus N505,788,083.58 (Five hundred and five million, seven hundred and eighty eight thousand, eighty three naira, fifty eight kobo) inclusive of N67,211,298.58 (sixty seven million, two hundred and eleven thousand, two hundred and ninety eight naira, fifty eight kobo) for five percent contingency with a completion period of 24 months.

According to Minister of State for Power, Honourable Mohammed Wakil, the project is designed to boost power supply to Ebonyi State and parts of Cross River and enhance the socio economic development of the states.

Funding for the project is expected to be sourced from Eurobond loan, the 2014 appropriation and in the unutilised letter of credit earlier established for the terminated project to commence implementation of the project.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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Geregu power plant

'Forte Oil committed to achieving 414mw at Geregu power station’

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roup Managing Director, Forte Oil Plc, Mr. Akin Akinfemiwa, says the company is committed to fully achieving the 414 mega watts installed capacity of its recently acquired Geregu Power Station.

Akinfemiwa, who revealed plans by the company to invest $90 million (N14.4 billion) in overhauling the plant, said the planned investment was part of the effort at attaining the targetted capacity.

Contract for the plant's upgrade has been awarded, he said, as he hinted of another plan by his company to diversify its operations to oil and gas exploration and production.

According to him, the move to diversify into the upstream segment of the oil and gas sector would be accomplished through profitable acquisition of upstream assets. This, he said, would involve exploring strategic alliance with partners so as to share the investment risk.

Said the Forte Oil group managing director: “Upstream diversification is to be managed properly, considering the level of investment required. We are into petroleum retailing and

marketing but if we are going into the upstream, we would form strategic alliances so that we can share the risk together because there is no technical expertise for it now.

“We have identified potential partners that will go into it with us and we are going into it as a producing assets not as a prospecting one.

“Here, we have two options; to acquire set of moribund field and bring back to production or buy an existing International

said: "We have an aggressive expansion plan and we will acquire stations where we have the market, specifically within regions of 3 kilometres and in densely populated areas,' the group managing director further revealed as he addressed the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos.

"The expansion plan is a continuous exercise; it has no definitive timeline. It is something we will keep doing; we will capture the opportunity

Here, we have two options; to acquire set of moribund fields and bring back to production or buy an existing International Oil Companies (IOCs) as done by others Oil Companies (IOCs) as done by others. We were in this exercise a few years ago. It is a producing bloc but entry into it, we must manage it carefully in identifying the risk and getting parties to share and manage the risk”.

Speaking on activities in the downstream sub sector, he

as they come and we will continue to do that.

"We will acquire and lease retail outlets because we believe that we can make money through that. We want to make Forte Oil a one-stopshop for all our customers’ needs. Therefore, any space we in our retail outlets will be fully utilised".

563mw Calabar NIPP ready in three months, says Govt

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h e 5 6 3 . 3 7 megawatts, mw, Calabar National Integrated Power Projects plant would likely ready for take off in the next three months, according to the Federal Government.

The take off of the project as anticipated in December, will go to boost the amount of power available in the national grid and move the government towards its target of achieving 5,000mw by the end of the year.

According to contractors at the Odukpani local government area site of the project in Cross River State, work on the plant has progressed to about 95 per cent completion while the plant would be ready for commissioning by the December scheduled date.

The contractors, who disclosed this while briefing visiting Vice President Namadi Sambo, said work was going on smoothly and they were determined to make the December date come true.

The NIPP was conceived in 2004 by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo government to fast-track power development and address the issues of insufficient electricity power generation and excessive gas flaring from oil exploration in the Niger Delta region.

The Calabar NIPP was one of the original seven projects designed for execution under the scheme, the others being the Ihovbor Power Station in Benin, Edo State; Egbema Power Station in Imo State, Gbarain Power Station in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State; Sapele Power Station in Delta State, Omoku Power Station in Rivers State and Ikot Abasi Power Station, Akwa Ibom State.

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GE says demand for electricity huge in Africa

General Electric building

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eneral Electric Company says demand for electricity is huge in Africa, but, that there are gaps in financing, technology and localisation.

Africa’s rich natural resources and swell in local demand for electricity primed the region for investment, the company also said.

summit-related event in Washington. “This is a good catalyst for growth and a big opportunity for the company.”

GE’s investments include deals to work on increased electric grid reliability during

peak power demands in Algeria and to generate uninterrupted power for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s state oil refinery.

The company also announced an investment of $1 billion in railway and power equipment

in Angola.

That deal was recently signed under a bilateral agreement between the US Export-Import Bank and Angola’s Ministry of Finance to finance infrastructure projects in the country.

US sees 3.2% rise in electricity prices growth for the first six months of the year since 2009.

“What you have (in Africa) is huge demand and actual supply, and what’s in the middle is gaps in financing and technology and localisation,” Immelt said.

Port Harcourt Disco assures customers on steady power supply

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he Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution The largest price rise Company, PHED, has appealed for the was seen in New England, understanding of its averaging 11.8%, with the customers as it pledged to main driver being the Immelt cited political ensure regular power supply sharp rise in wholesale volatility as a risk ‎ in Africa, in its area of coverage.

but maintained that the rewards outweigh the risks.

power prices, the EIA said.

GE recently announced plans for $2 billion investment in Africa by 2018 to boost infrastructure, worker skills and access to energy.

The first six months of 2014 saw day-ahead wholesale prices at $93MWh on average – 45% higher than the same period last year, it added.

US companies, he said, still had opportunities to catch up to China, Europe and Japan, who have made bigger strides in investing in the fast-growing continent, Immelt further stated.

“The growth is real. I think, for American companies, this is an opportunity to seize upon,” Immelt told reporters at a

US nuclear power-plant

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esidential electricity prices in the US averaged at 12.3 cents per kilowatt hour, KWh, in the first half of 2014, according to

the Energy Information Administration, EIA. It increased by 3.2% this year compared to the same period in 2013 – the highest year-over-year

The EIA also suggested prices have been rising in part because power companies have been spending more on the transmission infrastructure for delivering electricity to customers.

The company made the appeal in a statement by its Public Affairs Manager, Mr. John Onyi, following a recent power outage experienced by customers in some parts of Port Hacourt metropolis.

The outage affected Rumuomasi, Rumuola, GRA Phase 2, Bori Camp, Airforce Base and Oraazi.

PHED said the power outage was due to a faulty transmission breaker at its transmission station, Oginigba, after the reconductoring of its 132kv lines.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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We inherited huge metering gap from PHCN - Jos Disco

Electric pylons

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he Jos Electricity Distribution C o m p a n y inherited a huge metering gap from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, according to an official of the company.

Disclosing this at the company’s maiden consumers’ consultative forum in Makurdi, the Benue State Director of the company, Mr. Abraham Ochelle, revealed that over 17,000 of the company's customers in Makurdi were without electricity meters.

But, he disclosed that to address the situation, the Jos Disco has procured meters, which it intends to distributed customers soon.

functional meters has made it difficult for the distribution company to effectively control and monitor power consumption in homes and businesses in the state.

The unavailability of power meters and the inability of the new owners of the defunct

PHCN assets in the Jos Electricity Distribution area to provide them to customers has led to massive power thefts while the company itself had been billing consumers indiscriminately.

Also speaking at the event, the Makurdi Business

Manager of the distribution company, Mr. John Emeruwa, said the company has began moves to provide electricity consumers new power transformers for installation to supplement the 620 currently in use.

Urging understanding on the

part of consumers, the Business Manager assured that the privatisation carried out by the Federal Government in the power sector was yielding positive results. He said this was evident in the steady increase in power supply in the state.

Zimbabwe, Chinese firm in $104bn power deal

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hina Africa Sunlight Energy Limited, CASE, has announced plans to invest $104 million in the construction of a transmission power line in Zimbabwe.

The 240-kilometre, 400kva Gwayi-Insukamini line will be connected to the country's national grid.

through private borrowings and is coming from a shareholders loan and Chinese banks such as ChinaExim bank, and China Development Bank which CASE has been engaging.

Commenting, CASE executive board secretary, Mr. Isaac Chihuri, said: "As part of the integrated project, the company will fund the construction of part of the national grid 240km GwayiInsukamini 400kva transmission power line for $104 million.

“The good news is that the JED has taken the bold initiative of ensuring that all our customers are provided functional meters in order to ensure that the system is properly regulated and monitored and customers only pay for what they consume.”

“This is part of the reforms our company has introduced into the system to ensure that our customers are not exploited at any given time,” Ochelle said.

Part of a $2,1 billion Gwayi integrated coal-gaspower station project, the power transmission line project has since been designated a national project status by the government and has already been awarded, according to The Herald Business.

"In addition, CASE will fund part of the construction of the Gwayi/Shangani Dam (part of Zambezi water project) for $53 million and a water pipeline for $45 million".

According to him, lack of

Funding for the project is

Chihuri said under phase 1

of implementation of the projects CASE envisages the construction of an underground coal mine with a capacity to produce 3 million metric tonnes coal mine per annum and the setting up of a 2X300MW coal fired thermal power station and a compressive residential areas all constructed in Gwayi at a total investment cost of $2,1 billion.

The integrated project will be done with the latest technology allowing it to be cost effective, highly efficient.

It will be the first such highly environmentally friendly project in Zimbabwe, The Herald Business also reported.

The power station will include dust removal,

desulfurisation and denitration technology and shall be environmentally friendly demonstrating sustainable coal and power production.

"That shall promote Zimbabwe as a flagship country in the Southern African Power Pool," said Mr Chihuri.

The model for the Gwayi integrated project is a new and innovative business model in Zimbabwe, but has already been used in China.

According to Chihuri, the project is referred to as integrated because all these component parts are being planned, financed and being implemented together in an integrated fashion.

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Finance

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Nigeria exports N3.22tr worth of crude oil in 3 months Crude oil facility IKE AMOS

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i g e r i a exported N 3 . 2 3 4 trillion worth of crude oil in three months between January and March this year, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has revealed.

The NBS said in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the first quarter 2014 that the figure represents 81.5 per cent of the country’s total export for the period.

This is in comparison to non-crude oil export which stood at N735.9 billion, representing 18.5 per cent of the country’s total export in the period under review.

Also the NBS report disclosed that Nigeria earned N329.997 billion from the export of natural gas and Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, making it the second most exported commodity in the period.

On the contrary, the report stated that Nigeria spent N192.5 billion on the importation of premium

motor spirit in the first quarter of 2014, about 12.5 per cent of the country’s total imports for the period.

Giving a breakdown of total export for the quarter, the report stated that India was the highest recipient of Nigeria’s export, spending N544.04 billion and N27.26 billion on crude oil and noncrude oil exports respectively.

The Netherlands followed, with total spending of N461.52

billion on Nigerian products, broken down into N416.22 billion and N45.3 billion for crude oil and noncrude oil exports respectively.

Brazil spent N376.76 billion on exports from Nigeria, broken down into N365.67 billion for crude oil and N11.1 billion for noncrude oil items.

In the area of imports, Nigeria spent N368.11

billion on imports from China, followed by the United States with N164.74 billion and India, with N93.19 billion.

Explaining further, the NBS report said, “The total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade at the end of quarter 1, 2014 was N5.515 trillion. This represented a 6.8 per cent increase from the value of N5.163 trillion recorded in

the preceding quarter.

“In comparison with the corresponding quarter of 2013, the value of the total merchandise trade increased

by N406.0 billion or 8.2 per cent.

“The first quarter of 2014 saw an N492.6 billion or 14.2 per cent rise in the value of exports, alongside an N140.6 billion or 8.3 per cent fall in the value of imports against the quarter 4, 2013 figures".

Nigeria's debts portfolio remains sustainable —DMO SAM IKEOTUONYE

D

irector General, D e b t Management Office, DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, has said the country's current debts remained sustainable and tailored to reflect its challenges and aspirations as a country.

Nwankwo spoke in Abuja as he revealed that the nation's current public debt portfolio made up of both domestic and

international borrowings stood at about N10.5 trillion compared to about N10 trillion in December 2013.

Total domestic debts are about N8.9 trillion while external debts stand at about $9.38 billion.

He stated that Nigeria's debt-to-GDP ratio remained low at 12.51 percent after the recent rebasing of the economy, adding that with this, Nigeria had more capacity to borrow.

But he maintained that the managers of the nation's

debt would apply caution in further borrowings in order not to run into debt overhang.

He said: "Our current debt/GDP ratio is about 12.51 per cent which is much lower than the 56 per cent total public-to-GDP for countries of Nigeria's group.

"However, this is not an indication that Nigeria can afford to borrow without caution. In spite of the rebasing which means we have more capacity to borrow, we are not going to borrow

without caution.

"In fact, we are going to be more cautious, especially because our tax-GDP ratio is low. Many economic agents do not pay their taxes."

Nwankwo assured that the borrowed funds had been well invested in the building of critical infrastructure for the country, maintaining that his agency would continue to put in place structures that would ensure prudence in the management of the nation’s debt.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Finance

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Govt expects $50bn investment at Ogidigben Gas City

Gas facility IKE AMOS

T

he Federal Government has disclosed that the Gas Industrial City in Ogidigben, Delta State, when completed, will attract $50 billion (about N8 trillion) investments, thus boosting the value of the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who disclosed this at the 42nd Annual General M e e t i n g o f t h e Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, in Lagos, said the Federal Government is committed to the development of the sector, and hopes to reverse the stagnancy in the growth of the sector over the years.

He said, “For years, Nigeria’s petrochemical sector was small and stagnant, despite Nigeria being a major oil and gas p r o d u c e r - o u r administration has changed this situation with our industrial agenda".

To reverse the fortune of the oil and gas sector, he

stated that the country, over the last one year, has commenced over $12 billion (about N1.92 trillion) of i n v e s t m e n t s i n petrochemicals, fertiliser and refining.

“In addition, we are building the largest gas industrial city in Africa, in Ogidigben, Delta State, to support gas based manufacturing. This when

Jonathan further revealed that the Federal Government is considering tackling the challenges posed by access to financing to trade agreements and economic development

completed, will support at least another $50 billion in extra investments in this sector,” he declared.

Jonathan further revealed that the Federal Government is considering tackling the challenges posed by access to financing to trade agreements and economic development.

He said, “We are also

tackling the biggest challenges you have, by developing Nigeria’s first comprehensive plan to provide long term financing to industry; ensuring that any trade agreements we sign will not threaten our manufacturers, an c o m m e n c i n g a transformation in industrial skills and standards with the

European Union, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, UNIDO, and other partners.”

As parts of efforts to reduce over-reliance on crude oil, Jonathan disclosed that the government has commenced the diversification of the economy and sources of its revenue through its industrialisation programme, saying that the plans were developed in line with the peculiarities of the country.

He said, “We have developed a strategic, comprehensive and integrated Industrial Revolution Plan as a roadmap towards the industrialisation of the country.

“The Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, which was launched in 2014 is a home grown initiative which is expected to position Nigeria among the top industrialised nations in the long term. As a nation we must produce what we consume and consume what we produce.

“The NIRP offers a unique pathway to Nigeria’s industrialisation. In putting together this plan, we took into account our areas of comparative advantage, relative to the rest of the world in terms of our natural endowment and we hope to leverage on these to create vibrant industrial cities and parks within the country, in the shortest possible time.”

Source funds to address metering gap, MAN tells Discos IKE AMOS

T

he Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, has called on the Federal Government to mandate electricity distribution companies, DISCOs, to source for funding from financial institutions to address the existing metering gaps in the country.

Speaking at a forum in

Lagos, Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Apapa branch, Mr Babatunde Odunayo, decried the fixed electricity charges and estimated billing practice, calling for the abolition of the practice.

He said the practice of estimated billing and fixed electricity charges will be addressed when generation and transmission systems rise up to a place of pride in the power delivery value chain.

Odunayo further stated that closing the metering gap would help plug the revenue leakages in the areas of operations of the Discos.

He said, “A few questions arise for NERC. How do we determine 15 days of nonsupply of power to the consumers at which point the fixed charge does not become payable by the consumer?

“Is it cumulative, if so who takes a record of outage? Is it for 15 consecutive days? The general feeling is that the fixed charge should be abolished.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Finance

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Ghana Stock Exchange

Fuel station

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he Africa Network for Environment and Economic J u s t i c e , ANEEJ, has urged the Federal Government not to relent in the prosecution of individuals and oil companies indicted in fuel subsidy fraud issues.

According to a statement by the group, the Federal Government must increase its efforts towards eradicating impunity in the country's fuel subsidy regime.

Executive Director, ANEEJ, Mr. David Ugolor, emphasised the need for a speedy action from the Federal Government to end impunity in the oil and gas sector, as this will ensure a vibrant and robust economy.

Ugolor stated that the group is embarking on a public awareness campaign designed to promote rapid enforcement of anticorruption law, reduce corruption among citizens and government agencies, and ensure transparency and accountability in the oil and

CSO seeks fast track of fuel subsidy fraud cases gas industry.

According to him, the purpose of the campaign is to review how anti-corruption agencies and the judiciary have fared in the prosecution of indicted suspects in the fuel subsidy regime, and also to review the implication of fuel subsidy malpractice on the livelihoods of Nigerians.

He said, “Fraud in the fuel subsidy regime are serious issues for which nobody has been punished and the impunity appears to be soaring with the latest kerosene subsidy saga, for which key agencies of government have been trading words to the detriment of the ordinary Nigerians “We are saying the Federal Government should mount pressure on the perpetrators and do more to bring indicted persons and oil companies to justice.”

Ugolor also called for speedy

We are saying the Federal Government should mount pressure on the perpetrators and do more to bring indicted persons and oil companies to justice prosecution of individuals indicted in the various reports of the panels set up to probe the fuel subsidy regime.

Also speaking, Programme officer, ANEEJ, Innocent Edemhanria, called for revolution against issues that impedes on the right to

information, especially on issues that are of public concern.

According to him, Nigerians need not display mediocrity in situations as critical as this, but push hard in relating their pains through the right to speech on issues that can transcend to change for proper st ruct uri ng o f sub si d y management in the oil sector.

Finance Commissioners from the 36 states of the federation had a couple of weeks ago, called for the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, saying it had failed to achieve its objectives.

The commissioners said fuel subsidy had been abused and had become a source of massive fraud which must be discontinued in the interest of the Nigerian public.

Speaking on behalf of the finance commissioners,

Ebonyi State Commissioner for Finance and Chairman of the Finance Commissioners Forum, Mr. Timothy Odaah, said, “We looked at subsidy on oil and see that it is more or less a solution worse than the problem you intend to solve. Looking at it, you discover that it is not solving the problem it is meant to solve.

“But you discover now that it is the average poor man that suffers. For example, stand by the street, most of the transporters are not applying any benefit from subsidy in what they charge because we know of course that the Federal Government had a good intention to subsidise transportation so that it will be to the absolute benefit of the poor man and every Nigerian.

Labour

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Kerosene queue

NUPENG seeks probe of kerosene distribution, sales ELUONYE KONYEGWUAEHI

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he Nigeria U n i o n o f Petroleum and Natural Gas W o r k e r s , NUPENG, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to set up a highpowered probe into the sale and distribution of kerosene in the country, alleging that some powerful individuals are feeding fat on the subsidy on kerosene at the detriment of the masses.

President of NUPENG, Comrade Igwe Achese, said the call became necessary because the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, had refused to act despite several petitions.

According to him, “Today there is crisis because DPK (kerosene) is being subsidised by the Nigerian government and everybody is running away from AGO (diesel) because AGO is already deregulated. As we speak, NNPC is the sole importer of DPK. Looking at

the production capacities of our refineries - the Port Harcourt refinery, the Warri Refinery and Kaduna Refinery - you know very well that there is a huge shortage in terms of supply while demand is increasing daily.

"I am calling for investigations because we have gotten to a level where things must be unfolded for

the world to know what is happening. NUPENG is also looking at a situation where this can be done right.

Investigations have shown that Nigerians are among the highest owners of private jets in the world, but we are still suffering because of the uneven distribution of Godgiven wealth and resources we have today.

“Why are some of the filling stations that sell DPK moribund? It is because they no longer receive products.

We have reports that marketers are suffering because their fund is tied down at NNPC for the past two or three years because they have not been given allocations. If you see drafts lying in NNPC, they run into

Position selves as transformation ambassadors, SURE-P urges beneficiaries

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h e S u b s i d y Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, has advised participants in its Community Service, Women and Youth Empowerment Project, CSWYE, to position themselves as ambassadors of the Federal Government’s transformation agenda.

SURE-P’s Project Implementation Unit, PIU, domiciled in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, made the call in a statement.

"Participants are urged to as usual position and portray

themselves as ambassadors of the Federal Government’s transformation agenda and not allow themselves to be used by agents of destabilisation," the statement said.

Also in the statement, PIU urged participants to go for their entitlement as this has been logded with their banks.

According to the statement, "All those who have not received bank confirmation should go to the banks to confirm the circumstances surrounding

their entitlements as all necessary documentation was passed on to the banks within two days of the receipt of the fund".

The PIU further assured that disbursement to beneficiaries would be regularly made for every month as the funds come in.

CSWYE project is one of the key delivery channels of the SURE-P programme and presently engages up to 370,000 Nigerian youths deployed in community development services across the country.

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millions or billions of naira.

Marketers will put in drafts and submit to NNPC, and at the end of the day, these drafts will be lying idle in NNPC, unattended to.

"For two or more years, the marketers will not received products to distribute. You ask the question, has NIPCO been receiving products? Has IPMAN been receiving DPK as expected from NNPC? The answer is yes, and at what rate? They get the product at less than N45.00. How much do they sell this product? Go and find out.

“Is NIPCO or IPMAN being paid subsidy as the case maybe, and the answer is yes.

We need to look at this issue.

Yes, we appreciate those who work hard and who God has also blessed in their efforts to be what they are today. I cherish these individuals.

But we must expose those who corruptly enriched themselves to the detriment of the majority of Nigerians.

Until we get to that level, it will be difficult to correct a lot of abnormalities in that sector. The question is, who is supposed to clear this mess and move the sector forward?

It is the Ministry of Petroleum because it is its responsibility. By the Act that established NNPC, it is its responsibility to look into this issue.

“We have been asking for opportunity to meet with the Minister of Petroleum to let her know these issues, and ways we can overcome them, but it has been very difficult.

We know President Jonathan cannot follow up all that are going on; he can only follow up on information given to him by top government functionaries.

All those who have not received bank confirmation should go to the banks to confirm the circumstances surrounding their entitlements as all necessary documentation was passed on to the banks within two days of the receipt of the fund

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Labour

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rade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has expressed concern over alleged involvement of some men and officers of the Nigeria Police in pipeline vandalism and called on the Acting Inspector General of Police to expose those conniving with vandals.

In a statement by its President and Secretary General, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama and Barrister Musa Lawal, TUC said: “The increasing incidence of fissures among officers and men of state security agencies is worrisome. The latest incident involving officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was reported to have happened at Owutu area of Ikorodu where a committee that included the Commandant General of the Corps, Mr. Ade Abolurin, and his men along with officers of the Nigerian Army, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Office of Attorney General of the Federation, and some other persons was said to have been on an inspection-and-assessment tour of disposable forfeited items, only to find themselves being threatened at gun-point by a police inspector and his men who claimed the territory was theirs.

“We feel particularly concerned because we believe that the presence of security operatives at such a trouble spot, irrespective of their respective agencies, should boost efforts to secure the nation’s pipelines from vandals. Unfortunately, the contrary appears to be the case, and one wonders if security operatives are meant to shield the vandals.

Or what else are we to make of a situation where officers of a particular security arm confront those from other arms in such spots and tell them that they are encroaching into “their territory?”.

They noted that the policemen ought to have welcomed the presence of officers who came from sister agencies to offer assistance in checking the activities of pipeline vandals and oil thieves, adding: "it is unacceptable that the genuine efforts of the

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TUC wants IG to investigate role of Police in pipeline vandalism We vehemently insist that no policeman or other security officer has any right to shoot or even point a gun at another who has not violated any law of the land

government and patriotic security operatives who stake their lives and resources to protect us and our economic interests should be sabotaged by the fifth columnists".

Maintaining that the recent incident involving the aforementioned police inspector and his men was not the first time such breaches have been known to happen, TUC revealed, for instance, that in 2013, two men of the anti-pipeline

vandalisation squad of the Lagos State Command of NSCDC, namely Messrs.

AIC Gabriel Adaji and IC Innocent Akegbe, were killed by policemen in questionable circumstances.

The Congress implored the new Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, to call his erring officers to order and ensure that they conform to government’s agenda on security and economic transformation.

"We vehemently insist that

no policeman or other security officer has any right to shoot or even point a gun at another who has not violated any law of the land.

Any act to the contrary must be checked, as it is criminal and portends grave implications for the society.

And all culprits should be promptly apprehended and punished to deter others from treading the same unholy path,” the Congress said.

MKPOIKANA UDOMA

Suleiman-Abba

Petroleum engineers see highest increase in average salary

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etroleum engineers experienced the highest increase in median annual salary since 2011, according to a recent report from the American Geosciences Institute, AGI. In 2013, the median average salary for petroleum engineers was $132,000. This has increased by more than $10,000 since 2011, according to the August. 12 report, which quoted data from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.

Since 2011, all geoscience

occupations – with the exception of atmospheric and space scientists, geographers, environmental science and protection technicians, engineering postsecondary teachers, and atmospheric, earth, marine and space sciences postsecondary teachers – recorded increases in their median annual salaries, while decreases ranged only from $10 to $2,760 per year.

The average median annual salary for geosciences-related

occupations last year was $83,311. With the exception of soil and plant scientists and technician occupations, the median salaries for the geoscience occupations are higher than the median salaries for the broader occupation groups.“The geosciences continue to be a lucrative employment option within the current workforce,” AGI said in the report.

Petroleum engineers are in demand in the United States thanks to the surge in

exploration and production at home and worldwide. These workers are in demand not only in the private sector, but at the United States’ Bureau of Land Management, to oversee mineral resources.

ABC News reported August 18 that the petroleum engineer job ranked among the bestpaying jobs of 2014.

Petroleum engineers also have the highest starting salary of any of the engineering degrees offered, with an average starting pay of $89,000 and a mid-career salary of $159,900, according to USAToday.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Labour

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Local Content: PENGASSAN laments absence of defined roles for labour MKPOIKANA UDOMA

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he Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior S t a f f Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has alleged absence of defined roles for it and its sister oil industry union, the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, in the implementation of the Nigerian Content Law. It is also alleging increase in the number of expatriates working in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as it lamented alleged poor monitoring by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Nigerian Immigration Services and other government agencies charged with that responsibility.

Immediate-past National Industrial Relation Officer of PENGASSAN, Comrade Hyginus Chika Onuegbu, and the incumbent Zonal Chairman of PENGASSAN, Comrade Azubuike M. Azubuike, made these allegations in an interview with SweetCrudeReports in Port Harcourt.

Onuegbu, who describing the absence of defined roles for the two oil industry u n i o n s i n t h e implementation of the Content Law as "a lacuna", said: “There is no role for PENGASSAN and NUPENG i n t h e A c t , t h e implementation of the Act can only be effective to the extent that the NCDMB is effective; the experience of NIMASA in the management of the Nigerian Cabotage Act shows clearly that any lapses in implementation will spell a doom as the benefits of the Act will elude Nigeria and Nigerians".

He added: “The numbers of expatriates working in Nigeria have actually increased instead of decreasing. Unfortunately the Nigerian Immigration and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are not helping matters because they are operating as if they do not know the spirit and the intent of the Local Content Act. "Because all kinds of expatriate quota are given to

…Urges strict monitoring of expatriate quota

Oil worker companies, they bring all kinds of expatriates, thereby denying Nigerians the opportunity of working in the oil and gas industry”.

He urged the NCDMB to strive to see that Nigerians were being trained and assigned responsibilities in critical disciplines of the oil and gas sector, rather than being "figureheads for purpose of statistics”.

Onuegbu, who is currently the chairman of Trade Union Congress in Rivers State, also lashed out at what he c a l l e d g r o s s misinterpretation of the Nigerian Content Act by Nigerian companies under the aegis of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN. “Misinterpretation of the Act has led to abuse and

unrestrained use of contract staffing and casualisation. It is very pathetic and contrary to the global trends in the employment in the oil and gas industry. The Act is now being used as an excuse for contract staffing and casualisation of Nigerian workers.

"Many indigenous operators now claim that the Act mandates them to

outsource 90% of all jobs in their organisation and therefore an excuse to embark on all manner of contract staffing and casualisation. I have repeatedly asked them to show me the specific provision(s) in the Nigerian Content Act that allows them to do so.

SURE-P inaugurates 23-man coordinators in Rivers MKPOIKANA UDOMA

T

he Subsidy ReInvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, in Rivers State has inaugurated new coordinators for the programme in the 23 local government areas of the state.

The Rivers State Implementation Committee chairman for SURE-P, Chief Oris Onyiri, who spoke with journalists in Port Harcourt, said the new coordinators will take over from the desk officers who had been manning the position prior to the inauguration of the

coordinators.

According to him, “there was a meeting last night where the desk officers were invited; they were introduced to the new 23 local government coordinators to take over from them. The desk officers are local government staff in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja. It is only in Rivers State that the desk officers are still working. We have also examined the success of the programmes and thanked the desk officers for their contributions in the success and the stability of the

programme in Rivers State”.

Going down memory lane, the chairman said the programme was one of President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda to, amongst other things, impact meaningfully on the grassroots, and has empowered more than 3,000 Rivers State indigenes, particularly those in the rural communities.

“These subsidy programmes have envisioned that President Goodluck Jonathan is a grassroots person. This grassroots’ empowerment

programme is part of his transformation agenda. The beneficiaries are recruited from communities, particularly the indigent ones. The area attention is given more is cleaning of drainages, planting of trees, graduate training and assisting community CDCs in their programmes," he said.

SweetCrudeReports gathered that other importance of the subsidy programme is, improvement of lives at the rural areas for which N10,000 stipends is paid monthly to each beneficiary.

Solid Mineral

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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Steel factory

Steel Intervention Fund needed to revive sector —Stakeholders OSCARLINE ONWUEMENYI

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takeholders in the nation's steel sector say the creation of a S t e e l Intervention Fund will provide support to investors and operators, and help revive the moribund sector.

The Fund, they said, will complement Federal Government's current efforts at attracting both local and foreign investors into the sector towards building and upgrading the requisite infrastructure to drive steel production and facilitate the creation of local jobs and skill acquisition.

The position of the stakeholders was contained in a communique at the end of a recent conference on Steel and Industrial Sector in Nigeria, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja.

The event, which was

hosted by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, had the theme: “Transformation of Minerals, Iron and Steel SubSector for Industrial Revolution in Nigeria.”

A key objective of the forum

The support of government in the sector be stepped up to institutionalise incentives/conces sions granted the sector with a view to guaranteeing a level playing field for all players in the sector

was to present the SubSector Plan of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, and the efforts of Ministry of Mines and Steel D e v e l o p m e n t a t repositioning the Minerals, Iron and Steel Sub-Sectors.

The forum, according to the communique, was organised to seek ways to develop the abundant steel and mineral resources in the country, in order to drive investment and economic development.

According to the communique, “An Intervention Fund for investors in the sector similar to the Power Intervention Fund, at 7% all-in-rate and for a term of 15 years, should be established. A sovereign loan guarantees to support investments in the sector should also be provided.”

It further called for s y n e r g y a m o n g manufacturers, research

institutes, universities, colleges of technology etc to accelerate the development of skills and jobs creation in the sector be promoted; while ensuring always that expatriates are employed only in the absence of qualified Nigerians for such jobs.

The communique also called for the completion of the spur line from OtukpoAjaokuta-Warri as well as the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt–Maiduguri rail line.

It also urged the Federal Government to encourage upstream sector development (mining activities) by taking over the proven asset of the exploration and release funds for actual mining, even as it called for the development of a National Quality Framework to be fast tracked with a view to, among other things, emplace Nigerian Standards and

enforce adherence to its provisions by all players in the Sector; “Partnership between the Government and the organised private sector to implement the backward integration of existing facilities within the sector should be sustained and strengthened.

“The support of government in the sector be stepped up to institutionalise incentives/concessions granted the sector with a view to guaranteeing a level playing field for all players in the sector,” it stated.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada, noted that one of the cardinal objectives of the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan, is to transform the steel sector so as to be able to enhance the rapid industrialisation of the nation, as no nation can become great without the production of steel.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Solid Mineral

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AMCON Boss laments wasting potentials at Ajaokuta Steel

Ajaokuta Steel Company

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hairman, A s s e t s Management Company of N i g e r i a , AMCON, Alhaji Kola Belgore, has expressed displeasure that despite the potentials of the Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi State, the multi-million dollar plant is still lying prostrate decades after it ought to have began operation.

Worse still, according to him, the Federal Government was expending N3.4 billion monthly on payment of salaries of idle workers at the company.

“There are 2,500 engines mounted and 6,000 employees, and we are

paying them N3.4 billion as salaries. That is what we are paying them for doing nothing monthly,” Belgore said recently in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

The AMCON boss disclosed this as part of his lecture at a forum organised by Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, former president of the Alumni Association of National Institute, in honour of newly promoted members of Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, from the state.

But, according Belgore, despite the state of the Ajaokuta Steel Company, AMCON had been able to manage it successfully to the extent that it now had N6 trillion asset.

Speaking not only about

Ajaokuta Company, but the nation's economy generally, he lamented: “The honest truth is that we are not happy and if here we say we are happy, it is because most of us are in a comfort zone of the society, we are privileged in the society.

"If we ask the masses of this country who are downtrodden, they would tell you they are not happy with the situation of the country. The country is virtually static.

"Things are not moving in the right direction and everybody is keeping quiet.

It has nothing to do with politics; it has to do with our collective interest.

“God endowed Nigeria very

well with human, material resources yet we are seriously under performing as a nation. We must wake up and try to do something to move us in the right direction.

“The nation is blessed with petrol and yet we are importing fuel in the country. We are importing petrol and we are the 7th largest producer in the world. What kind of ridicule is that? Yet we all kept quiet.

"You saw what happened w h e n t h e y w e r e investigating those that said they imported fuel to the country. They did not bring anything, yet through connivance they manipulated papers and they were collecting billions as cost of importing fuel".

The nation is blessed with petrol and yet we are importing fuel in the country. We are importing petrol and we are the 7th largest producer in the world.

What kind of ridicule is that?

Yet we all kept quiet

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Solid Mineral

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he Federal Government is ready to grant a dutyf r e e importation of equipment for the development of the Gypsum resource, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Musa Sada, has revealed. “The Federal Government had reaffirmed its readiness to grant a duty- free importation of equipment for the development of the Gypsum resource.

"I can assure you that if you are setting up a processing plant for Gypsum resource, I can get you a duty-free import of all equipment you can bring into this country,� the minister said while receiving the management of Ojim Royal Investment and Property Limited and a foreign technical partner from Israel in his office in Abuja.

Sada, who stated that this was part of incentives at driving development in the mining sector, said the Federal Government was concerned about creating the right atmosphere for the exploration and exploitation of the nation’s mineral resources for the overall development of the country.

According to the minister, Nigeria currently endowed with about 12.5 million metric tonnes of gypsum reserves and that these are spread across various states of the country.

He disclosed that a bulk of mining operations in the country was still being run by artisanal and small scale miners, who, for their own effectiveness, had formed cooperative groups amongst themselves with the cooperative groups being coordinated by the department of artisanal and small scale mining in his ministry.

Assuring his visitors of government's support and willingness for partnership, he said government was determined to make a huge success of the mining sector.

Chuks Chilaka, the chairman, Ojim Royal Investment and Property Limited, in his speech, expressed his company's desire for partnership with the Federal Government, saying the aim of their visit to the minister was to explore the possibility of such partnership and areas of possible collaboration.

Already, he said, his

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Gypsum: Govt offers duty-free importation of equipment company, working with its foreign technical partners, was collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to build 20

million housing units for Nigerians.

This, according to him, would require gypsum resource as this was one of the major raw materials for

the project.

Mr. Joseph Raz, representing the company's foreign technical partners from Israel, affirmed that his company was developing

20 million housing units across the country at the cost of $100 million in partnership with Ojim Royal Investment and Property Limited.

Gypsum

I am very sure that with this laboratory, miners are well positioned to cut costs of mineral assay which before now were done in United Kingdom, South Africa or Australia

Nigeria gets laboratory to analyse, certify mineral ores

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igeria can now effectively analyse and certify the content of its solid mineral ores rather than allowing international market operators determine such to the disadvatgage of local miners and exporters.

This follows the recent opening by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development of the National Geosciences Research Laboratories of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, NGSA. The facility, reported to be of world class, will, specifically, save miners and exporters of solid mineral ores in the country

from financial losses resulting from the exploitative tendencies of foreign partners, who, due to the absence of bankable mineral laboratory to analyse and certify the content of mineral ores, often exploited local operators.

"I am very sure that with this laboratory, miners are well positioned to cut costs of mineral assay which before now were done in United Kingdom, South Africa or Australia.

"Again, minerals from Nigeria would be coming out now with much credibility as there is a national laboratory with the state of

arts equipment to test and analyse any mineral thoroughly irrespective of its origin," commented the chairman, NGSA Governing Board, Professor Ibrahim Garba.

Besides reducing cost to miners, Garba said the laboratory would also provide credence to minerals from Nigeria.

He expressed confidence in Nigeria's solid minerals trade, saying the products from Nigeria are imbued with all the qualities required internationally.

Freight

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KUNLE KALEJAYE

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he Nigerian M a r i t i m e Administration and Safety A g e n c y , NIMASA, has revealed that its ongoing shipyard and dockyard project was aimed a t b r i d g i n g t h e infrastructure gap that has negatively affected the performance of the nation's maritime sector.

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan ?performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the yards recently in Okerenkoko, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, the same location with the Nigeria Maritime Institute, NMU. According to NIMASA, the vision behind the project was to have a world-class building and repair facility that would be commercially viable to transform the nation's economy.

SweetcrudeReports gatherted that the project is being developed in two phases, the first phase being the ship building facility that would handle smaller vessels and maintain ships plying the nation's inland waterways.

The second phase is planned to handle oceangoing vessels and offshore installations to serve the oil and gas industry.

Director General of NIMASA, Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi who stated this recently in Lagos said the agency's vision was to transform the maritime sector into an industry that would generate capable local manpower and contribute significantly to growing the nation's Gross Domestic Product, GDP. Akpobolokemi explained that an important pillar of the Cabotage regime involved the the possession of indigenous capacity to build and maintain vessels for the Cabotage trade.

"Having in-country capacity for shipbuilding and maintenance is very crucial for the attainment of the Cabotage policy objectives.

"It is in pursuit of this critical requirement that we conceived the shipyard and dockyard facility.

"Another important reason for undertaking the project is that the ship and dockyard facility will support the Nigeria Maritime

Dockyard

NIMASA to bridge infrastructure gap with ship, dock yards ...Trains 1,497 dockworkers in Q1 University, NMU by providing opportunity for the practical training of naval architects, marine, communication and control engineers.

"The physical proximity of the ship and dockyard facility to the university is deliberately conceived to facilitate

adequate practical training of students in requisite areas," the NIMASA boss said.

The NIMASA helmsman explained that the present leadership of the agency has given priority attention to both infrastructural and

h u m a n c a p i t a l development.

"At NIMASA, training and retraining of dockworkers is an ongoing exercise. In the first half of this year, 1,497 dockworkers have benefited directly from various training programmes. ?810

Private sector to run Nigeria's national carrier line

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igeria's national shipping line being planned to come into operation will be largely private-driven, according to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA. ?The Director General of NIMASA, Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, who stated this in Lagos recently said the private sector will be

solely responsible for the o p e r a t i o n s a n d management of the company.

He said his agency has been in the forefront in bringing alive the Public Private Partnership, PPP, initiative on the shipping line, stressing that the PPP success under President Jonathan's administration is what is making NIMASA

work assiduously towards actualising the establishment of a national carrier line.

Akpobolokemi stated that the national carrier lLine will re-establish the presence of Nigerian flag in international waters, providing training and retraining for Nigerian seafarers.

seafarers have also enjoyed Standard of Training Certification and Watch Keeping, STCW 95 training within the past six months.

"This is bring them up to date with the amended basic mandatory training, tanker familiarisation abd engine/deck watch keeping amongst other programmes," he said.

Akpobolokemi stated that the issue of sea time training had been a ?major challenge for the country's seafarers in the past, but revealed that his agency's policy of quietly placing seafarers on board Cabotage vessels has recorded success.

"At the moment, 3,938 seafarers and 44 cadets are at sea on-board Cabotage vessels through our policy,"? he stated.

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

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22 port facilities now ISPS Code compliant Cargo ship

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n further pursuit of safety within Nigeria's territorial waters, 22 port facilities in the country are now compliant with the International Ship and Port Facility Security, ISPS, Code.

This follows efforts by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, in that regard.

"This is ?a remarkable improvement from nine certified port facilities since the last visit of the United States Coast Guard.

"The figure is expected to rise when the report of the ISPS Code compliance team who visited the country last April is released. The US Coast Guard has consistently assisted NIMASA with training of personnel and other logistics on the ISPS Code.

"NIMASA has embarked on another Verification Inspection Exercise, VIE of Port facilities to enforce compliance with the code," according to Mr. Patrick Agbobolokemi, director general of NIMASA. Akpobolokemi also stated that his agency's Public

Private Partnership, PPP, project with an indigenous marine company, Messrs Global West Vessels Specialist Limited has made it possible for NIMASA to enforce maritime regulations.

He explained that prior to the concession contract, NIMASA was practically

constrained to enforce regulations and undertake any meaningful field operations as expected of a maritime administration.

"We have successfully reversed the trend as we now have complete patrol of our maritime domain with considerable capability to

respond to marine emergencies within a reasonable time frame.

"The PPP project has also made it possible for the agency to provide suitable platforms to the relevant security agencies collaborating with us to fight piracy and other sundry

Governor Akpabio

security breaches in our waters," he said.

NIMASA's PPP project with Global West Vessels Specialist Limited ?involves the supply, operation, management and maintenance of operational platforms and associated electronic surveillance systems.

Operators roll out safety measures after Bonny boat mishap MKPOIKANA UDOMA

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ollowing the recent boat mishap which claimed 15 lives along the Bonny-Port Harcourt waterways, boat operators in Rivers State say they have put in place safety measures to prevent a re-occurrence.

An executive council member of the boat operators at Marine Base in Port Harcourt, Mr. Samuel Ekpeya, told SweetCrudeReports that measures were in place to ensure the safety of passengers on the Port Harcourt-Okrika water routes.

Ekpeya also attributed the Bonny boat accident which claimed 15 lives, including serving youth corps members in Bonny, the oil and gas hub, to the use of cover-boats. “Well, for the incident to have happened, it was because of the nature of the boat used.

Cover-boats are not for passengers, they are luxurious boats for private use and not for commercial use. But, they (in

Bonny) use if for commercial purposes, and because of that, it probably carried more than its capacity which resulted in the mishap,� he said.

Also speaking to SweetCrudeReports, some passengers at the Marine Base jetty appealed to the relevant authorities, for the provision better boats on the waterways.

It should be recall that the boat mishap, which took place along the Bonny-Port Harcourt waterways, was as a result of over loading of the Ibani-Se boat which had the capacity for 20 persons, but

was overloaded with over 35 people. It was alleged that the overloading was obviously because there was no other boat at the Bonny jetty going to Port Harcourt that day.

Well, for the incident to have happened, it was because of the nature of the boat used. Coverboats are not for passengers, they are luxurious boats for private use and not for commercial use

Motoring

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14 Car Guides

Research for your next car by bodytype, price or family size

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he venerable four-door remains a staple of the automotive market, a doeverything machine that works well both as an errand machine and date-night chariot. Sedans with a hatchback add versatility.

Expect a wide array of comfort and safety features even at lower price points.

E

co-conscious drivers can choose between a growing number of vehicles these days: hybrids, pure electrics and frugal gaspowered green machines. Both hybrids and electrics help urban motorists save money; but if you like to road trip keep an eye on the range of electric models.

Luxury Cars Today's luxury cars showcase a level of sybaritic comforts and high-tech wizardry that boggles the mind.

Between massaging rear seats, a battery of driver alertness devices and adaptive cruise control, the ride provided by top models can make driver and passengers alike swoon.

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Motoring

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Wagons Station wagons once ruled the roads in the days before SUVs, and for many motorists they still represent the ideal blend of automotive dynamics and design practicality. Families and outdoor-sports fans alike can find room for kids and gear without moving up to a larger vehicle.

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SUVs Crossovers The crossover was designed to appeal to a specific consumer niche: the buyer who liked the look of an SUV but didn't want to give up the road-hugging feel of a sedan. Most automakers offer a crossover in their line up,a testament to the category's u n d e n i a b l e versatility.

Sport-utility vehicles have gone from praised to vilified to largely praised again, thanks in great part to s i g n i f i c a n t technological and material advances that have helped SUVs vastly improve their gas guzzling reputation while retaining their crown as king of cargo.

Coupes What many coupes give up in practicality they make up for in sheer looks, as designers put their best face forward in an automotive category synonymous with style.

That said, some twodoors offer ample room for rear passengers and cargo alike, rendering the coupe both useful and sexy.

Convertibles There's nothing quite as freeing as dropping the top on a sunny day and searching out a road less traveled. Where convertibles once were only for the well-heeled, these days ragtops come in a range of prices, though expect to pay more if you're looking for a folding hard top

Sports Cars Where sports cars were once the sole domain and obsession of a handful of companies, now almost every automaker offers a confection that is meant to stir the soul. Whether offering a quiet joy ride or business meeting.

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Family

Vans Vans have come a long since since the disco-era days of shag carpet-lined cruisers to tall, spacious and practical vehicles that often can be outfitted with luxurious appointments designed to make extended road trips look like taking your house for a drive.

Economy

Hatchbacks The simple act of replacing a car's metal trunk with a lifting, sloped and glass-topped rear door literally created a new automotive category, one that continues to win praise for the way a hatchback can instantly turn a coupe or sedan into a cargo eating machine

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The global focus on the environment hasn't been lost on automakers, who in recent years have made leaps in both the fuel efficiency of conventional engines as well as in the development of alternative –energy engines, all of which results in motorists spending less time at the pump.

Minivans ushered in the family-first automotive era, tweaking the box on wheels in any way possible - doors slid, chairs swiveled - so long as parents and kids saw the benefit. That trend continues with convenience and safety features that banish the cry, “Are we there yet”.

Trucks The decidedly allAmerican truck continues to be a work-horse that offers tremendous hauling power and towing capacity plus ample passenger space in four-door models. Fuel economy has improved thanks to engine refinement, while interiors often boast sedan-like comfort.

Technology

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lectric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to electrical substations located near demand centers. This is distinct from the local wiring between high-voltage substations and customers, which is typically referred to as electric power distribution. Transmission lines, when interconnected with each other, become transmission networks. The combined transmission and distribution network is known as the "power grid" in the United States, or just "the grid". In the United Kingdom, the network is known as the "National Grid".

A wide area synchronous grid, also known as an "interconnection" in North America, directly connects a large number of generators delivering AC power with the same relative phase, to a large number of consumers.

For example, there are three major interconnections in North America (the Western Interconnection, the Eastern Interconnection and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid), and one large grid for most of continental Europe.

Historically, transmission and distribution lines were owned by the same company, but starting in the 1990s, many countries have liberalized the regulation of the electricity market in ways that have led to the separation of the electricity transmission business from the distribution business.

Syetem Most transmission lines are high-voltage three-phase alternating current (AC), although single phase AC is sometimes used in railway electrification systems.

High-voltage direct-current (HVDC) technology is used for greater efficiency at very long distances (typically hundreds of miles (kilometers)), or in submarine power cables (typically longer than 30 miles (50 km)). HVDC links are also used to stabilize and control problems in large power distribution networks where sudden new loads or blackouts in one part of a network can otherwise result

2014 September, SweetcrudeReports

Electric power transmission Diagram of an electric power system; transmission system is in blue

in synchronization problems and cascading failures.

Electricity is transmitted at high voltages (120 kV or above) to reduce the energy losses in long-distance transmission. Power is usually transmitted through overhead power lines. Underground power transmission has a significantly higher cost and greater operational limitations but is sometimes used in urban areas or sensitive locations.

A key limitation of electric power is that, with minor exceptions, electrical energy cannot be stored, and therefore must be generated as needed. A sophisticated control system is required to ensure electric generation very closely matches the demand. If the demand for power exceeds the supply, generation plant and transmission equipment can shut down, which in the worst case may lead to a major regional blackout, such as occurred in the US Northeast blackout of 1965, 1977, 2003, and other regional blackouts in 1996 and 2011. It is to reduce the risk of such a failure that electric transmission networks are interconnected into regional, national or continent wide networks thereby providing multiple redundant alternative routes for power to flow should such equipment failures occur. Much analysis is done by transmission companies to determine the maximum reliable capacity of each line (ordinarily less than its physical or thermal limit) to ensure spare capacity is available should there be any such failure in another part of the network.

Overhead Transmission

High-voltage overhead conductors are not covered by insulation. The conductor material is nearly always an aluminum alloy, made into several strands and possibly reinforced with steel strands. Copper was sometimes used for overhead transmission, but aluminum is lighter, yields only marginally reduced performance and costs much less. Overhead conductors are a commodity supplied by several companies worldwide. Improved conductor material and shapes are regularly used to allow increased capacity and modernize transmission circuits. Conductor sizes range from 12 mm2 (#6 American wire gauge) to 750 mm2 (1,590,000 circular mils area), with varying resistance and currentcarrying capacity. Thicker wires would lead to a relatively small increase in capacity due to the skin effect, that causes most of the current to flow close to the surface of the wire. Because of this current limitation,

multiple parallel cables (called bundle conductors) are used when higher capacity is needed. Bundle conductors are also used at high voltages to reduce energy loss caused by corona discharge.

Today, transmission-level voltages are usually considered to be 110 kV and above. Lower voltages, such as 66 kV and 33 kV, are usually considered subtransmission voltages, but are occasionally used on long lines with light loads.

Voltages less than 33 kV are usually used for distribution.

Voltages above 230 kV are considered extra high voltage and require different designs compared to equipment used at lower voltages.

Since overhead transmission wires depend on air for insulation, the design of these lines requires minimum clearances to be observed to maintain safety.

Adverse weather conditions, such as high wind and low temperatures, can lead to power outages. Wind speeds as low as 23 knots (43 km/h) can permit conductors to encroach operating clearances, resulting in a flashover and loss of supply.

Oscillatory motion of the physical line can be termed gallop or flutter depending on the frequency and amplitude of oscillation.

Underground Transmission Electric power can also be transmitted by underground power cables instead of overhead power lines.

Underground cables take up less right-of-way than overhead lines, have lower visibility, and are less affected by bad weather.

However, costs of insulated cable and excavation are much higher than overhead construction. Faults in buried transmission lines take longer to locate and repair. Underground lines are strictly limited by their thermal capacity, which

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permits less overload or rerating than overhead lines.

Long underground AC cables have significant capacitance, which may reduce their ability to provide useful power to loads beyond 50 miles. Long underground DC cables have no such issue and can run for thousands of miles.

History In the early days of commercial electric power, transmission of electric power at the same voltage as used by lighting and mechanical loads restricted the distance between generating plant and consumers. In 1882, generation was with direct current (DC), which could not easily be increased in voltage for long-distance transmission. Different classes of loads (for example, lighting, fixed motors, and traction/railway systems) required different voltages, and so used different generators and circuits.

Due to this specialization of lines and because transmission was inefficient for low-voltage high-current circuits, generators needed to be near their loads. It seemed, at the time, that the industry would develop into what is now known as a distributed generation system with large numbers of small generators located near their loads.

In 1886, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a 1 kV alternating current (AC) distribution system was installed. That same year, AC power at 2 kV, transmitted 30 km, was installed at Cerchi, Italy. At an AIEE meeting on May 16, 1888, Nikola Tesla delivered a lecture entitled A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, describing the equipment which allowed efficient generation and use of polyphase alternating currents. The transformer, and Tesla's polyphase and single-phase induction motors, were essential for a combined AC distribution system for both lighting and machinery. Ownership of the rights to the Tesla patents was a key advantage to the Westinghouse Company in CONTINUES ON PAGE 41

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Technology CONTINUED FROM PAGE 40

alternating current power system for both lighting and power.

Regarded as one of the most influential electrical innovations, the universal system used transformers to step-up voltage from generators to high-voltage transmission lines, and then to step-down voltage to local distribution circuits or industrial customers. By a suitable choice of utility frequency, both lighting and motor loads could be served.

Rotary converters and later mercury-arc valves and other rectifier equipment allowed DC to be provided where needed. Generating stations and loads using different frequencies could be interconnected using rotary converters. By using common generating plants for every type of load, important economies of scale were achieved, lower overall capital investment was required, load factor on each plant was increased allowing for higher efficiency, a lower cost for the consumer and increased overall use of electric power.

Electric power transmission international electricity exhibition in Frankfurt. A 25 kV transmission line, approximately 175 km long, connected Lauffen on the Neckar and Frankfurt.

Voltages used for electric power transmission increased throughout the 20th century.

By 1914, fifty-five transmission systems each operating at more than 70 kV were in service. The highest voltage then used was 150 kV. The rapid industrialization in the 20th century made electrical transmission lines and grids a critical infrastructure item in most industrialized nations. The interconnection of local generation plants and small distribution networks was greatly spurred by the requirements of World War I, with large electrical generating plants built by governments to provide power to munitions factories. Later these generating plants were connected to supply civil loads through long-distance

Nikola Tesla's alternating current polyphase generators on display at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Tesla's polyphase innovations revolutionized transmission

By allowing multiple generating plants to be interconnected over a wide area, electricity production cost was reduced. The most efficient available plants could be used to supply the varying loads during the day.

Reliability was improved and capital investment cost was reduced, since stand-by generating capacity could be shared over many more customers and a wider geographic area. Remote and low-cost sources of energy, such as hydroelectric power or mine-mouth coal, could be exploited to lower energy production cost.

The first transmission of three-phase alternating current using high voltage took place in 1891 during the

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transmission

Bulk Power Transmission Engineers design transmission networks to transport the energy as efficiently as feasible, while at the same time taking into account economic factors, network safety and redundancy. These networks use components such as power lines, cables, circuit breakers, switches and transformers.

The transmission network is usually administered on a regional basis by an entity such as a regional transmission organization or transmission system operator.

Transmission efficiency is greatly improved by devices that increase the voltage, (and thereby proportionately reduce the current) in the line conductors, thus allowing power to be transmitted with acceptable losses. The reduced current flowing through the line reduces the heating losses in the conductors. According to Joule's Law, energy losses are directly proportional to the square of the current.

Thus, reducing the current by a factor of two will lower the energy lost to conductor resistance by a factor of four for any given size of conductor.

The optimum size of a conductor for a given voltage and current can be estimated

by Kelvin's law for conductor size, which states that the size is at its optimum when the annual cost of energy wasted in the resistance is equal to the annual capital charges of providing the conductor. At times of lower interest rates, Kelvin's law indicates that thicker wires are optimal; while, when metals are expensive, thinner conductors are indicated: however, power lines are designed for longterm use, so Kelvin's law has to be used in conjunction with long-term estimates of the price of copper and aluminum as well as interest rates for capital.

The increase in voltage is achieved in AC circuits by using a step-up transformer.

HVDC systems require relatively costly conversion equipment which may be economically justified for particular projects such as submarine cables and longer distance high capacity point to point transmission. HVDC is necessary for the import and export of energy between grid systems that are not synchronized with each other.

A transmission grid is a network of power stations, transmission lines, and substations. Energy is usually transmitted within a grid with three-phase AC. Single-phase AC is used only for distribution to end users since it is not usable for large polyphase induction motors.

In the 19th century, twophase transmission was used but required either four wires or three wires with unequal currents. Higher

order phase systems require more than three wires, but deliver little or no benefit.

The synchronous grids of the European Union.

The price of electric power station capacity is high, and electric demand is variable, so it is often cheaper to import some portion of the needed power than to generate it locally. Because loads are often regionally correlated (hot weather in the Southwest portion of the US might cause many people to use air conditioners), electric power often comes from distant sources.

Because of the economic benefits of load sharing between regions, wide area transmission grids now span countries and even continents. The web of interconnections between power producers and consumers should enable power to flow, even if some links are inoperative.

The unvarying (or slowly varying over many hours) portion of the electric demand is known as the base load and is generally served by large facilities (which are more efficient due to economies of scale) with fixed costs for fuel and operation.

Such facilities are nuclear, coal-fired or hydroelectric, while other energy sources such as concentrated solar thermal and geothermal power have the potential to provide base load power.

Renewable energy sources, such as solar photovoltaics, wind, wave, and tidal, are, due to their intermittency, not considered as supplying "base load" but will still add power to the grid. The remaining or 'peak' power demand, is supplied by

are typically smaller, faster-responding, and higher cost sources, such as combined cycle or combustion turbine plants fueled by natural gas.

L o n g - d i s t a n c e transmission of electricity (thousands of kilometers) is cheap and efficient, with costs of US$0.005–0.02/kWh (compared to annual averaged large producer costs of US$0.01–0.025/kWh, retail rates upwards of US$0.10/kWh, and multiples of retail for instantaneous suppliers at unpredicted highest demand moments).

Thus distant suppliers can be cheaper than local sources (e.g., New York often buys over 1000 MW of electricity from Canada). Multiple local sources (even if more expensive and infrequently used) can make the transmission grid more fault tolerant to weather and other disasters that can disconnect distant suppliers.

A high-power electrical transmission tower, 230 kV, double-circuit, also doublebundled L o n g - d i s t a n c e transmission allows remote renewable energy resources to be used to displace fossil fuel consumption. Hydro and wind sources cannot be moved closer to populous cities, and solar costs are lowest in remote areas where local power needs are minimal. Connection costs alone can determine whether any particular renewable alternative is economically

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Community

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Defence Corps officers in training

Civil Defence seek communities' support on pipeline vandalism KUNLE KALEJAYE

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he Nigeria ?Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has called on pipelines host communities in the country to support its effort in curbing pipeline vandalism.

Lagos State Commandant of NSCDC, Commandant Donatus Azuka Ikemefuna, w h o s p o k e w i t h SweetcrudeReports in Lagos, appealed to community leaders and youths to supply the Corps with intelligent reports about pipeline breaks in their areas.

N S C D C L a g o s commandant also appealed to other ?security agencies for their support and collaboration to tame the

menace of pipeline vandalism, stressing that they have been mandated to protect critical infrastructures in the country.

Ikemefuna explained that NSCDC, which officially came into existence by the Act of Parliament 2003 and later amended in 2007, aside maintaining peace and order in the society, has intelligence information gathering for government as part of its core mandate.

According to him, working closely with the three tiers of government - federal, state and local councils - "we gather this information, give it to the government and try to be proactive on our security management".

He continued: "We are also into disaster management because we have noticed that all the disasters and accidents that have been occurring in this country, which are bound

to occur because we are all humans, if you look at the footage of these disasters and accidents, you will discovered that Civil Defence is quick in arriving the scene. “Our response time has always been 10 minutes, but we want to reduce it to five minutes. Because we are spread all over the country, in the local government areas, our presence is being felt there.

"Our third mandate is the protection of critical infrastructures of government. For instance, the oil and gas sector is critical to the survival of this country and its populace because we derive so much money from that sector.

"This sector is critical because if anything happens to them, it affects our economy negatively and our lives become uncomfortable.

They don't want to work, but for the ease of comfort, they just go to the pipelines, break it and steal these products. The worrying issue is not the amount that they steal, but the quantity they leave unattended to or allow to waste "We have been saddled with the responsibility to protect these critical

infrastructure of our economy. We have active young men and women who have been trained in the area of arm bearing. The amended act of 2007 empowers us to carry arms."

Commandant Ikemefuna, however, stated that manpower shortage has limited NSCDC's ability to adequately secure and p r o t e c t c r i t i c a l infrastructure.

He added that logistic challenge has also limited the operations of NSCDC,? noting that the absent of patrol vehicles posed a huge challenge to access rocky and swampy areas, where pipelines are broken.

"We need 4x4 vehicles (fourwheel vehicles) mounted with state-of-the-art security system. We need not just one or two of these vehicles, but, enough because we live in a CONTINUES ON PAGE 45

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Group protests Rivers' N50bn loan, says it's not for masses MKPOIKANA UDOMA

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n o n governmental organisation in Rivers State, the Grassroots Development Initiatives, GDI, is protesting what it calls "frequent approval of loans" by the Rivers State House of Assembly for the executive arm of government.

In a reaction to the recent approval of N50 billion loan by the Rivers State House of Assembly for Governor Chubuike Amaechi-led government, President General of GDI, Comrade Bright Amewhule, said the loan was not in the interest of Rivers people.

According to him, “the Rivers State House Assembly is not functioning.

Members always gather in the Government House to approve loan for their master, friend and for themselves. In no distant time, the grassroots people, will move to them individually to make sure that these moneys that they are borrowing in the name of Rivers State are being recovered from them, because these money they are borrowing, they should not use Rivers people as a cover, because the loans are not in the interest of Rivers people, but for themselves".

In the same vein, the Secretary General of GDI, Comrade Samuel

Protesters

N wa no si ke , a ccuse d t he present Rivers State House of Assembly of focusing only on approving loans for Governor

Amaechi and failing to legislate on matters that have direct impact on the lives of the masses.

His words: “For us Rivers people, we have seen that Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and his cohorts,

Civil Defence seek communities' support on pipeline vandalism CONTINUED FROM PAGE 44 hostile environment.

"We have another issue to deal with which is the indolence of our youths. They don't want to work, but for the ease of comfort, they just go to the pipelines, break it and steal these products. The worrying issue is not the amount that they steal, but the quantity they leave unattended to or allow to waste".

He said his agency also have problem with "the people, the communities and

neighbourhood where this nefarious act is carried out".

"The villages where they (vandals) operate don't give us enough information. The leaders and heads of communities don't give us useful information because they benefit from it and their son and relations participate in the act.

"This means that pipeline vandalism has now become a profession. Communities that were known for yam production, cassava and potato production have closed shop to venture into pipelines

vandalism as a profession.

"Government is trying its best, but they cannot do it all. ?My advice is, let us come together and tackle pipeline vandalism. We are not magicians, give us information and we will act.

"As far as the civil defence is concern, pipeline vandalism has no other direction to go than down wards," the NSCDC Lagos State commandant said.

He added: "Prior to when we assumed office, the pipeline vandalism was free for all, but, now there is this

general awareness that we are in charge and that all other security agencies have also been invited to fight this act, but they are only complementary to our services, they are assisting us.

“There is no doubt as to who has the mandate, but we are also inviting them to come. If you give me 20 vehicles today, I will continue to synergise with the Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police and the rest of them".

those that he has hijacked inside Government House as members of the State House of Assembly, are there to make laws for his own consumption not for Rivers people "85% of the bills since they went into government are monetary and loan bills, bills made to enrich the governor of Rivers State, and to throw Rivers State into more indebtedness”.

It should be noted that the N50 billion bond approved by the Rivers State House of Assembly for the executive arm of government is for the completion of ongoing projects in the state, while the N2 billion loan from CBN is to boost small and medium enterprises, SMEs, in the state.

These however, are the 6th loan package approved by the House for the Amaechi government in less than one year.

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MKPOIKANA UDOMA

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he Rivers State Government has hinted that the Federal Government would soon begin the implementation of the U n i t e d N a t i o n s Environmental Assessment Reports on Ogoniland.

The State Commissioner of Environment, Dr. Nyema Weli, dropped the hint in Bera Community, Gokana Local Government of Rivers State at the grand finale of the campaign against crude oil theft and illegal refining.

Dr. Weli, who was represented at the event by a director in the ministry, Mr. Charles George, sought the co-operation of the Ogonis in the implementation of the UNEP reports.

“Having seen the high level of pollution, the government through the UNEP Reports will be coming around the next 2 or 3 months to clean up the area. So we are using this opportunity to call on people again support the government when they come to clean up this area. All what they need from you is your support” he said.

He also warned the people of Ogoni against acts capable of further polluting their environment.

Earlier, the Rivers State Chairman of the Nigerian Environmental Society, Dr. Prince Chinedu Mmom intimated the people on the long-term effects on the consequences of crude oil theft and illegal refining, which he said was “eternal”.

In his words, “we do not know what we lose as

Illegal refinery

Ogoni cautioned against illegal refining, pollution of environment consequence of these crude oil theft and illegal activities.

These illegal activities of breaking the pipelines with the intention of stealing crude oil, these illegal activities of bursting the pipelines because the boys are hungry, these illegal activities they of

breaking the pipelines so that the companies (IOCs) will lose.

“What the companies will lose is just money, but what the community will lose remains eternal. Scientists have told us that when oil spillage occurs, for that soil

to be brought to its original state (which is very impossible) or something near the original state will take over 20years. So you can imagine what you have made out of the business of destroying your community”.

With improved funding we will touch more lives —NDDC MKPOIKANA UDOMA

Over 6,000 residents of the riverine communities of Ondo State received the NDDC free medical services

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he Niger Delta D e v e l o p m e n t Commission, NDDC, says many more lives in the Niger Delta region would be touched through its programmes and projects, if its funding improved.

T h e O n d o S t a t e Representative in the Governing Board of the Commission, Barr.Benson Amuwa stated this while speaking at the flag-off of the Free Medical Programme in Igbobini, Ese Odo Local Government Area and Igo, Ilaje Local Government Area

of Ondo State.

This is contained in a statement issued in Port Harcourt and signed by Head of Corporate Affairs of the NDDC, Mr. Ibitoye Abosede.

During the programme which was organised by the NDDC in collaboration with Universal Medical Foundation and Pro-Health International, Barr. Amuwa appealed to the Federal Government for the quick release of funds to NDDC for the present governing board to achieve its mandate of completing all ongoing projects.

He also urged the people to cooperate and support the medical teams to work effectively, promising that NDDC was determined to bring healthcare to the doorstep of the people.

Also speaking at the event, the Olu of Igbobini, Oba Oyedele Raphael, represented by High Chief Olasehinde Ajele, commended the NDDC for its gesture, saying: "This is the first time any government is carrying out this kind of free medical programme in these communities".

He called for more people-

oriented projects and programmes in riverine communities of the state.

Leader of the Pro-Health International medical team, Dr Livinus Martins, said the one-week programme saw cases from consultancy, dental, eye care, eye surgery, laboratory test, among others were treated as well as the distribution of free drugs to the people.

The statement also added that over 6,000 residents of the riverine communities of Ondo State received the NDDC free medical services.

Community

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NOSDRA laments 'extensive ecological damage' in N'Delta

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hairman of the Governing Board of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, Major Lancelot Anyanya (red), has lamented what he described as "extensive ecological damage" in the Niger Delta, saying this was a fall out of oil and gas production activities in the region.

Anyanya, who praised President Goodluck Jonathan for a reorganisation of his agency to strengthen its corporate governance, maintained that with the ecological damage in the area, Niger Delta communities were paying huge price to sustain Nigeria’s oil and gas

production.

Speaking in the palace of the Oba of Ogbaland, Eze Chukwuemeka Nnam Obi, during a visit to assess the impact of oil spills in Omoku area of Rivers State, the NOSDRA chairman also lamented the emergence of ailments that are a result of oil and gas production.

According to him, the region has seen the emergence of ailments that were unknown to the area prior to the advent of oil and gas exploration and production.

“Across the Niger Delta, negative medical conditions hitherto, unknown to the locality are being observed due to colossal environmental degradation from oil spills.

That is a huge price for anyone to pay for the prosperity that

people are enjoying in and out of Nigeria because of our oil,” he said.

Anyanya cited Omoku and Ogbaland as two areas in the Niger Delta that had been characterised by extensive ecological damage as a result of oil spills.

Commending President Jonathan for reorganising NOSDRA’s corporate governance, he said this has helped the agency to improve its relations with oil producing communities.

He also praised Eze Nnam Obi's selfless leadership as he briefed him and the council of chiefs on the activities of NOSDRA, including visiting host communities affected by oil spills to engage and educate them on oil spill prevention.

Water pollution

Rivers govt warns against illegal adverts on electric poles

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he Rivers State Ministry of Power has warned against illegal display of flags, banners, advert posters, amongst other things, on streetlights poles in Port Harcourt metropolis.

State Commissioner of Power, Hon. Wokocha Augustine warned the general public in a statement to desist from such unauthorised display of flags, banners and advert posters on the streetlight

posts.

The commissioner, in the statement, said members of the public or organisations wishing to use the poles for such display and other purposes should apply for written authorisation from the his ministry.

He stated that "such act of bandit signs and street urchin will no longer be tolerated," warning that “owners of such flags, banners and advert posters are advised in their own interest to please remove such, or any further

occurrence will be severely dealt with”.

Already, the government has set up a 50-man committee to remove the illegal message displays on the streetlights installations in the state and sanitise the environment.

Wokocha, during the inauguration of the committee, said the committee which has already commence work, will remove all illegal advertisement and posters on streetlights across the state.

E-mail: johniyene@yahoo.com

Amnesty, Appeasement: Pathways to perdition

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he men walked into the Amakiri Family Hall, smiling nervously at each other and engaging themselves in meaningless banter. In no time visitors and hosts were throwing jokes happily across the table that divided them, Ebola, greedy doctors and the political demise of Governor Amaechi featuring prominently. Suddenly the bomb fell: “What do you do for a living young man?”

The question was directed at the groom-to-be but it affected all the visitors, the hosts and the few spectators permitted into the purely private family business. The sweaty drinks, the freshly washed egg plants and the many platters of dry fish pepper soup all lost their allure. The hosts as though on cue all turned their malevolent eyes on the hunched figure that threw the bomb. The man, a lawyer who had not seen a courtroom for two months and lost earnings as a consequence was not bothered by the aggressive stares thrown in his direction, “Yes?” he demanded further in a very careless manner.

“Em,” the young man started, “I dey do amnesty!”

“Amnesty, how does that work?”

“Sunny dey pay me, na me dey pay my boys.”

“Ah, who is Sunny?”

“You no know am? The amnesty Oga, Sunny Koko.” Of course he meant Sunny Kuku, Co-ordinator of the Amnesty Programme.

In 2003 the people of the Niger Delta rose up again in protest of their living conditions in the face of the wealth of the region which by legislation had become the commonwealth of all Nigerians. Their agitation was adjudged meaningful and justified by the international community, but not long, as most things Nigerian, the agitation was franchised, with nonindigenes of the region, criminals and “investors” buying stakes for material gain. It was a long, violent and intractable campaign that displaced populations in the Niger Delta, undermined governance and dislocated the process of the production of oil and gas, the very reason why the international community shut eyes and conscience to the democratic credentials of the struggle.

The problem was Obasanjo’s government to solve but that government, speckled by military philosophies, approached it militarily and failed to stem its growth. Enter Yar’Adua’s government. Somewhere within the government, a memo emanated: offer the militants amnesty within the facility of an ultimatum; provide the warlords and all their boys with monthly stipends UNTIL they have attended and taken advantage of skills acquisition programmes. NOTE please that this memo provided very little succour for the real agitators in the Niger Delta whose aspirations were to take control of the exploration and exploitation processes for oil and gas in order to regulate the health of their environment and to determine their economies independent of the interference of other states and the federal state.

The offer was acceptable to the criminals and “contractors” who had infiltrated the cause for gain. However, for reasons the federal government has not explained to Nigerians, the memo was re-drawn and misapplied to the extent that the warlords who refused to attend the federal government’s skills acquisition programmes and the boys and ghosts they purportedly commanded, are now on the payrolls and consequently, the perpetual recurrent budgets of the federal government like the army, the navy and the air force.

Amnesty was directed at genuine activists who had crossed the threshold of criminality in the process of their political agitations. Of course, government also hoped to rein in the core criminals responsible for several incidents of the disruption of production of oil and gas, the vandalism of oil pipelines, illegal oil bunkering and products refining, murders, rapes and kidnappings. Government also hoped to redirect their energies into skills for their benefits and for the benefit of the Nigerian state but policy implementation got mangled up so that the criminals who knew nothing about the a.b.c of the Niger Delta cause and those who were genuinely agitating for change in the oil and gas politics of Nigeria got into the ledgers of the federal government. The few who attended skills acquisition programmes still benefit from monthly stipends even after getting grants for equipment. In some cases, those who are actually deploying their newly acquired skills are still kept on the ledgers by their “commanders” who benefit from their monthly stipends without their knowledge. Add these to the many ghost entries that are imported into these lists and you shall find gaping holes in Nigeria’s financial ozone.

How far can this policy of appeasement go? What has the Nigerian state gained from the amnesty programme? Pipelines are still vandalised, products are stolen and the resource control project is far from dead. A cause in abeyance, pondering, regrouping and re-calibrating is potentially more lethal than a live movement. What would happen when the Pharaoh who did not know Joseph stops this policy of appeasement? Who would bear the message to the criminal elements that dot the Niger Delta that criminality does not pay when it is paying so handsomely?

What kind of rehabilitation programme can the federal government develop to sate the unhealthy dispositions that appeasement has brought about?

Sub-saharan Africans are not known for mulling over the future. According to Pieter Botha of Apartheid fame, we do not make plans that exceed one year. It may still be true of Nigerians but if we hope to escape the future reality that this policy of appeasement portends, we have to start thinking NOW!

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