Tag Archives: Ibe Kachikwu

Kachikwu: We’ll allocate oil blocks, pass PIB in 2017

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Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, says the federal government will be allocating oil blocks and passing the petroleum industry bill in 2017.

Unveiling his goals, and that of the ministry of petroleum resources, for 2017, Kachikwu said Nigeria would exploit the relationship built by President Muhammadu Buhari in taking a road show to the UK and US.

“We are going to accelerate federal government revenues, look into areas where we could have made more money, so as to support the 2017 financing,” Kachikwu said.

“We are going to be seeking to attract investments and complete all the MOUs; the one in China, the one in India… we are looking to do a roadshow to the UK, we are looking to do a roadshow to the US with President Donald Trump coming in.

“We are looking quite frankly to draw on the relationship that the president has built over time. We are going to be conducting oil blocks allocations and marginal flow awards to try and raise money for the government.”

Kachikwu, who also spoke on the petroleum industry bill, said Nigeria’s  refineries would be revamped to produced at a utilisation capacity of 60 percent.

“We need to start the revamping of the refineries. The president has given us a matching order on that. We still remain committed on our goal of 2018: reduce importation by 60 per cent and 2019, try and exit the importation of petroleum products substantially.

“Now, are going to continue to focus on downstream issues. Although we have liberalised, there are still some challenges. We are going to see how we work within the liberalisation infrastructure such that we are able to take away the low-hanging difficulties.

“We are also going to focus on the Niger delta. It’s been too long a lingering issue. We are going to be working with every aspect of the presidency to try and find solution to this.

“We are going to run at a rocket pace. We have so much to do. First, we are going to firm up our policies, be able to gazette all our oil and gas policies and then pass the Petroleum Industrial Bill, PIB.”

Kachikwu praised Nigeria’s “influential role” in stabilising oil prices, saying he expects oil to trade in the $60s for the better part of 2017.

How we will run Nigeria’s petroleum industry in 2017 – Ibe Kachikwu

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The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, says the federal government will pass the Petroleum Industry Bill and revamp the nation’s refineries in 2017.

Mr. Kachikwu who made this known while highlighting the plans of the petroleum ministry for 2017, disclosed that government will dissect the nation’s oil and gas policies for optimum productivity.

He also assured that the ministry will accelerate revenue generation by looking into areas the government could make more money, stressing that the plan will enable it support the 2017 financing.

The minister said that apart from completing all outstanding Memoranda of Understanding, MOU, the government will leverage on the relationship the president has built over time to relate with foreign investors.

Mr. Kachikwu said in addition to trips to the United States and China, he will also embark on a roadshow to the gulf so that the Nigeria will cease to be a  forgotten state and become an active participation block where investment can flow into.

“We are going to receive and complete all the MOUs that we began… the one in China…the one in India… we are going to do a roadshow to the UK…for Europe. We are going to do a roadshow to the U.S. with President Donald Trump coming in,” Mr. Kachikwu said.

While commenting on the activities embarked upon in the outgone year, Mr. Kachikwu explained that the government was able to take away fraud impacted volume by reducing the volume of PMS the nation consumes daily from N50 million litres to N28 million litres.

He assured Nigerians that the nation’s oil industry will be run transparently, as against the opaque manner it was run in the past.

Mr. Kachikwu also confirmed that oil blocks will also be allocated in 2017, to partly fund the budget.

Oil refineries

Commenting on the state of the nation’s oil refineries, the minister said the president has given him a matching order to commence refinery revamp. He reiterated the government’s plan to diversify the refining process so that the refineries can work optimally, noting that the process will begin this year.

Mr. Kachikwu also said that the government will work within liberalisation infrastructure such that it will take away the low hanging difficulties in the industry.

“We will focus on downstream issues. Although we have liberalised, there are still some challenges. The reality is that the marketers are still suffering,” he said.

Niger Delta

The minister also pledged to look into security concerns in the Niger Delta region, stressing that government will ensure that the peace efforts put in place are maintained and improved upon.

“We are going to focus on the Niger Delta. It’s been too long a lingering issue. We are going to work with every aspect of the presidency to try and find solutions to this. We are going to work to stabilise oil production… a lot of work is required.”

Mr. Kachikwu also assured industry players that government will develop agreement and opportunities on international oil companies, IOCs, and partners for better collaboration through engaging policies that will bring investment into the country. He said the ministry will run an oil industry that is at par with its counterparts worldwide; adding that efforts will be strengthened on investor relations.

On oil production, the minister said government will begin for the first time to track oil movement from production to destination, noting that there are too many leakages in the oil production chain in Nigeria.

“This year we are going to commit to trying to find a way of tracking our oil so that from the moment when molecule is produced, to the time when it is sold and where it is sold, we will be able to track that. If we do that, we envisage billions of dollars in savings from the federal government.”

Private sector driven industry

While highlighting the challenges associated with public sector driven system, Mr. Kachikwu pledged to ensure that the industry is driven by private hands in 2017. He said that the industry has always been public sector-led and there have been problems.

He also promised to create a “private sector industry player club” to chart 2017 goals and mark out delivery system.

“Public sector is key to be able to regulate the sector and make sure people are operating within parameters; but ultimately, the infrastructure, investment, services and discipline have to be private sector led.

“We will galvanise the energy of the private sector within the first two months,” he said.

Gas revolution

According to the minister, gas revolution will form a key aspect of the government’s policy for the year and it would boost government revenue.

“Gas revolution will be key. First, we are going to track gas flare and commercialise it so that no more flare happen in this country. We have set a 2020 date for ourselves even though the international fora at the UN had set a 2030 date. We are very aggressive about this, we want to make money from flare,” he said.

Mr. Kachikwu also promised that the government will look at the gas infrastructure that are suffering, complete the investment and get gas in every part of the country because it is key to power delivery.

The minister said the nation has four times volume of gas than oil, adding that even though oil has contributed immensely to the nation’s growth, gas is the future. He explained that gas will provide power, clean energy, and day-to-day burning of fuel at homes.

“For so long we have pretended to be an oil producing nation and yes we were; but Nigeria really is a gas nation with a lot of substantial gift of oil.”

Stakeholders’ relations

The minister promised to give priority to stakeholders’ relation in the year, noting that periodicals will be published to highlight activities embarked upon towards achieving the industry’s goals.

He explained that the efforts will begin with a road show with state governments, adding that oil producing states will be brought together to look at long term dynamic investments areas across the states as well as how they engage companies in their states.

“This year we are going to be open, we are going to be as much the manager of the oil resource as I am going to be. We are going to owe the responsibility to the Nigerian nation to deliver on those blueprints that we have set ourselves to deliver.”

Nigeria saves N15.4 billion monthly from fuel subsidy removal – Osinbajo

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Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the fuel subsidy removal has removed a burden of not less than N15.4 billion monthly from the Federal Government.

Mr. Osinbajo said this in Abuja on Thursday at the 2016 presentation of scorecard of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Agreements Signing ceremony for Joint Venture Cash Calls (JVC) exit.

Represented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Mr. Osinbajo said that $15 billion would be injected into the sector.

”I am pleased to be the special guest of honour at the agreements signing ceremony for Joint Venture Cash Call exit and the announcement of $15 billion investments to be done in the sector.

”The oil and gas sector remains very critical to the stability and growth of our economy as it accounts for about 90 per cent of earnings.

”Amongst others, the downstream sector has been deregulated with the elimination of petroleum subsidy.

”This policy has removed from government, a burden of not less than N15.4 billion monthly,” he said.

The vice-president said that government had taken steps to raise the domestic refining capacity for petroleum products by repairing the existing refineries.

”We have also licensed modular refineries and support the development of private refineries one of which is a 650,000 barrel per day capacity,” he said.

According to him, one of the refineries is nearing completion, adding that when completed, it will restore “our pipeline to facilitate crude and products transportation.”

He said that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved new measures aimed at eliminating the burden of JVC and easing future payments in the upstream sector.

Mr Osinbajo commended the World Bank on the global initiative to secure the environment by ending and commercialising gas flares.

”It will boost the discharge of international obligations by Nigeria on climate change and contribute to our national power generation capacity”.

He urged other ministries to come up with score cards of their performances in the last year.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, said that when he took over the leadership of the ministry, oil sector was losing N1.2 trillion every year and fuel scarcity was common.

”Today, we have a situation where refined petroleum consumption has gone down from an all-time high of 40 million litres a day to about 28 million litres a day.

”On cash call, the issue was how long the upstream was going to continue to bleed as investments were drying up and activities grinding to a halt.

”For the first time in 2017, you are going to see the Ministry driving an effort with the Department of Petroleum Resources to find leakage areas, essential to cover the gap in the 2017 budget.

”In the Niger Delta, we have brought the all-time low production of 1.3 million barrels per day (mbpd) to 1.8mbpd but for some minor incidents it would be closer to 2.1mbpd or 2.2mbpd.

”We set a zero militancy target in 2017 and we want anything that needs to be done should be done,’’ he said.

On Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, he said that he was thrust into the chairmanship of the organisation immediately he was appointed.

He added that he said he had to convince four countries to serve as engine rooms of finding solutions and not bringing the national problems to OPEC.

In her address of welcome, DJamila Shua’ra, said that ”the year started with refineries producing below capacity, high demand for petroleum products and insufficient supplies at depots, forex shortages.

”However, President Muhammadu Buhari believed in our team and our collective ability to find solutions.

”Although, it is not Uhuru yet, there are many more rivers to cross. As we speak, aviation fuel remains a challenge.

”We are yet to pick maximum capacity in our refineries and there is need for more investors to fund massive infrastructural development in the sector”.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that awards were presented to an outstanding staff each from subsidiaries of the ministry.

I Won’t Resign – Kachikwu

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The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, said on Tuesday in Abuja that he would not resign as he still had a lot of work to do.

 

The minister said this as part of his closing remarks while briefing the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) on the lingering scarcity of petroleum products across the country.

 

Different groups including the South South APC, NANS and some Civil Society Organisations have called for the minister’s resignation.

 

Kachikwu said: “All those planning to come to Abuja for a protest should save their fuel, I am not going to resign, I have a lot of work to do.’’

 

According to him, he did not accept to be minister of petroleum in order to create scarcity.

 

The minister assured that he would work hard to find lasting solutions to the problems in the industry.

 

Kachikwu said that he was pained as much as many Nigerians were that the country still suffered petroleum scarcity in spite of being one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world.

 

(NAN)

Nigeria’s 4 Refineries Repositioned To Produce 10M Litres Of PMS Daily – Kachikwu

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The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, said the nation’s refineries had been repositioned to produce not less than 10 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, per day.

 

Kachikwu stated this on Sunday during his official visit to Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC).

 

According to him, the mission of the visit was to ascertain the current state of the refinery and identify areas of challenges for the workers at the refinery.

 

“A lot of work has been done and a lot manpower have been put in place. But a lot still needs to be done in order to put this refinery to work continuously and reliably,” he said.

 

He noted that a lot of progress has been made in terms of availability of fuel in the various cities and towns as the long queues are fast disappearing from the filling stations.

 

While commending the management of KRPC for keeping the refinery working for more than a week now, he however said there was room for improvement so as to move the current production level from 1.5 million litres to 2 or 3 million litres per day.

 

He expressed confidence that with more refineries coming on stream the fuel supply situation will continue to improve in the country.

 

While fielding questions later from newsmen, the minister said the Federal Government was doing all it could do to ensure the subsidy on fuel is resolved without inflicting more pains on ordinary Nigerians.

 

“Everybody is on the same page that we need to get out of it; should we sale product at a certain price or should we let free market rolling so that we can sky rocket prices,” he said.

 

According to him, the President says that product should go for N87 per litre for now and that he has given an approval to look at market trends and make adjustment if need be.

 

He assured that the administration was committed to ensuring adequate supply of petroleum products across the country.

 

The minister, who was received by the Managing Director of KRPC management headed by Mr Saidu Mohammed, was accompanied by top NNPC officials during the visit.

 

 

(NAN)

Average National Oil Production Stands At 2.1m Barrels Per Day – Kachikwu

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Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe kachikwu, said the average national oil production stood at 2.1 million barrels per day as at July.

 

This is contained in a statement signed by Ohi Alegbe, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, on Wednesday in Abuja.

 

He said the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) equity production was 99,000 barrels per day.

 

He added that the declining Joint Venture reserves were due to inadequate and low investment in the oil assets.

 

The minister noted that issue of funding which had been identified as a major challenge to the sector would be addressed with adequate collaboration with the private and international investors.

 

Kacikwu said the average gas to power generation was about 3,000 megawatts and domestic gas supply of one billion standard cubic feet (scf) with the contribution of 600 million standard cubic feet from NPDC.

 

On the current state of the refineries, he said that two of the refineries might be re-streamed before the end of December.

 

“Efforts are on to engage private investors to build new refineries within the old ones to enable the refineries share power, pipelines and other resources,” he said.

 

He added that the new agenda for the Oil and Gas Industry would be centered on having the right people, doing the right things, at the right time.

 

This, he said, would be for the right purpose to yield the right results.

 

Kachikwu said the petroleum sector, under his watch, would ensure that the Nigeria Content policy would transform the Oil and Gas industry into the economic engine for job creation and national growth.

 

He said he was obliged to cancel the Offshore Processing Agreements (OPAs), crude-for-products-exchange arrangement (popularly known swap) and other unprofitable product and crude arrangements, all in a bid to avoid rent seekers.

 

He said the cancellation would help to add value to the Nigerian hydrocarbon resources.

 

On the downstream sector, the minister advocated for the introduction of a private sector model that would reinvigorate the efficient supply and distribution of petroleum products, especially in the area of pipeline assets.

 

“The menace of pipeline vandalism has led to huge losses of crude and petroleum products; 27,967 incidents of pipeline vandalism were recorded in the last few years.” he said.

 

He noted that unutilised pipelines and poor pipeline integrity also led to high cost of trucking and impact on the roads.

 

 

(NAN)