BREAKING NEWS, Energy Briefs
–
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has urged the leadership and members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, to sustain the industrial harmony between its management and the association. Andrew Yakubu group managing director, NNPC, made this call on Tuesday, June 24, during the opening ceremony of the 4th triennial national delegates’ conference of the association in Abuja.
He lauded the association for the cooperation and support extended to him and his management team since their assumption of duties, noting that the synergy had led to the growth of the entire petroleum industry. Yakubu stated that over the years, PENGASSAN had contributed immensely to the stability and growth of robust industrial relations in the country by demonstrating a very high sense of cooperation and maturity in the conduct of its affairs.
The NNPC GMD expressed gratitude to the outgoing central working committee of the association for its loyalty and constructive dialogue and enjoined the delegates to elect credible leaders to move the association forward.
In his keynote address, Emeka Wogu, minister of labour and productivity, described the role of PENGASSAN as pivotal to the national economy and urged members to continue to maintain industrial peace in the petroleum sector.
Earlier, Babatunde Ogun, outgoing president of the association, said oil workers’ unions were fully committed to the growth of democracy and good governance in Nigeria and called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the Petroleum Industrial Bill, PIB, which was designed to enthrone transparency in the petroleum sector.
Shell’s Payment to Federal Coffers
SHELL Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, has contributed about $44bn to the Federal Government’s coffers between 2009 and 2013. According to the company, the federal government also received about 95 percent of the revenue after costs from the SPDC Joint Venture, including income from its majority shareholding through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
The oil major also stated that Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company of Nigeria Limited, which operates in deep waters, also contributed in excess of $26 billion to the government within the five-year period.
Addressing journalists on the company’s activities as of April 2014, Mutiu Sunmonu, Country Chairman, Shell Nigeria, said in 2013 alone, Shell-operated ventures in the country produced an average of 693,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. About 535,000boe/d of the volume, he explained, came from SPDC JV, while SNEPCo accounted for the balance of 158,000boe/d.
As part of the measures to check oil theft, he said the company had given out 600 surveillance contracts to protect its over 6,000-kilometre pipeline network, with about 9,000 people employed for that purpose. Sunmonu, however, said that the deployment of appropriate technologies was not a sufficient requirement in addressing pipeline vandalism and oil theft, adding that an effective response arrangement by the Joint Task Force remained critical to checking the menace.
He called on the federal government to take more seriously the issue of security, especially as it related to oil and gas assets in the country. On gas flaring, he said the SPDC had reduced the incidence from its facilities by about 75 percent between 2003 and 2012, and that flaring intensity (the amount of gas flared per barrel of oil produced) had been brought down by around 60 percent over the same period
Renewable Energy Is It for Rural Electrification
ACCELERATED rural electrification will henceforth be driven by renewable energy because of its sustainability and environmental friendliness. Mohammed Wakil, minister of state for power, disclosed this when he opened a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, in Abuja.
He said the new approach to powering the rural area would involve a mix of wind, solar, biomass, hydro energy alongside the conventional source of power supply. Wakil said the renewed focus on rural electrification was a fallout of the completion of the power sector privatisation, which made it imperative for the administration to focus on rural areas where close to 70 percent of the populace reside.
“Now that privatisation is completed and we are addressing the teething problems associated with post-privatisation, the administration is determined to focus on the rural areas where we have close to 70 percent of our people. As most of these areas are not connected to the national grid, renewable energy provides an alternative and this is what we have started doing. We have to provide for the majority of our people in the rural areas, in this regard, hence our focus on rural electrification through renewable energy. The Rural Electrification Agency is going to play crucial roles in this new focus and that is why it has to be repositioned to meet the aspirations of Mr. President and Nigerians in general,” he said.
Describing renewable energy as a worldwide trend in energy provision, the minister recalled that a recent United Nations’ Conference adopted this line of thought as a way to empower the under-served and under-empowered areas of the world, while at the same time saving the environment for the future generation. Responding on behalf of the REA Board, Senator Jonathan Zwingina, its chairman, commended the decision of the minister to strengthen the agency to meet the challenges of rural electrification through renewable energy sources.
According to him, the board and the management were united in realising the mandate of the agency under the supervision of the ministry, while commending the minister for the various initiatives designed to strengthen the operational efficiency of the agency. “We promise to stand by the direction and goals of Mr. President as listed by the minister. We share the vision of powering our rural areas through a mixture of conventional and renewable energy. We will re-rededicate ourselves to the realisation of this laudable agenda,” he said.
Compiled by Anayo Ezugwu
— Jul. 7, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
Tags:
