Energy Briefs
–
TOTAL Upstream Companies of Nigeria has called for aggressive exploration and drilling activities as part of the deliberate agenda to boost Nigeria’s declining crude oil reserve. Elizabeth Proust, managing director, Total plc, who spoke in Lagos, on Tuesday, November 11, at the 32nd edition of the National Association of Petroleum Explorationist, NAPE, urged geologists and petroleum engineers in the country to explore and develop unexplored frontier basins in Onshore, Offshore and Ultra Deep Offshore in Niger Delta Region.
According to her, Nigeria is no longer the preferred destination for exploration in Africa as there are stiff competition from East Africa with large volumes of oil and gas discovered in Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Angola, amongst others.
“I believe that all stakeholders recognise the urgent need to replace depleted production In Nigeria. The level of drilling activities in the country is low, as the reserves replacement is extremely low right now when compared with the development of the discovered reserves. There is the need to encourage aggressive exploration as part of the action to boost Nigeria’s declining crude reserves,” she said.
–
Opening of Gas Industrial Park Rescheduled
DIEZANI Alison-Madueke, minister of petroleum resources and Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta State governor, have rescheduled the ground breaking ceremony of the Gas Revolution Industrial Park earlier billed for Friday, November 14, 2014, at the GRIP Project site, Warri, Delta State, due to unresolved community issues.
While expressing regret for the inconveniences the postponement may pose to various stakeholders, the minister assured that the GRIP project is still on course and that a new date would be communicated to investors and the general public as soon as possible.
–
Gas Supply Problems Stall Sale of NIPPs
THE Bureau of Public Enterprises has said that the sale of the 10 power plants constructed under the National Integrated Power Project has been stalled by gas supply challenges. Chigbo Anichebe, head, public communications, BPE, said the BPE had not been able to sign Share Purchase Agreements with the prospective core investors in the power plants as a result of the failure to secure Gas Supply Agreements for the plants.
The BPE spokesperson also confirmed that the absence of gas supply agreements was also affecting the conclusion of the sale of one of the successor companies of defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, the Afam Power Plant. The National Council on Privatisation and the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company had at their third joint meeting in March this year approved the opening of the financial bids of 42 prequalified bidders.
The 42 bidders that had been prequalified met the criteria set in the requests for proposal and passed the due diligence verification conducted on technically qualified bidders. After the financial bid opening in March, core investors emerged for the 10 power plants but the NCP approved the bids for seven of the plants, while three were left pending the resolution of legal issues.
According to Anichebe, without securing gas supply, the prospective core investors would not be able to muster the financial resources to pay for the power plants. “Without gas supply agreements, the plants are simply not bankable. It will not make sense to the banks to lend money to an investor who is not sure of gas supply in the next two years. It is expected that when they pay, they should start producing and selling power; but without gas supply, they cannot do this. That is why gas supply is critical to the transaction,” he said.
The NIPP plants are located in Alaoji, Benin, Calabar, Egbema, Gbarain, Geregu, Ogorode, Olorunsogo, Omoku and Omotosho. The 10 plants are jointly owned by the three tiers of government, with the federal government having 47 percent equity stake and the local and state governments sharing the remaining 53 percent.
For the sale of the power plants, a Joint Technical Transaction Committee chaired by Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State was set up. The JTTC is made up of the technical committees of the NCP and NDPHC. The BPE had on November 8, 2013, received 66 proposals from prospective investors interested in the NIPP plants.
An inter-agency evaluation team, including security agencies, met to evaluate the proposals. The evaluation report was subjected to the scrutiny of the Joint Transaction Committee and the Joint Technical Transaction Committee before approval by the NCP/NDPHCN Board meeting. The joint NCP/NDPHC board approved that 42 out of the 66 be prequalified to move to the financial bid opening stage.
— Nov. 24, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
|
Tags:
