Energy Briefs
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BRESSON AS Limited has invested N1.6 billion in its 90 megawatts Magboro power plant along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State. It said another N14.4 billion would be invested in the plant to complete the project. Gbenga Olawepo, chairman of the company, said the firm’s 90mw plant had a configuration of two units of GE LM 600.
He explained that in 2004, the firm received the approval of the Federal Government to sell electricity to consumers and expressed the hope that it would be inaugurated in the first quarter of 2014. The Brasson boss stated that his firm would support the ongoing transformation in the power sector, adding that the privatisation of electricity distribution and generation companies had recorded commendable success. “Tremendous progress has been made by the Federal Government in the implementation of the electricity sector reform programme with the successful privatisation of some distributions and generations,” he said.
Olawepo said if the current momentum was sustained, power outage would be a thing of the past in Nigeria. He said the reform rested on privatisation of operation of existing companies and the promotion of Independent Power Generation through green field Independent Power Plants. “We need to see more support for the IPPs to come on stream. They are the ones that are bringing additional capacities. At Bresson, AS power generation is not just business but a passion driven by the realisation that making power available makes industries and jobs to spring up; it makes poverty disappear and engenders sustainable development.”
Exploratory Drilling in Sierra Leone
SEPTEMBER 12, was a memorable day in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as the country witnessed the official launch of drilling on the SL-5-11 block in the deepwater shelf of the West Africa country.
THE official launch took place at the Eirik Raude drilling rig which started with spudding a deepwater well in the Savannah prospect. The target depth of the wildcat to be drilled within, will exceed 4,700 meters, the water depth at the drilling location is more than 2,000 meters. The rig has a height of 122 m, width of 85 m, deadweight of 52,500 tons and transit speed of 7 knots and a crew of 120 people.
Ernest Bai Koroma, president of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Gennady Gatilov, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and Andrey Kuzyaev, president of LUKOIL Overseas, attended the ceremony which heralded Eirik Raude drilling rig, the largest 5th generation self-propelled offshore drilling rig in the world.
LUKOIL Overseas, operator of LUKOIL’s international upstream projects, has entered into the PSA for exploration and development of block SL-5-11 in June 2011 as an operator with a 49 percent share. The other project partners are Oranto (30 percent) and PanAtlantic (21 percent).
Block SL-5-11 covers an area of 4,022 square kilometers on the shelf and continental slope of the Atlantic Ocean with water depth ranging from 100 to 3,300 meters. 2D and 3D seismic data was acquired on 1,500 square kilometers leading to the identification of several prospects. From the geological point of view, the block belongs to the Sierra Leone-Liberia basin where a number of sizable oil discoveries have recently been made.
A standard contract for exploration and development of the block was concluded for the term of 30 years. The exploration program for the block includes re-interpretation of historical seismic data, an electric exploration survey and drilling of one exploration well. The current exploration period will expire on December 31, 2013. Obligations of the next exploration period will depend on the drilling results.
MEND’s Curious Help Offer
AFTER many years of involvement in oil theft in the Niger Delta region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, has offered to help the federal government to check the increasing wave of oil theft and vandalism in the area. A statement signed by Jomo Gbomo, MEND’s spokesperson, said the militant group was ready to end activities of illegitimate oil merchants, pipeline vandals and the unrest in the Niger Delta region when the reason to take up arms has been addressed by a listening administration.
It would be recalled that MEND said it was deliberately ignoring the activities of oil thieves and pipeline vandals in communities around the Niger Delta region because they helped the group to achieve its objective of crippling oil production. The activities of oil thieves were evident in statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, which said that oil production in the country fell by 180,000 barrels per day to 2.29 million barrels per day in the second quarter of this year as a result of pipeline vandalisation.
MEND had earlier demanded control of oil resources in the Niger Delta by local communities and lately the release of Henry Okah, leader of the group, who was handed a 24-year jail term in March by a South African court on terrorism-related charges.
Export Computerisation on the Way
THE federal government has concluded plans to computerise export of its oil to ensure transparency in the process. Muktar Ahmed, managing director, Web Fontain, said his firm has proposed to the federal government to apply the same modernisation process that has been in the Nigeria Customs Service in the exportation of oil in the country.
According to him, his company was contracted to carry out the modernisation of the Customs Service about seven and half years ago, adding that the Customs is better positioned to deal with its trading publics. He said both Web Fontain and the Customs together with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, are talking with the relevant government agencies and their response has been very receptive.
“What I did mention was that we have seen the impact, positive impact, that we have with the issue of import and I do not think that we still have agents and importers doing business in the port using the manual process; everything is now done electronically. From the point your manifest is submitted up to the point that RAR is issued, form ‘M’ is electronic, payment is electronic, and releasing is electronic. So, from end to end, for the import transaction, it has been automated. So, we are advising government to go ahead to do the same thing with export and the country will benefit from it,” he said.
Compiled by Anayo Ezugwu
— Sep. 23, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT
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