Energy Briefs
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THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Navy have pledged to work together to curtail crude oil theft and other social crimes in the Nigerian maritime waters. This was the outcome of a courtesy visit on Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, chief of naval staff, by Joseph Dawha, group managing director, NNPC, in Abuja. Dawha said there was need for the corporation and the Navy to strengthen ties for the socio-economic growth and stability of the nation.
Dawha, according to a statement from the NNPC, said the Navy had supported the corporation in securing its assets and facilities in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry. He added that the aggressive patrols and surveillance by the Navy had led to the arrest of pirates and illegal bunkerers over the years.
He said the security presence of the Navy had gone a long way in stabilising NNPC operations in Escravos, Warri, Port Harcourt, Bonny, Atlas Cove in Lagos and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, operations in Benin City and environs. Dawha expressed the readiness of the NNPC to sustain the engagement with the Navy and other security personnel, especially in the areas of pipeline security, vandalism, crude and product theft and other associated crimes of kidnapping and abduction of oil workers on the near shore, offshore and deep water.
In his response, Jibrin reassured the GMD and the top management of the NNPC of the Navy’s continuous support in reducing oil theft, illegal bunkering, piracy and poaching to its barest minimum. The naval chief said the activities of oil bunkers and illegal refiners had given the country a negative image and the Navy was determined to chase the perpetrators of these nefarious acts out of business for the common good of the country.
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Local Meter Manufacturers Want DISCO’s Patronage
MANUFACTURERS of prepaid and post-paid electricity meters in the country have urged electricity distribution companies, DISCOs, to patronise locally manufactured meters. They said their members were at a loss to observe that the DISCOs were reluctant to patronise both the prepaid and post-paid meters from them despite the great need for such meters by consumers.
They noted that while meters manufactured in Nigeria passed through environmental tests of humidity, temperature and heat, foreign manufactured meters did not pass through such rigour. For this reason, they insisted that Nigerian manufactured meters were better than imported ones. The manufacturers spoke during an interactive session with members of the Consumer Rights Advancement Organisation, CRADO, at the Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company Limited, MEMMCOL, Orimerunmu, Ogun State.
Speaking under the auspices of Electricity Meters Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, EMMAN, Olayinka Lawal, general manager, commercial, MEMMCOL, said patronage of Nigerian meters would enable the local manufacturers to retain their trained engineers, adding that his company was operating with skeletal staff at the moment, having already asked about 60 per cent of the 150 workforce to stay home.
Lawal said MEMMCOL produced meters in line with the standard transfer specification, noting that this allows other meters to communicate or interface with one another.
On why the power distribution companies had not taken advantage of the local production of prepaid and post-paid meters, he said with its installed capacity of 1.2 million meters a year or 100,000 meters a month, his factory could meet the demands of the distribution companies, stressing that the company has brought all stakeholders to the plant to observe the production process.
“All CEOs of all the DISCOs have been here. Eko, Ikeja, Ibadan DISCOs have been to the factory. Minister of state for power, the minister of trade and investment, the current minister of industry, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC commissioner, has also been here. Even the NERC commissioner for standards, has been here. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, has also been here up to four times. However, because the plant has stopped full production following the lack of patronage, the final approval of SON has been put on hold,” he said.
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Regulating the Nigerian Electricity Supply and Installation Standards
THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has introduced draft guidelines for the regulation of Nigerian Electricity Supply and Installation Standards, NESIS. Sam Amadi, chairman, NERC, said the commission would take responsibility for the outcomes of the draft guidelines even though it considered the inputs of stakeholders on the issue.
Amadi, who spoke at a public hearing on the draft guidelines in Abuja on Monday, September 1, stated that they would ensure effective technical regulation for reliability and safety in the Nigerian electricity supply industry. “As always, we take responsibility for the final outcome. But we depend on your (stakeholders) contributions to make sure that the regulation is such that will achieve its purpose,” he said.
Amadi promised the stakeholders that their contributions would be incorporated into the final draft of the regulation, adding that the public hearing was a fulfilment of NERC’s mandate. He said NERC had recognised the need to develop the guidelines in order to review, replace and repeal the CAP 106 Regulations following the advancement in technology and the restructured power sector in the country. The NERC boss noted that this was in line with Section 98(1) of the Electric Sector Power Reform Act, 2005.
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Financing Africa’s Power Projects
INVESTORS and developers in the power sector will gather in Cape Town, South Africa to discuss how to finance power projects across Africa. The forum will enable prospective investors to fully understand the latest developments in Africa’s finance sector in order to launch successful projects and build long term relationships with local governments.
The 8th Annual Powering Africa: Finance Options Meeting will return to Cape Town from 30-31st October. This pan-African executive briefing will welcome chief executive officers, CEOs and senior-level directors to get to the heart of the issues and opportunities surrounding the financing of power projects in Africa, allowing for a limited number of participants to engage with key decision-makers through a series of open, uninhibited discussions taking place under Chatham House Rule.
Private equity investments into Africa were up by 136 percent in 2013 (with a huge chunk of that going to power and infrastructure projects). Pension funds and sovereign wealth funds are also increasingly looking into long term power projects to fund, with lenders working hard to develop debt financing models to keep up with Africa’s power market.
The programme will focus on a series of open discussions chaired by regional experts focusing on key trends including the development of IPP programmes, financial frameworks and regulatory environments.Confirmed speakers include Karen Breytenbach, head, IPP Office, National Treasury, South Africa; Moremi Marwa, chief executive officer, Dar Es Salaam Stock Exchange; Peter Ballinger, director, U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Development and Finance Centre, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC, and Waziri Bintube, chief financial officer, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, who will present regional perspectives and case studies to open the floor for discussion.
Other confirmed speakers include Kamran Khan, vice president, Compact Operations, Millennium Challenge Corporation; Anton Eberhard, Management of Infrastructure Reform and Regulation, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town; Brigette Baillie, Partner, Webber Wentzel; Martin Kavanagh, Partner, Energy and Infrastructure Finance, Herbert Smith Freehills and Sakkie Leimecke, head, Energy, Nedbank Capital. Others are Keith Martin, Initiavie for Risk Mitigation in Africa, African Development Bank; Alastair Campbell, managing director, Vantage GreenX; Tshepo Mahloele, chief executive officer, Harith General Partners; Zubair Suliman, senior investment manager, DEG – Deutsche Investitions – und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH and Eric Olo, head corporate finance and business strategy, North South Power.
Compiled by Anayo Ezugwu
— Sep. 1, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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