.arrangement being finalised
. Oando, Britannia-U, Sahara likely beneficiaries
Olusola Bello with agency report.
As the Federal Government intensifies efforts to get Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company on stream, 16 Nigerian and foreign companies are expected to clinched the multi billion Naira contract to import the all important Premium Motors Spirit or petrol into the country, for a period of another one year, starting from August this year.
The list is however said to be in process of being finalized as at the time of going to the press.
All together, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has picked 16 consortia for its new crude-for-fuel swap contracts for one year starting in August, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
According to Reuters, the list includes major Swiss trading firms Trafigura, Vitol and Mercuria, oil major Total as well as large Nigerian traders Sahara Energy, Oando and MRS Oil
The contracts, known as direct sale, direct purchase (DSDP) are coveted since they are used to supply nearly all of Nigeria’s gasoline needs as well as cover some of its diesel and jet fuel consumption.
Two sources said each consortium would receive 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil in exchange for products, making the combined total 320,000 barrels per day of Nigeria’s output.
The West African nation and OPEC member produced about 1.5 million bpd of crude in April. The companies were invited on Friday to submit commercial bids, which were due on Tuesday. Those involved in the process said the list of winners was unlikely to change substantially. A spokesman for NNPC said that the list was still being finalised but did not provide further details.
The new DSDPs will replace those from 2019 which were extended until mid-2021.
If a foreign oil company wins then it is typically paired with at least one local firm.
Here is the final list, according to the sources:
Consortia are Totsa/Total Nigeria, Oando/Cepsa, AY Maikifi/Britannia-U/Emadeb/
Others are Eyrie/Levene/Bovas/DK Global, Mercuria/Barbedos/Rainoil/
These companies will stand in gap pending when the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery attained the 90 percent fixing.
The Federal Government had some few weeks ago approved $1.5 billion of spending on the modernisation of the Port Harcourt oil refinery and awarded a contract to Italy’s Tecnimont.
The project will be completed in three phases, the first within 18 months taking the refinery to 90% production capacity, with the second and final phases carried out within 24 months and 44 months respectively.
Recently NNPC handed over the Port Harcourt Refinery to Tecnimont SPA on to begin a $1.5 billion renovation project.
Mele Kyari, NNPC’s Group Managing Director, stated at the event that the first phase of the project would be completed in 24 months and that over 3, 000 Nigerians would be employed to complete it.
He said that the country would do everything possible to refine its crude in order to reduce its reliance on imports.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved $1.5 billion (about N575 billion) for the renovation of the 32-year-old refinery.
Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, clarified later that the rehabilitation contract had been awarded to an Italian company, Tecnimont SPA, and that it would be completed in three phases. The first phase is projected to be finished in 18 months, with the second and third phases taking 24 and 44 months, respectively.
