Posted on: 06:23 Fri, 18 Dec 2015



The Nigerian National Petroleum
Cooperation(NNPC) has awarded crude
lifting contracts to 21 off-takers who
emerged winners of the open bid
exercise it conducted in October. The
exercise witnessed the unprecedented
public harvesting of 278 bids submitted
by indigenous and foreign firms seeking
to secure contract for the sale and
purchase of the 26 Nigerian crude oil
grades on offer.

The contracts cover 991,000 barrels per
day (bpd) of oil, worth $13.5 billion at
current crude oil prices.

A breakdown of the 2015/2016 crude oil
term contract off-takers for the 991, 661
bpd Nigerian equity crude indicate that
240, 000 bpd representing 24 per cent of
the total volume on offer is awarded to
four refiners classified as major current
receivers of Nigerian crude with capacity
to process all of Nigerian crude grades.

The off-takers in this category include:
Emirates National Oil Coy, ENOC, Indian
Oil Corporation, CEPSA Refinery Madrid
and Sara SPA Refinery. Each of the off-
takers in this category was awarded 60,
000 bpd.

Three notable international trading
companies, namely Trafigura PT Ltd,
Mercuria Energy Trading SA and Vitol SA,
won the bid for the lifting of 32, 000 bpd
of crude based on their pedigree as large
scale buyers of Nigerian crude with
structure for short -term freight
intervention and storage. The off-takers
in this category represent about 10 per
cent of total crude volume on offer.

Trading affiliates of international oil
companies consisting ENI Trading and
Shipping SPA, TOTSA Total Oil Trading
SA, Exxon Sale and Supply LLC and Shell
Western Supply and Trading received
term allocation of 32, 000 bpd each
totaling 128, 000 bpd representing about
13 per cent of total volume of crude oil
on offer.

Nigerian downstream players with wide
experience in crude trading and large
asset base accounts for 405, 000 bpd
representing about 41 percent of total
crude volume on offer. In this category,
Emo Oil & Petrochemical Coy/China
Zhenhea- an NNPC long term trader is
allocated 45, 000 bpd. Other off-takers in
this category include: Northwest
Petroleum and Gas Ltd, 45, 000 bpd,
Forte Oil, 45, 000 bpd, Oando PLC, 60,
000 bpd, Sahara Energy Resource Ltd,
60, 000 bpd, A.A. Rano Nig. Ltd, 45, 000
bpd, Eterna Oil, 45, 000 bpd and MRS Oil
&Gas Coy Ltd 60, 000 bpd.

NNPC trading companies, Calson/Hyson
32, 000 bpd and Duke Oil Incorporated
90, 000 bpd account for combined off-
take of 122, 000 bpd representing about
12 percent of total volume on offer.

No Plans To Hike Fuel Price From N87
To N97 – Kachikwu

Apart from ensuring transparency, the
companies were carefully chosen based
on their track records and trading
experience to ensure that Nigerian crude
cargoes are not left unsold.

The minister of state for petroleum
resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has affirmed
that there are no plans to jerk upbthe
current price of the premium motor
spirit, otherwise known as petrol, from
N87 to N97 as being speculated in the
media.

Reacting to earlier reports that quoted
him as saying the price of the product
will be reverted to N97 per litre as part
of the ongoing reform in the industry, the
minister, however, said plans are on
repositioning the corporation into a profit
making firm instead recording losses as
has been the case in the past.

The minister, who made this clarification
of his earlier statement at a press
conference in Abuja yesterday, said that
as a result of the changes being
introduced, the price is likely to fluctuate
between the current N87 and N97.

“All I said was that as a result of the
reform we are carrying out, the prices of
petroleum products will be left to market
forces and may, at different times,
fluctuate between the current price of 87
and the initially fixed price of N97,”
Giving an insight into activities lined up
for next year, the minister noted that the
restructuring will also involve
redeployment of the headquarter
personnel to the corporation’s
subsidiaries.

According to him, over 50 per cent of the
staff at the headquarters would be
redeployed to boost efficiency and raise
profitability.