In a move certain to raise eyebrows
reminiscent of the outcry over the proposal on the sale of the country’s
strategic oil and gas assets, the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) has said that it is working on new modalities that
would allow it to fund its joint venture (JV) cash call obligations in
the future, as well as pay off the arrears on the JVs from oil and gas
royalties and taxes.
It said under the planned model, such
payments would be deducted through a first line charge, implying that
this will leave less funds to the three tiers of government to share.
It disclosed this yesterday in a statement from its Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mallam Garuba Deen Muhammad in Abuja.
NNPC quoted its Group Managing Director
(GMD), Dr. Maikanti Baru, as speaking on the new modalities at a one-day
working visit to the National Petroleum Investment Management Services
(NAPIMS), a corporate service unit (CSU) of the NNPC responsible for the
management of the federal government’s oil and gas portfolios in the
upstream sector.
Baru said that the current JV payment
structure requires an urgent review, noting that the new model being
proposed by the NNPC would enable it plough back its profits and grow
the oil and gas business in the upstream for the benefit of all
stakeholders.
According to the statement, he urged the
management and staff of NAPIMS to carry out their assignments with
professional integrity by benchmarking their operations with global best
practices.
He also disclosed that the 12-key
business focus areas of the NNPC under his watch were targeted at
rejuvenating the entire business operations of the corporation to enable
it deliver on its core mandate to all its stakeholders.
He described NAPIMS as a strategic CSU
and asked for maximum support from its staff to enable NNPC meet its set
goals in the short, medium and long-term.
The statement also said the Group
General Manager of NAPIMS, Mr. Dafe Sajebor, who was represented by the
General Manager, Production Sharing Contract, Mr. James Jock, in his
remarks, assured Baru that NAPIMS would work towards the efficient
management of all JVs and production sharing contracts, even in the face
of dwindling crude oil prices and incessant pipeline vandalism.
Baru, in a separate meeting, also
promised to reposition the National Engineering and Technical Company
(NETCO) into the engineering, procurement and construction company of
choice.
He made this commitment during the maiden town hall meeting with the management and staff of NETCO at its headquarters in Lagos.
He said NETCO, as a strategic business
unit (SBU), had over the years delivered profits to NNPC. He assured his
audience that NETCO would continue to play the pivotal role of
providing in-house professional engineering services to all the
autonomous business units (ABUs) of the corporation and other clients.
The Managing Director of NETCO, Siky
Aliyu, noted in the statement that NETCO was challenged by low patronage
by some ABUs of NNPC and the international oil companies (IOCs).
Aliyu however said the company was
determined to harness all opportunities in the oil and gas project
portfolios in order to keep reporting a positive bottom-line.
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