Energy

Lawmakers At NASS Joint Committee Decries Slow Pace Of Ogoni Cleanup

Published

5 years ago

September 10, 2020

Lawmakers at the joint National Assembly Committee on Ecology and Climate Change have expressed discontentment over the slow pace at which the Ogoni cleanup exercise was being carried out.

The members of the Committee visited some of the oil-polluted sites in Ogoniland called on Hydro Carbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) to speed up the process of clean up.

Lawmakers charged HYPREP is coordinating the remediation process, and respective contractors handling the remediation work to be serious, lamenting that the Ogoni cleanup exercise which was fixed to be finished in six months was still ongoing after one and half years.

The Senate committee visited Ogoniland to inspect the cleanup exercise on the instance of the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria ERA/FoEN.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Hassan Mohammed Gusau, who led the team said, “Let the contractors be serious and also let them be up to date because they were given six months but most of them are one and half years old, they are also giving their own excuses but all that excuse are not tenable.

“I’m sure that with our presence and way and manner we motivated them, they will adjust. So I’m just appealing to them to speed up the action. What is the need for us to keep money waiting?”

He, equally, called on HYPREP to be very transparent in its implementation of the remediation programme.

Further hinting that the committee would be inviting HYPREP for a meeting, Gasau said after looking into some of the documents of the firm that the committee had requested for stakeholders to be more patient with the body to enable it to do proper work.

“Actually to my own side, I observed that it is a technical work, it is not a work that somebody should rush on. If care is not taken money can be spent and it will not be of any benefits.

So I advise that it shouldn’t be rushed. They should allow technical people to do their job so that we can be proud after the job is completed,” Gasau said.

Meanwhile, ERA/FoEN has recommended that 20 per cent of the remediation funds be channelled into community development in the interest of the rural people who were mostly impacted by the pollution.

ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Dr Godwin Ojo, after the visit told newsmen that for the remediation process to make the desired impact, the lives of the people should be adequately considered.

“The whole essence of the cleanup is about people, the livelihood of the rural people, the fishing and farming have been grossly neglected.

So we are in discussion with the expert committees in the national assembly to see how we can use legislative backing to rejig the amount that goes to remediation and the amount the goes for livelihood and ERA is recommending a 20% from the remediation fund to go to direct empowerment to address rural poverty and people who have suffered consistently from this pollution,” he said.

He went further to say, “I want to take this opportunity to appeal to NOSDRA (National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency) to play a professional role in monitoring and certification of the cleanup sites.

They should be involved, not just being involved but be involved in the cleanup in terms of the testing, I think that is very important to me.

“I want to appeal to the Federal Government of Nigeria to put in place a more formidable structure, talking about restricting the HYPREP. It is now to restructure HYPREP so that it will be able to deliver effectively and conduct a proper cleanup.

Excavation of sand does not give an indication of what is going on. We need testing and to me, the missing link is the monitoring and evaluation.

“The sites, some of the contractors are not monitoring on their own and people who conduct independent monitoring are not regular. And so these are some of the issues that we discovered.

“But what is important is that in some sites NOSDRA has only been to the site, once or twice since September last year. Now those are issues. In the field we discovered that NOSDRA was not regular to some of the sites, they confirmed to me there and the team that NOSDRA was not there”.

Energy

NNPC, Dangote Strengthen Strategic Partnership

Bot partners reaffirmed commitment to Healthy Competition Towards National Prosperity, reports SANDRA ANI

Published

4 days ago

May 9, 2025

grassroots

Group CEO of NNPC Ltd., Mr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari receives the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote during a visit by the latter to the NNPC Towers, on Thursday

As part of ongoing efforts to promote mutually beneficial partnerships and foster healthy competition, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) and Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals (DPRP) have pledged to deepen collaboration aimed at ensuring Nigeria’s energy security and advancing shared prosperity for Nigerians.

This commitment was made during a courtesy visit by the President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote, and his delegation to the Group CEO of NNPC Ltd., Mr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, and members of the company’s Senior Management Team at the NNPC Towers, on Thursday.

During the visit, Dangote pledged to collaborate with the new NNPC Management to ensure energy security for Nigeria.

“There is no competition between us, we are not here to compete with NNPC Ltd. NNPC is part and parcel of our business and we are also part of NNPC. This is an era of co-operation between the two organizations.” Dangote added.

While congratulating the GCEO and the Senior Management Team on their “well-deserved appointments,” Dangote acknowledged the enormity of the responsibility ahead, noting that the GCEO is shouldering a monumental task, which he expressed confidence that, with the capable hands at his disposal in NNPC, the task is surmountable.

In his remarks, the GCEO, Mr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari assured Dangote of a mutually beneficial partnership anchored on healthy competition and productive collaboration.

Ojulari highlighted the exceptional caliber of talent he met in NNPC Ltd., describing the workforce as a dedicated, highly skilled and hardworking professionals who are consistently keen on delivering value for Nigeria.

Expressing the company’s readiness to build a legacy of national prosperity through innovation and shared purpose, Ojulari said NNPC will sustain its collaboration with the Dangote Group especially where there is commercial advantage for Nigeria.

Both executives also committed to being the relationship managers for their respective organisations through sustained productive collaboration and healthy competition, thereby envisioning limitless opportunities for both organizations.

Energy

AVEVA is providing data management support for renewable natural gas projects

Reporter: Godwin Ezeh

Published

1 month ago

April 10, 2025

grassroots

Key Highlights

● AVEVA’s industrial information infrastructure has been selected by Archaea Energy to provide key data management support

● AVEVA’s industrial software to optimize performance across Archaea’s RNG plants

AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving digital transformation and sustainability, has been selected by Archaea Energy, the largest renewable natural gas (RNG) producer in the US, to build a comprehensive operations data management infrastructure.

Using AVEVA’s software, Archaea Energy can collect, enrich and visualize its real-time operations data, enabling performance analysis across its growing network of plants.

Using AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure, a hybrid solution with cloud data services, the plants will be able to share data to highlight operational opportunities and optimize efficiency.

Caspar Herzberg, CEO, AVEVA, stated,

“Through this collaboration and the use of AVEVA PI Data Infrastructure, Archaea’s growing network of plants will have streamlined operations with accurate performance analysis throughout the expansion. AVEVA’s CONNECT software platform leverages industrial intelligence from a central location, making it easier to deploy additional digital solutions in the future.”

“As the largest RNG producer in the United States, we are dedicated to delivering reliable, clean energy,” said Starlee Sykes, chief executive officer of Archaea Energy. “This relationship will allow us to optimize operations and offer detailed performance analysis as we continue to expand across the country.”

Energy

Boost for Nigeria’s Oil Production, As NNPC’s Utapate Crude Grade Hits Global Oil Market

Published

6 months ago

November 21, 2024

grassroots

…OML 13 Asset Eyes 80,000 bpd by End of 2025

In a major boost for Nigeria’s crude oil production, revenue generation and economic growth efforts, the NNPC Ltd has officially unveiled its latest crude oil grade, the Utapate crude oil blend, before the international crude oil market.

It would be recalled that in July, 2024, NNPC Ltd and its partner, the Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company (SEEPCO) Ltd introduced the Utapate crude oil blend, following the lifting of first cargo of 950,000 barrels which headed for Spain.

During a ceremony held at the Argus European Crude Conference taking place in London, United Kingdom, on Wednesday, the Managing Director, NNPC E & P Limited (NEPL), Mr. Nicholas Foucart described the introduction of the Utapate crude oil blend into the market as a significant milestone for Nigeria’s crude oil export to the global energy market.

“Since we started producing the Utapate Field in May 2024, we have rapidly ramped up production to 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) with minimum downtime. So far, we have exported five cargoes, largely to Spain and the East Coast of the United States; while two more additional cargoes have been secured for November and December 2024, representing a significant boost to Nigeria’s crude oil export to the global market,” Foucart told a packed audience of European crude oil marketers.

He added that since its introduction into the global market, the Utapate crude oil blend has enjoyed a positive response from the international crude oil market, due to its highly attractive qualities.

Foucart said the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 13, fully operated by NEPL and Natural Oilfield Services Ltd (NOSL), a subsidiary of SEEPCO Ltd, boasts a huge reserves of 330million barrels of crude oil reserves, 45 million barrels of condensate and 3.5 tcf of gas.

“We have a number of ongoing projects to increase our production from the current 40,000bopd to 50,000bopd by January 2025 and 60,000bopd to 65,000bopd by June 2025. Essentially, we are targeting opportunities to increase production to 80,000bopd by the end of 2025,” Foucart added.

He said the Utapate crude oil terminal is sustainable, affordable and fully compliant with the rigorous environmental regulations and sustainability principles especially those aimed at reducing carbon emissions and other ecological effects.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of NNPC Trading Ltd (NTL), Mr. Lawal Sade said the pricing structure of the Utapate crude oil blend is similar to that of Amenam crude as it is a light sweet crude which is highly sought after by refiners across the world due to its low sulphur content, efficient yield of high-value products, API gravity and other similarities.

He said in bringing the new crude oil blend to the global market, NNPC Ltd wanted to optimise value for both its producers and counterparties across the globe.

He added to ensure predictability and sustainability of supply, the NNPC Trading intends to run a term contract on the Utapate crude oil blend cargoes, principally targeting off-takers from the European and the US East Coast refineries.

Produced from the Utapate field in OML 13 in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria, the Utapate crude oil blend is similar to the Nembe crude oil grade. It has a low sulphur content of 0.0655% and low carbon footprint due to flare gas elimination, fitting perfectly into the required specification of major buyers in Europe.

The NNPC E&P Ltd and NOSL partnership is also committed to operating in a manner that is safe, environmentally responsible, and beneficial to the local communities.

The Utapate field development plan, executed between 2013-2019 and approved in October, included converting wells and facilities from swamp/marine to land-based operations.

The plan involved a multi-rig drilling campaign for 40 wells and the development of significant infrastructure such as production facilities, storage tank, a subsea pipeline and an offshore loading platform to facilitate crude oil evacuation and loading.

The entry of the Utapate crude oil blend into the market is coming barely a year after the NNPC Ltd announced the launch of Nembe crude oil, produced by the NNPC/Aiteo operated Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 Joint Venture (JV).

This remarkable achievement signals the commitment of the NNPC Ltd to increasing Nigeria’s crude oil production and growing its reserves through the development of new assets.