Business

Oil Theft: NNPCL Losses $700m Monthly

Published

2 years ago

September 11, 2022

Editor

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL said that the impact of crude oil theft has been affecting its performance, disclosing that it losses 470,000 bpd amounting to $700 million monthly.

The company also said that security challenges has hindered oil production in some terminals.

Speaking with some journalists during a tour of the facilities of the NNPCL, the Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, NAPMS, Bala Wunti, said the pipelines particularly those around Bonny terminal cannot be operated due to the activities of criminals.

He said the number of barrels stolen is very huge on a daily basis explaining about 270 barrels that were supposed to be loaded in Bonny are no longer going to be loaded because of theft.

According to him, “if you’re producing 30,000 barrels a day, every month, you get 1,940 barrels. So what it means is that you can take it to 270 every four days, calculate it in a month; you will have seven cargos on a million barrels, that’s seven million barrels.

“When you multiply seven million barrels by $100 that is $700 million lost per month, adding that about 150,000 barrels expected are differed, we are not producing due to security challenges.”

Wunti said, “the Shell Petroleum Company (SPDC) trunk line, TNP transnational pipeline cannot be operated and this has been like this since March the 3rd that we put in this. Just take your calculator, 150,000, it means if you want to arrive at 1 million barrels per day, it means every week as a minimum, basically for one week alone, it’s four cargo and four cargo is four million barrels. Four million barrels formula bar or $100 is $400 million.

“So you can do your calculations by yourself, take whatever price you want, take this to multiply by the number of days that have been shortened since March 3rd.”

The GGM said Forcados is not completely secure due to some challenges, but assured that they were addressing it, and in two weeks it may be fixed.

“But we also have Brass about 100,000 barrels, which is operated by Agip and is also facing insecurity and vandalism.

“Illegal siphoning of crude oil from oil facilities by criminal individuals and groups, impacted negatively on revenue to all stakeholders, lamenting that the quantity of oil delivered into these federal oil terminals in the country has been limited by the activities of pipe vandals and organized crooks,” he lamented.

He said the impact of vandal activities caused low crude oil production, interrupted gas supply, countrywide interruption of distribution of petroleum products, refineries’ downtimes, increasing instability in the oil and gas market, “but I will tell you the major thing that affects us.

“Nigeria will suffer for it; the revenues are impacted, so we can only appeal to them to rein in themselves, the oil theft situation is regrettable. It’s not going on across the whole of the Niger Delta, there are trunk lines that are more impacted on, I think the Bonny trunk line ranks highest.

“Our major challenge as a country is our capability to respond and that is as a result of several factors, the terrain as well as some incapacity that we have.”

On the support of the technology in monitoring the illegal activities around the oil facilities in the creeds, he said, “I was in the Saudi Arabia infrastructure twice, and I know what they have. It’s a digital control system; it’s different from our own. Digital control system, it’s like you have the control system of all your assets in one place.

“This is beyond the digital control system; it’s also a security system and we are doing it and to tell you that this was built-in by our in-house software engineers because of the security sensitivities to it because they are customized, the moment you give to somebody who creates that. So we use a combination of technology to integrate and synchronize and create what we are now confident and comfortable with.”

In the effort of the corporation to meet its financial tasks the corporation maintained industry data on crude and all NGS production and lifting and most importantly, we ensured energy security, ensuring bulk supply of petroleum products to the nation and remit 100% of this to the federation.

Speaking on the synergy with other government agencies, Wunti explained that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, former DPR, and then the regulatory commission issue what they call Bill of Quantity and they also handle vessel clearance and export permits while the Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry, handles the issuance of export permits.

“We also relate with the Nigerian Customs Service which also helps with the export permit and to also clear all the vessels; and the Central Bank of Nigeria, processes all Nigerian Export Proceeds forms, Nigerian export supervision scheme. So, these are all the agencies we deal with, it’s not an NNPC thing, we have to work through all these agencies before a ship can come in and sail,” Wunti added.

The GGM NAPMS mentioned some of the government agencies at the terminals to include: Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, former DPR and then the Regulatory Commission; the Nigerian Customs at the terminal, NNPC terminal representatives, pre-shipment inspection agents, the Nigerian Immigration officials, Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigerian Port Health Authority.

”Then recently, the Navy wanted to be at the terminal. In fact, we are trying to deploy them anytime from now. They also want to be at the terminals to see what is going on, because a lot of back and forth has been going on in the recent past, blaming the Navy. So, they now said they want to be there to participate physically in what’s going on.

”You can see what is happening, that it’s not just an NNPC thing, it is all government agencies working together to make sure that each ship that comes at any point in time has all the clearances,” he said.

VANGUARD

Business

CAC Opens Centre For Registration Of PoS Operators

Published

5 days ago

May 9, 2024

Editor

The Corporate Affairs Commission has inaugurated a centre for bulk registration of Point of Sale operators in its database.

The CAC Registrar-General, Hussaini Magaji, said this while inaugurating the centre stationed at its Federal Capital Territory Office in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to Magaji, the importance of registering the PoS operators in the commission’s database cannot be over emphasised.

He said the centre was well equipped with all the necessary facilities to operate 24 hours a day and ensure the commission’s achievement of its purpose.

“What we did was accommodate the request from the Fintechs.

“We have allowed them to integrate with the Corporate Affairs Commission; they have developed their structure, and we gave them access.

“Once they supply the necessary details for registration on their platform, the certificate is generally generated and transmitted directly to their platform without them having to contact anyone.

“We have done this to ensure that everyone gets it easy without hitches, but if they choose to apply manually, we have a secretariat open for them to do so,” he stated.

Recall that the Federal Government through the CAC on Tuesday issued a two-month registration deadline to Point of Sales companies, to register their agents, merchants, and individuals with the commission in line with legal requirements and the directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, at the event, the registrar-general reiterated that the centre would be opened to all operators in the fintech industry who voluntarily submitted their agents and merchants for regularisation with the CAC.

Magaji said that the registration was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s desire to ensure financial inclusion for the youth and strengthen the fight against fraud, finance and other crimes in the country.

He further expressed his resolve to ensure compliance with the provisions of Section 863 (1) of the Companies and Allied Matters, CAMA 2020, and the CBN guidelines for Agent Banking, 2013.

On security, the CAC boss said that if a crime were committed using the PoS, the government would easily trace the perpetrators to the CAC data platform if such machines were registered.

“If an incident happens and they report it to CAC, if we do not have the operator’s details, we cannot respond, and that is the essence of this registration.

“The registration ensures that every detail of the person is provided, including NIN, passport photograph and all other useful documents.

“And it is an opportunity for more people to be captured into the formal sector,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Special Adviser to the President on ICT Development and Innovation, Tokoni Peter attended the event.

The event was attended by Dr Salihu Dasuki, the Special Adviser to the President on ICT Policy Office, the PoS operators, and other stakeholders.

(NAN)

Business

FULL LIST: CBN Publishes List Of Licensed Deposit Money Banks

Published

5 days ago

May 8, 2024

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria has released a comprehensive list of licensed Deposit Money Banks operating within the country.

The list, which was made public on the CBN’s official website on Tuesday, provides insights into the banking landscape in Nigeria.

Banks with international authorisation include Access Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Limited, First Bank Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, United Bank of Africa Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc.

Commercial banks with national authorisation include Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Heritage Bank Plc, Globus Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited, Polaris Bank Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Sterling Bank Limited, Titan Trust Bank Limited, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Premium Trust Bank Limited and Optimus Bank Limited.

Commercial banks with regional licenses are Providus Bank Limited, Parallex Bank Limited, Suntrust Bank Nigeria Limited, and Signature Bank Limited.

Players in the non-interest banking sector with national authorisation include Jaiz Bank Plc, Taj Bank Limited, Lotus Bank Limited, and Alternative Bank Limited.

In the merchant banking category, the apex banks listed, are Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, FBN Merchant Bank Limited, FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Greenwich Merchant Bank Limited, Nova Merchant Bank Limited, and Rand Merchant Bank Limited.

The financial holding companies listed were Access Holdings Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, FCMB Group Plc, FSDH Holding Company Limited, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, and Sterling Financial Holdings Limited.

The Mauritius Commercial Bank Representative Office (Nigeria) Limited was listed as the sole representative office.

Business

[ICYMI]FULL LIST: 16 Banking Transactions Exempted From CBN’s New

Published

7 days ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday directed all banks to commence charging a 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions within the country.

The apex bank stated this in a circular signed by the Director, Payments System Management Department, Chibuzo Efobi; and the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa; a copy of which was obtained by The PUNCH.

The circular, which was directed to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, among others; noted that the implementation of the levy would start two weeks from Monday, May 6, 2024.

“The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, ‘Cybersecurity Levy,’” the circular partly read.

In this piece, The PUNCH highlights all the 16 banking transactions that are exempted from the CBN’s new cybersecurity levy:

Loan disbursements and repayments
Salary payments
Intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer
Intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank
Other Financial Institutions instructions to their correspondent banks
Interbank placements,
Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa
Inter-branch transfers within a bank
Cheque clearing and settlements
Letters of Credits

Banks’ recapitalisation-related funding – only bulk funds movement from collection accounts
Savings and deposits, including transactions involving long-term investments such as Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Commercial Papers.
Government Social Welfare Programmes transactions e.g. Pension payments
Non-profit and charitable transactions, including donations to registered non-profit organisations or charities
Educational institutions’ transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions
Transactions involving bank’s internal accounts such as suspense accounts, clearing accounts, profit and loss accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts.