Nigeria saves $500 million from direct sales of crude oil — NNPC (premiumtimesng)

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced that Nigeria saves over $500 Million from the direct sale of Crude Oil and Direct Purchase of Products (DSDP) programme.

The announcement was made at the NNPC Towers in Abuja by Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director of NNPC in a meeting with interested bidders. Mr. Baru said that the DSDP has saved $500 million, especially in the reduction of the amount paid on demurrage by NNPC. He described the DSDP as a main source of the corporations' petroleum supply portfolio, stating that since its implementation, supply of petroleum products has been stabilised.

He said; “The DSDP programme has ensured that the supply from the refineries is fully augmented to meet national supply and sustained over 30 days sufficiency of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol”.

Mr. Baru explained that the partnership between NNPC and product suppliers was enhanced by the transparency of the DSDP programme. He attributed the significant changes so far made by the corporation in the past one year as the  major catalyst in the improvement of quality and assurance.

Mr. Baru stated that; “One of the cardinal principles of NNPC under my leadership is the entrenchment of measures that will ensure transparency, accountability, performance and profitability in line with our FACT principle of a Focused, Accountable, Competitive, Transparent Organization conducting its business with Integrity as enshrined in our 12 Business Focus Areas (BUFA)”.

While in a released statement by NNPC spokesperson, Ndu Ughumadu cited that over 128 local and foreign oil and gas companies have signified their interest to participate in the DSDP programme. Mr. Ughumadu explained that the DSDP programme was implemented in 2016, and it is carried out through the direct sales of crude oil to refiners or consultants, who supply NNPC with equivalent worth of products. He also said the first batch of bids will last for one year, starting from 1st of April.

According to the statement, the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Mele Kyari, said the tender process was to optimize revenue for the Federal Government in compliance with the anti-corruption drive of the Government, adding that yardsticks for successful bidders would include, possession of financial strength, cognate experience in crude oil business as well as competence to deliver on mandate.