224 companies bid for Nigeria’s crude oil lifting contracts

Two hundred and twenty four companies are bidding for oil lifting contracts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that, if won, will see them move the product from the country’s oil rich Niger Delta region to international markets.

This was announced Thursday by Maikanti Baru, who is the group managing director of NNPC, during the contract tender opening session for the 2016/2017 crude oil term, which was held at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

The event was witnessed by watchdog agencies of government, such as the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), as well as civil society watchdog organizations.

“We are therefore opening these bids before everybody in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s quest for transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business, and at the closing time today at 12 noon, November 24, 2016, as advertised for submission of bids, we have received 224 bids,” Baru told the audience in attendance.

“When compared with the 2015/2016 exercise, where we had 278 submissions, this is an indication that the strengthening of the criteria for bids has worked,” the NNPC boss announced.

The 224 bids received by NNPC this year from various oil and gas companies competing to lift Nigerian crude oil grades were less in number by 54 as compared to the 278 bids received in 2015, indicating a decrease of 19.4 percent.

Baru stated that the NNPC under his management ensured that only credible companies, especially those with refining capacities were called for in their contract procurement notices.

Nigeria has multiple crude oil grades, including the very low sulfur containing Bonny Light crude, which is a highly desired grade for its low corrosiveness to refinery infrastructure and the lower environmental impact of its byproducts in refinery effluent.

Other grades of Nigerian crude oil are Qua Iboe crude oil, Brass River crude oil, as well as Forcados crude oil.

In a related development, Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group general manager (GGM) of crude oil marketing division ( COMD), warned that some fraudsters are using the corporation’s name and that of its managers, including the GMD, to swindle unsuspecting corporate personalities seeking to do crude oil business in Nigeria.

Kyari lamented that these fraudsters are carrying about papers and tender documents purportedly signed by highly placed officials of NNPC and claiming that they can supply crude oil based on some quota they allege to have from NNPC.

He also noted that some go as far as claiming to have joint ventures with NNPC, with promises of offering what they call “spot sales” to their victims through oil tankers on waters as far away as Cote D’Ivoire or elsewhere on the high sea, as well as demanding their victims to make payments into their private accounts.

However, “NNPC does not operate its own crude oil accounts but only federal government accounts that are domiciled at CBN, yet the fraudsters urge their victims to pay into private accounts always,” Kyari alerted.