The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has started natural gas liquids bid pre-qualification exercise for 2019-2021 and the corporation is prioritising companies with proven investments in gas utilisation, storage, distribution and marketing infrastructure. Two hundred and thirty-three (233) companies have joined in the bidding process.
Maikanti Baru, NNPC group managing director, said at the bid opening on Tuesday in Abuja that the bid is to maximise the value of the natural gas liquid resources for the benefits of Nigerians and other stakeholders.
“As a corporation, our current pursuit is to continuously grow our domestic gas supply and utilisation while also maximising value from our utilised knock-off condensates and natural gas liquid resources,” Baru said.
“The strategic focus in the coming months is to expand domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply from our established local sources while also encouraging investments in storage, marketing and distribution infrastructure,” he said.
Represented at the bid opening by Saidu Mohammed, GMD, Gas and Powers, the NNPC boss said the corporation is focused on engaging qualified companies to off-take natural gas liquids for the domestic and international markets.
“The objective is to further ensure the selection of off-takers is aligned with tested transparent and accountable procedures in compliance with the Public Procurement and Nigerian Content Acts,” he said.
He noted that selected companies would be encouraged to ensure maximisation of transportation, marketing, and distribution to widen LPG market.
The bidding process was conducted with the full observation of Centre for Transparency watch, officials of the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) and the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.
In the last three years, Nigeria has been putting in place mechanisms to help the country make the most of its abundant natural gas reserves. In 2016, relying on Nigeria’s petroleum law empowering the minister of petroleum resources to take flared gas and commercialise it, Ibe Kackikwu, minister of state, launched the National Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme to involve third-party investors or off-takers.
On April 11, Kachikwu said that 226 companies had submitted bids to participate in the commercialisation programme.
Successful companies, called off-takers, are to emerge from the ongoing process that requires the submission of proposals for “financially and technically sustainable utilisation projects”.
According to the process documents, the firms must demonstrate technical capacity for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of gas utilisation.
HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
