Oil & Energy
Nigerians Want FG To Discontinue Fuel Subsidy Payment
L-R: National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (ipman), Chief Obasi Lawrence, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr taiye Haruna, Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (moman), Mr Obafemi Olawore and representative of the Group Managing Director of nnpc, Dr David Ige, at a stakeholders meeting to address the current petrol scarcity tagged: petrol queues must go, in Abuja, recently. Photo: NAN
A cross section of Nigeri
ans on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to discontinue its subsidy payment policy to marketers importing fuel.
The respondents told newsmen in Lagos that removal of petroleum subsidy would be good for Nigeria’s prosperity.
The Director, Centre for Bee Research and Development, Mr Bidemi Ojelewe, said that the controversy about the fuel subsidy payments was demoralising to the populace, and noted that the country’s economy would rapidly develop and prosper if normalcy reigned over subsidy payments to marketers.
“Removal of fuel subsidy is inevitable if our government wish to meet the pressing anticipation of the masses,’’ he said.
Prof. Michael Akur, who lectures at the Department of Political Science, University of Jos, said: “The discontinuance of subsidy on fuel consumption will reduce the inflationary pressures our economy is facing.
“We should have a departure of the subsidy era as soon as possible.
“This departure is necessary because our economy has not grown in the manner it ought to.
“This economy will not progress if government continue to subsidise consumption of commodities such as fuel and the likes,’’ he said.
A civil servant, Mr Shuaibu Yusuf, urged the Federal Government to scrap the programme of fuel subsidy payment and disburse funds earned by such scrapping to revamp the power sector.
“Our power sector is one area that needs more funds to be revamped.
“The money realised from the stoppage of subsidy payment should go into solving other challenges in other sectors.
“Government should introduce a modern mass transit scheme across the country so that ordinary citizens will not fill the impact of subsidy removal if eventually done,’’ he said.
A proprietor of a medium-size enterprise in Lagos, Mr Akeem Ogidan, said that the Federal Government policy to part finance cost of fuel consumed by Nigerians was not sustainable.
Ogidan, the Chief Executive Officer, Tanke Paper Mills, said that governments at all levels needed to pursue policies that would save and earn for them more money.
He also noted that to continue the fuel subsidy policy in era of declining oil prices in the international market would worsen Nigeria’s economy.
“We must get rid of the subsidy scheme especially in this dispensation where austerity is been experienced in virtually all states in the Nigerian federation.
“Almost half of the state governors cannot pay salaries and the reality is that the need of sustaining the subsidy is not tenable,’’ Ogidan said.
According to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the federal government spent a whopping N4.5 trillion on fuel subsidy claims between 2006 and 2012.
An economist, Mr Bismarck Rewane, has also advised the Federal Government to remove the fuel subsidy on petroleum products for speedy development of the country.
Rewane, the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Limited, made the call in a lecture on “The Nigerian Economy and Business Outlook”.
He delivered the lecture at the Annual General Meeting of the International Chamber of Commerce Nigeria in Lagos on Thursday.
Rewane said that the subsidy regime was fraught with corruption and gains from subsidy removal should be utilised for projects that would develop the nation as against enriching few Nigerians.
He said that subsidy removal would reduce the country’s huge debt profile, block government leakages and aid rehabilitation of refineries and depots in the country.
According to him, the falling global crude oil price which has caused a dip in the nation’s revenue necessitated a stop to fuel subsidy payment.
“If the government does not remove the fuel subsidy, the subsidy payment will cripple the economy of the country, “Rewane said.
He said that the removal of fuel subsidy would reduce government’s financial burden and drive the growth of the economy.
The Nigerian Navy Units under the auspices of Operation Delta Sanity says it has recorded significant successes against crude oil theft and illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta.
The Navy, in an updated operations, said the successes were recorded between Thursday August 29 and Monday September 2, 2024.
According to the information, on 29th August, seven large cotonou and two fibre boats operated by heavily armed oil thieves loading crude oil from an illegal loading point around Botokiri axis of Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State were seized.
Also, on 31st August, six suspected crude oil thieves with 109 sacks of illegally refined petroleum products, four fibre boats and two wooden boats were arrested and seized along Ogboinbiri-Kasama-Azama-Isoni of Bayelsa State.
Again, on 1st September, two wooden boats and 328 sacks of illegally refined automated Gas Oil were seized at Otuogori community’s river bank in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Additionally, on 2nd September, 35 sacks of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil in a wooden boat were seized at Gbaraun area of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
These successes indicate the effectiveness of Operation Delta Sanity, and the resolve of the Nigerian Navy to sustain current efforts to rid Nigeria’s maritime environment of the menace of crude oil theft and enhance crude oil production for the overall growth of the economy.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc. has clarified that the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government, including the military, owed the power distribution company N42billion as the cost of electricity consumed and not N144billion.
The Bureau of Public Enterprise(BPE), disclosed this in a Statement signed by the Head, Public Communications, Amina Othman, at the Weekend.
According to the Statement, the Disco affirmed that its total outstanding debt was N144billion, of which the MDAs and the military owe N42billion.
“The Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc has clarified that contrary to earlier reports, the aggregate outstanding debt owed by consumers is N144billion, out of which, ministries, departments, and agencies including the military owe N42billion”, Othman stated.
The Statement said this was against prior reports that the MDAs, including the army, police, and other government agencies, were owing N144billion and had refused to pay.
The Disco said, “the clarification became necessary for proper reportage on the matter and to put the records straight”, it stated.
Recall that during a recent oversight visit by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, led by its Chairman, Ibrahim, the Acting Managing Director of the EKEDC, Mrs. Rekhiat Momoh, among other things, informed the members about the legacy debts owed the company by MDAs.
The committee had reported the acting MD as stating that the company was owed N144billion by MDAs within its operational area, saying she mentioned that the military, police, and various state government agencies failed to settle their debts, creating financial difficulties for the distribution company.
Energy infrastructure, a crucial part of global oil and gas supply and the energy transition, are set to get a boost after a heavy lifting equipment provider unveiled the world’s strongest crane-equipment capable of lifting 6,000 tons, or 15 fully loaded Boeing 747 aircraft.
Dutch heavy lifting and transport services company Mammoet has launched a new type of crane, the SK6,000, which, the firm said, could be used for modules to be built faster and also “bigger than ever before”.
As oil and gas continue to be a key part of the world’s energy system—and likely will continue for decades to come—and as renewable energy developers aim for bigger wind turbines, the support equipment for installing oil and gas platforms, offshore wind equipment, and even nuclear power stations is becoming bigger.
Bigger cranes such Mammoet’s SK6,000 could remove some of the limitations of engineering and construction firms. These firms are generally limited by how much weight can be lifted when installed on a platform or turbine.
Cranes that can carry 5,000 tons and more can shorten the time of a project being erected on a site, onshore or offshore, Mammoet says.
“Limitations on lifting capacity force engineers to fabricate smaller modules than would be optimal; tying up site space and increasing the complexity and duration of projects,” the company notes.
“This limitation can also narrow the execution choices available during each project’s planning stage and the percentage of each project that can be executed locally.”
These days, energy companies and their contractors seek faster deployment of energy infrastructure, be it wind turbines or floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and platforms for oil and gas production.
“There are so many supply chain constraints at the moment that need to be de-bottlenecked,” Gavin Kerr, Mammoet’s director of global services, told Bloomberg, commenting on the new crane.
“The bigger everything gets, you need bigger cranes.”
Moreover, the SK6,000 is containerised and can be assembled quickly on-site. This feature allows it to deliver heavy lift capability wherever it is needed, giving contractors greater flexibility in where and how energy projects are completed” Mammoet said.
“With the innovation of the SK6,000 crane, our customers can think bigger than ever before; pushing modules beyond the 4,000t and even 5,000t barriers. Its low ground bearing capacity also means the crane can be used all over the world”, said Mammoet’s Sales Director Giovanni Alders.
“With its long outreach, small minimum footprint and relatively small site impact, the SK6,000 greatly reduces the topside integration time.
“Needless to say, with larger building blocks you spend less time connecting and testing, and more time producing” Alders added
Energy companies do need faster permit-to-production times in both oil and gas and renewable energy to provide the conventional and green energy sources the world will need.
Wind turbine technology is evolving and making the hub height increasingly taller. According to the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, the hub height for utility-scale land-based wind turbines has surged by 83per cent since 1998–1999, to about 103.4 meters (339 feet) in 2023. That’s taller than the statue of Liberty.
The average hub height for offshore wind turbines in the United States is projected to grow even taller from 100 meters (330 feet) in 2016 to about 150 meters (500 feet), or about the height of the Washington Monument, in 2035, DOE said.
In the oil and gas industry, new resource development is needed as demand for LNG grows and legacy oilfields mature and output declines.
If contractors can bring energy projects on stream faster, both oil and gas supply and the energy transition will benefit.
By: Charles Kennedy
