…As Nigeria works to export 1m barrels of first oil from $16bn Egina project in January, 2019***
Container terminal operators in Nigeria have waived a princely sum of N1.5 billion on more than 500 stranded power equipment containers belonging to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The government has found it difficult to pay for accrued demurrage and storage charges, which kept accumulating till now.
The operators under the aegis of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) at the weekend said the sum was waived in support of the Federal Government’s effort to ensure steady supply of electricity in the country.
STOAN spokesman, Bolaji Akinola, in a statement said: “We are not unmindful of the fact that electricity is the most important commodity for national development.
“Stable electric power supply is an empowerment and an enabler for people to work from the domestic level and the cottage industries, through the small-scale and medium industries to employment in the large-scale manufacturing complexes.
“We took this bold step in support of the government’s effort to ensure steady power supply and accelerate economic development. The implication of this was that we had to waive additional charges that accrued as storage over another one year period from April 2016 to when payment was made in March 2017,” he added.
The Federal Government confirmed in January 2017 that it had taken delivery of the 500 power equipment containers from the port.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, made the announcement while receiving a 20-year Transmission Expansion Master Plan presented by the Interim Managing Director of TCN, Usman Gur Mohammed, in Abuja.
Fashola said the containers containing transmission equipment had been deployed to TCN sites.
He said the delivery of the containers was in line with a presidential mandate to improve the capacity of TCN to deliver service between power Generating Companies (GENCOs) and power Distribution Companies (DISCOs).
Meanwhile, there are indications that the coming on stream of the $16 billion Egina project will enhance the revenue profile of Nigeria and other stakeholders as plans have been concluded to export one million barrels in January, 2019.
Investigations by Vanguard over the weekend showed that with its 200,000 barrels per day, bpd output, the project will yield one million barrels for export within the first two weeks of production. A top official of Total who confirmed the plan, but preferred not to be named said at the current $67.0 per barrel, the one million barrels will amount to $67 million (N20.0 billion), at the exchange rate of N305 per dollar.
He disclosed that: “The proceeds will benefit the major stakeholders – Total, that operates the project in partnership with the Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC; South Atlantic Petroleum Limited, SAPETRO and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., Petrobras. “Everything is moving according to plan.
The floating production storage and offloading (FPSO), the largest ever installed in Nigeria (330-metres long), that was constructed in South Korea has already arrived Nigeria. Egina will certainly be completed towards the end of 2018.
“The production of 200,000 bpd will start in January for storage in the FPSO. Within the first two weeks, we will have the first one million bpd ready for export. Egina is a very big project that will make much impact on all stakeholders and Nigeria’s economy.
“The floating production storage and offloading, FPSO, that was constructed in South Korea has already arrived Nigeria. This facility is important as it will enable us to store the product for export.”
Guardian NG with additional report from Vanguard
