For the first time since 2020,
This was just as President
The significance of this appointment is that the president has appointed a south-easterner into a high profile federal position and in a critically sensitive government company.
It is also worthy of note that the new board is made up of three women namely: Mrs.
The other board members are Dr.
Meanwhile, in the last few months,
But latest data from the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) indicated that the country's oil rigs have climbed from a low of five in the second quarter of 2021, to 11, as of last month. A further analysis of the data showed that while in 2018, the average rigs count was 13, it was 16 in 2019, but fell to 11 in 2020, a reduction by five oil rigs.
Since the third quota of 2020, the count had continued to slump, first to eight in that quarter, and seven in July, but with an addition of four rigs for the month of August, raising hope of more production.
Put side by side with a country like
In the oil industry, the rig count is a major index of measuring activities in the upstream sector, with a breakdown showing that
Despite asking for a higher baseline, in June, July and August,
While
Production growth in
In addition to decreasing rig counts and highly degraded facilities due to old age and lack of investment, there have also been instances of community workers' protests, which incessantly disrupt operations, leading to severe losses.
The previous month, a document obtained by THISDAY showed that the NNPC and its partners lost 6.035 million barrels of crude oil to emergency shutdowns.
In its August presentation to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), which held between the 18th and 19th of last month, the corporation recorded that there were 32 of such incidents throughout its facilities in the country.
A breakdown of the losses, according to the document, indicated that the highest combined shortage of 1.62 million barrels was from Qua Iboe, with 200,000 barrels due to production shut-in arising from flare management and low well head pressure.
Still on Qua Iboe, a further 530,000 barrels were lost to shut-ins following tank top concerns, 650,000 barrels as a result of production cut-back as directed by the
This was followed by losses from the Forcados facility, which shed 200,000 barrels, 84,000 barrels, 30, 000 barrels and 80,000 barrels, respectively on different days, with reasons ranging from leak repairs, tank top issues, fire incident, and declaration of force majeure.
Buhari Directs Incorporation of
Announcing the latest decisions and changes to the board, the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Mr.
On the other hand, the member of the board representing the South-south, Senator
The statement explained, "This is in consonance with Section 53(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, which requires the Minister of
The statement pointed out that Kyari had been directed to take necessary steps to ensure that the incorporation of the
The statement said, "
"The president named Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as Chairman of the Board while Mele Kolo Kyari and Umar I.
With Buhari's latest directive, the Minister of State, Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva, ceases to be the alternate chairman of the board, since the NNPC would begin to operate under a new law, which would see it detached from the apron strings of the government.
When the process is fully consummated, NNPC would cease to exist as specified under the law and would eventually be transformed into a private company that would pay taxes and dividends to its shareholders, Kyari said in a recent interview.
The latest decisions by Buhari also imply that the new company would be incorporated under the Companies Allied Matters Act (CAMA), while all assets and liabilities of NNPC will be transferred to the new company.
Explaining this, Kyari had stated, "Coming back to the NNPC, the provision of the law clearly states that the corporation will be transformed into a CAMA company. The meaning of this is that the company will just be another privately owned company, in a sense.
"This company will pay taxes, royalties and dividends to its shareholders. This isn't the situation today because the corporation has no such obligation. This has stalled its development, its growth and its prosperity."
According to the new law, "The minister shall within six months from the commencement of this Act, cause to be incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, a limited liability company, which shall be called
"The minister shall at the incorporation of
In addition, section 53 (7) stipulates, "
Kyari had assured during an interview on Arise News Channel, THISDAY's broadcast arm, "You are going to have a much more efficient, much more slimmer, much more commercial national oil company."
Already, the federal government has inaugurated a transitional steering committee, headed by Sylva, to see to the detailed implementation of the new law, which is expected to bring about major structural changes to the oil and gas industry, including NNPC.
Eventually, the commercialised NNPC would witness the sale of shares to Nigerians, while any assets, interest and liabilities not transferred to
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