Reps Reopen Probe Into NNPC’s OVH Energy Acquisition

The president of the House Committee connected Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Hon Ikenga Ugochinyere, has said the committee has commenced the re-investigation into the NNPC Ltd acquisition of OVH Energy Marketing’s downstream assets and refinery upgrade.

He stressed that the existent disputes betwixt the Dangote Refinery, petroleum marketers and labour unions, peculiarly tanker drivers nether the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), are issues that indispensable beryllium addressed without discouraging concern successful Nigeria’s lipid and state industry.

Speaking astatine the extremity of a three-day stakeholder retreat successful Lagos, the Chairman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere disclosed that the committee has received a batch of revelations from workers, refinery operators, and agencies specified arsenic NETCO and the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), arsenic good arsenic submissions from the backstage assemblage and stakeholders successful refining.

While referring to the ongoing disagreements involving Dangote Refinery and labour groups, helium said, “We consciousness that if these things are not handled, it tin make instability successful the downstream sector.”

The lawmaker acknowledged the gravity of the disputes, but emphasised the value of handling them successful a mode that preserves Nigeria’s representation arsenic an charismatic destination for vigor investment.

“We effort to equilibrium labour issues and different competitory concern issues, besides to guarantee that we bash not make an content that would marque different investors who privation to travel successful beryllium disquieted astir the information of their investment,” helium stated.

Meanwhile, the committee said it is besides analysing submissions related to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), with a absorption connected clarifying integrated operations and reducing regulatory overlap betwixt the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

According to the chairman, defining roles betwixt these regulators is captious to capitalist assurance and semipermanent argumentation certainty.

He said, “What we’ve got astatine contiguous is deleting the NDPRA C3 statutory regularisation of exploration, development, and production, and preserving NDPRA-critical wholesale proviso relation to assistance bolster nationalist vigor security, arsenic NUPRC allocates the basal bully worth to section refineries, portion NDPRA monitors utilisation of the aforesaid based connected section refineries.

“Now, ensuring clarity and empowerment for the chiseled regulatory licences, petroleum liquid and state wholesalers, who volition past beryllium appropriately captured successful the refinery revenues of the inter-database radical of outgo of companies’ income taxation successful enactment with applicable laws.

“Preventing regulatory uncertainty and spurring concern successful state monetization, section refineries, and different companies doing concern successful Nigeria, is successful enactment with the Presidential Directive,” helium noted.

Key among the committee’s proposals is the streamlining of licensing for liquid and state wholesalers, enhancing oversight of onshore terminals, and ensuring unfastened entree facilities to promote just information and gross generation.

The committee seat besides hinted astatine upcoming nationalist disclosures, pursuing method reviews of submissions from refinery owners and cardinal players regarding the proviso and utilisation of petroleum products, arsenic good arsenic the submission of Product Supply and Trading Operations Certificates (PSTOC).

“All these efforts are aimed astatine providing preliminary certainty connected integrated operations to enactment concern crossed the petroleum manufacture by the region,” helium said.

He added that clearer mandates for regulatory bodies volition assistance unlock up to $500 cardinal successful yearly concern potential, portion besides ensuring amended accounting practices, infrastructure use, and taxation.

“The losses of lipid and state are accrued by the NDPRA, which tin alteration an estimated $500 cardinal per annum water-off-tariff concern by financing exporters and importers to bash much concern successful Nigeria,” helium noted.