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NNPC
Headquarters, Abuja
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The Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has ended its highly controversial offshore
processing arrangement (OPA) in favour of direct sale-direct purchase (DSDP).
The
OPA deals, which involved middlemen in the crude-oil-exchange-for-product
matrix, had been widely criticized as opaque, dubious and corrupt by industry
experts.
With
Nigerian refineries not producing enough to meet local demand, the NNPC trades
part of its daily 440,000bpd allocation in exchange for products such as
petrol, diesel and kerosene under OPA.
TheCable report continues:
Announcing
the new arrangement on Tuesday afternoon, Ohi Alegbe, the corporation’s
spokesman, said it is a “major steer designed to enshrine transparency and
eliminate the activities of middlemen in the crude oil exchange for product
matrix”.
The
DSDP allows for the direct sale of crude oil by NNPC as well as direct purchase
of petroleum products from “credible international refineries”, he said.
Alegbe
said the NNPC came to this “informed” position after the evaluation exercise of
pre-qualified bidders revealed that most of the 44 companies earlier
shortlisted for the next stage of the tender process only had affiliations to
refineries abroad, “a situation which introduces toll on the value chain”. If
allowed to subsist, the development would in turn constitute a significant
value loss to the federation by way of accruals, he said.
“In
this regard, only bona fide owners of Refineries identified in the ongoing OPA
Tender Evaluation process will be further engaged. The identified Refineries
will be subjected to due diligence and analysis by NNPC appointed consultants
to confirm suitability in line with International best practice,” Alegbe said.
The NNPC said the call for
commercial bids issued to the 44 shortlisted bidders made up of 34
international firms and 10 indigenous companies have been withdrawn.
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