ON May 3, over 132 oil and gas marketing firms had submitted bids for the lifting of Nigeria’s crude oil under the Direct Sales Direct Purchase, DSDP, contracts, but only 14 firms have emerged successful.
According to a report, several local and international firms that became eventual winners, had formed mergers with two or three other firms to stand a chance at getting the contracts.
The successful companies includes BP/AYM Shafa Limited, Vitol-Hyson/Calson/VaroTrafigura, PTE Limited /AA Rano, MRS, Oando PLC/CEPZA Consortium, Bono Energy Limited /Akleen/Amazon/Eterna PLC, Eyrie/Masters Energy Oil & Gas Limited/Cassiva/Asean Group, Mercuria Energy Trading SA/Barbedos/Petrogas/ Rainoil Limited and TOTSA.
Others are Matrix Energy Limited/Mocoh Oil & Gas/Levene/Petra Atlantic, Duke Oil Company Incorporated, Sahara Energy Resources Limited and Gunvor Limited. The fourteenth successful company is yet to be ascertained.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is yet to officially announce the list of successful bidders.
But insider sources said the successful bidders would be allocated over 445,000 barrels per day of Nigeria’s crude oil to supply petroleum products to the country under the 2019/2020 DSDP scheme.
The DSDP scheme was launched in 2016 after the 2015 crude oil Offshore Processing Arrangement, OPA, contracts had been marred with corrupt practices.
It is estimated that from 2016 and March 2019, about 29.5 million metric tonnes of petroleum products have been supplied under the DSDP scheme.
This volume represents over 90 per cent of the national requirement of about 55 million litres daily.
The incoming General Managing Director of the NNPC, Melee Kyari, had served as General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Department overseeing the DSDP scheme with a vision to eliminate corruption in the country’s fuel supply system.
In another development, the outgoing NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, disclosed at an event on Friday that the NNPC has maintained its lead as the largest supplier of gas to the nation’s power sector.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.