The Senate has asked the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to halt its effort to concession the Port Harcourt refinery to Agip and Oando.

The handover was to allow for the repairs and the operation of the facility.

The Senate said on Tuesday that the process should be suspended pending its investigation amid concerns over the transparency of the process.

The Minister of Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, had on May 9 announced that the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, a subsidiary of the Italian oil giant, Eni, had committed to repairing the Port Harcourt refinery, as part of a $15 billion investment that includes building a 150 thousand barrel per day refinery and a power plant.

The plan was aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s drive to end fuel importation by 2019, Mr. Kachikwu said.

But following a motion by Mohammed Sabo, APC-Jigawa, on Tuesday, the Senate expressed worry with the process, allegedly characterized by lack of clarity, due process and transparency.

In a statement on May 16, Oando’s Chief Strategy and Corporate Services officer, Ainoije Irune, confirmed the company was a party to the agreement reached between Agip and the federal government to repair, operate and maintain (ROM) the Port Harcourt refinery, an arrangement planned to see the facility’s capacity grow from its current 30 per cent to 100 per cent of its 210,000 barrels per day capacity.

“In line with the concerted efforts of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to aggressively drive private sector led refineries rehabilitation and expansion programs, Oando as local partners to NAOC/ENI will support the rehabilitation of PHRC’s on activities of terminalling, logistics, structuring and funding,” Mr. Irune explained.

Although he said final agreement would be reached by end of July 2017, Oando’s confirmation and May 9 announcement by Mr. Kachikwu suggested the government had already concluded to concession the refinery to Agip and its partners, Oando.

In his presentation on Tuesday, Mr. Sabo said the planned concession would have been “wonderful”, as it meant ending importation of refined petroleum products by 2019.

He, however, queried the process of the transactions, which he said was without recourse to due process and, thus, “is illegal and a clear attempt at ridiculing Nigerians and would definitely create a big hole that would be hard to fill in the anti-corruption crusade of the present administration.”

He queried: “Was there observance of the privatization law as regards due diligence, selection from preferred bidders before ceding the Port Harcourt refinery to Agip/Oando?”

For such transaction, he said, “the best practice is to select partners through open and competitive bidding, i.e. prepare the business for sale, market the business, buyers selection and close transaction.”

He alleged that the process had been without the participation of relevant authorities, such as the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the National Council on Privatisation which are statutorily empowered to conduct such exercise, adding that labour unions were not aware of “the deal that is supposed to be officially signed in July this year.”

The senator added that the deal “hatched in the dark without the knowledge and participation of the relevant stakeholders” would lead to sub-optimal outcomes for the federal government.

He said he would rather the authorities asked Agip to consider rehabilitating the Warri refinery which they built, not the Port Harcourt refinery – built by Japan – where the company has no technical history.

Following Mr. Sabo’s motion, the Senate resolved to ask the federal government to halt the process of the concession pending “a holistic investigation to determine how and why such a deal was sealed and the criteria to select Agip/Eni and Oando Plc to operate and maintain Port Harcourt refinery at what cost and timeframe.”

The Nigeria petroleum ministry could not be reached immediately for comment. Also, the spokesperson for the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, did not answer calls initiated to get reaction from the presidency.

Mr. Kachikwu announced the refinery deal on May 9, after he met with Mr. Osinbajo and Agip officials at the State House.

Souce: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/232563-updated-senate-halts-port-harcourt-refinery-concession-to-agip.html

Mr. Kachikwu went running his mouth and got the process delayed. The Senate is right to probe this deal since it looks pretty suspicious. His odd quotes and way they went about concession probably raised red flags with senate.

It's assumed the criteria for selecting the company would simply be expertise and capital. It's can be done in open manner I think he's wrong. You would just pick guy who claims the can do fix WD40 and duck tape.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu said refineries repair cannot be done in an open bidding process. 

refineries concession “Is a highly technical area, what we have done is to invite those who have experience in refining, but it’s open, anybody who feels he has the skills and has the money is welcome. It is not just about the skills but the money too.

Really!

There is a difference between privatization and concessioning. One hope this people aren't hell bent on imprisoning Nigeria in fuel importation which consumes a large chunks of our forex.

senate is right to probing the allege suspicion in the process.
only if this is not a red herring to slow progress in Nigeria, since their hands were not oiled.

Nigeria senate should concentrate more on "small small"/things.. it doesn't have to be big projects. laws that will effect stability and accountability in Nigeria.

laws in favour Power
laws in favour of industry
laws in favour of entrepreneurship
law in favour of housing
laws in favour of human right.

nor be so so oil oil oil.. trash

Are you pondering what i am pondering
@vedaxcool and bmc et al Tinubu family owns oando and are having high stakes in agip so stop ecouraging tinubu family to buy up nigeria after buying up lagos and south west.

Redoil:
Are you pondering what i am pondering Tinubu family owns oando and are having high stakes in agip.

Pls explain further

The senate is unfortunately constituting itself into a clog in the wheel of progress. Obasanjo privatised those refineries during the tail end of his administration but some unscrupulous elements advised Yar'ardua to cancel the privatization. If the Obasanjo era privatisation had stand, our refining capacity would have since improve by now but we missed that opportunity.

Another opportunity is here again to get things right and the same unscrupulous elements are using the senate to frustrate it. Eni and Oando are well established and credible players in the oil sector and if they have both committed to revamping the moribund refinery and increasing its refining capacity, I don't get why the senate is desperate to frustrate the deal.

Again, we now have a minister who is so committed to ensuring that we stop importation of petroleum products in the next two years. The success of this Port Harcourt refinery concession is very key to achieving that target. If the senate succeeds in killing this deal again, we should prepare for many more years of petroleum importation with all the problems that comes with it.

Kachuku, u got a whole lot of questions to answer.

seunmsg:
The senate is unfortunately constituting itself into a clog in the wheel of progress. Obasanjo privatised those refineries during the tail end of his administration but some unscrupulous elements advised Yar'ardua to cancel the privatization. If the Obasanjo era privatisation had stand, our refining capacity would have since improve by now but we missed that opportunity.

Another opportunity is here again to get things right and the same unscrupulous elements are using the senate to frustrate it. Eni and Oando are well established and credible players in the oil sector and if they have both committed to revamping the moribund refinery and increasing its refining capacity, I don't get why the senate is desperate to frustrate the deal.

Again, we now have a minister who is so committed to ensuring that we stop importation of petroleum products in the next two years. The success of this Port Harcourt refinery concession is very key to achieving that target. If the senate succeeds in killing this deal again, we should prepare for many more years of petroleum importation with all the problems that comes with it.

the Senate as an institution may not be perfect but their are still men of substance there
What they are only asking is for transparency and due process in the concessions.

If this concessions fails tomorrow, you will be the first person to still blame the Senate for not doing their Job

Don't allow your Love for a dying man becloud your sense of reasoning

kachikwu needs to learn the ropes of governance. I feel he has great ideas and vision but is handicapped by government redtapes and bureaucracies.

This would've been like knife through butter were it in the corporate world where he held swatly

seunmsg:
The senate is unfortunately constituting itself into a clog in the wheel of progress. Obasanjo privatised those refineries during the tail end of his administration but some unscrupulous elements advised Yar'ardua to cancel the privatization. If the Obasanjo era privatisation had stand, our refining capacity would have since improve by now but we missed that opportunity.

Another opportunity is here again to get things right and the same unscrupulous elements are using the senate to frustrate it. Eni and Oando are well established and credible players in the oil sector and if they have both committed to revamping the moribund refinery and increasing its refining capacity, I don't get why the senate is desperate to frustrate the deal.

Again, we now have a minister who is so committed to ensuring that we stop importation of petroleum products in the next two years. The success of this Port Harcourt refinery concession is very key to achieving that target. If the senate succeeds in killing this deal again, we should prepare for many more years of petroleum importation with all the problems that comes with it.

someone once said "the cabal would not let the refineries work", in same period the amount spent by the fg on subsidy of imported petroleum products increased by more than 400% despite the fact subsidy per litre was reduced by almost 60%, this "cabal and sabo.teurs" are always there to make sure nothing works without a %age passing through their pockets, if possible the common man would be made to pay a commission for breathing O2

Redoil:
Are you pondering what i am pondering
@vedaxcool and bmc et al Tinubu family owns oando and are having high stakes in agip so stop ecouraging tinubu family to buy up nigeria after buying up lagos and south west.

Let's assume that is the case do you know what concessioning is and how it differs from outright buying? I personally don't have any problem with Tinubu buying stuff the argument should be was the deal fair and transparent. What are the conditions attached to the concession. Sir no one prevented you from buying up Nigeria if you have the money.

Fyno:
the Senate as an institution may not be perfect but their are still men of substance there
What they are only asking is for transparency and due process in the concessions.

If this concessions fails tomorrow, you will be the first person to still blame the Senate for not doing their Job

Don't allow your Love for a dying man becloud your sense of reasoning

I agree these guys get too emotional over this. They simply want to make sure no funny business is going on. He even wants them to work on Warri refinery. Hopefully the don't take too long getting this sorted out. I do understand there fears BPE and NPC can be worse than scum look no futher than ALSCON debacle. I don't see a grand conspiracy since it's party interest to get refineries working.

Redoil:
Are you pondering what i am pondering
@vedaxcool and bmc et al Tinubu family owns oando and are having high stakes in agip so stop ecouraging tinubu family to buy up nigeria after buying up lagos and south west.

stop pondering nonsense, this was the way people ponder stupidity when Obasanjo took steps to stop importation of some farm products. many were like he was doing it to favour ota farm but today we are back to that call.

Nice move only if nice

Ok

Una dsabi halt things

hmmmm

Good move!

4 una pocket

Another scam.

senate is working, PRESIDENCY IS.......

chai chai godt is dey ooo

A beautiful 31st of may 2017





We might be what you are looking for
Check out our signature in green colour down
Thanks

vedaxcool:
There is a difference between privatization and concessioning. One hope this people aren't hell bent on imprisoning Nigeria in fuel importation which consumes a large chunks of our forex.

so it should not be transparent? Why should one man have so much power?

Wouldn't throw blames on either party till I understand what the senate means by "due process"?

I hope due process does not translate to ghana must go bags sha.

Sometimes democracy can slow down the page of doing things.

Yeye people

Senate Halts sale of PH Refinery to Tinubu. All these criminal minds politicians hell bent on milking this country dry amazes me how self-centered and thoughtless our political figure heads can be. You want to bypass due-process in concession of an asset as big as a refinery. Sango and Amadioah fire you guys