132 local and international companies on Thursday offered to buy 14 cargoes of Nigerian crude oil monthly in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) 2019/2020 Direct Sale and Direct Purchase bid opening ceremony in Abuja.
The Group Managing Director (GMD) Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, who presided over the opening, said that the corporation would receive about 14 billion litres in a year as exchange for the crude.
“Well, we are looking about 14 cargoes a month kind of situation and about 14billion litres of in a year of products,” he said.
He said the occasion marked the beginning of yet another landmark event in the bid to miximise the value of the Nigerians and other stakeholders in the bid to guarantee energy security for the nation.
Baru noted that the DSDP scheme was introduced in 2016 with efficient and cost systems and processes to plug the value eroding loopholes of the January 2015 Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA contracts).
According to him: “Since the inception of the DSDP scheme in 2016 to March 2019, 29.5million meteoric tons (39.6 billion liters) of petroleum products have been supplied under the scheme representing over 90% of the national requirement.”
The NNPC boss said through a transparent competitive bidding and evaluation process, the scheme has enlisted a robust supplier mix comprising of the big international players and strong Nigerian downstream companies for supply flexibility and local capacity development.
Baru said that the scheme prides itself with a competitive pricing framework (lower than the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) benchmark) which over the years has ensured significant reduction in product demurrage cost in the range of 84% and cost savings of about $2.2billion.
He explained that the 2019-2020 DSDP tender objectives were to engage reputable qualified companies for the Direct Sales of Nigerian crude oil and Direct Purchase of petroleum products.
He added the objectives were also to ensure the selection of off-takers is aligned with tested transparent and accountable procedures in compliance with the Public Procurement & Nigerian Content Acts.
Baru said that another objective of the scheme was to sustain transparency in all the nation’s processes and establish the best partners through a robust mix of big international players and strong Nigerian downstream companies to ensure supply reliability and local capacity development.
According to him, the scheme is also to encourage Nigerian downstream companies while leveraging on the capacity and expertise of foreign partners.
He revealed that the DSDP has been delivering value optimisation to the federation.
There were agents of the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives monitoring the transparency of the bid opening.
