NMDPRA Grants Crude Export Terminal Licences To NNPCL, Belema

NNPCL Exploration and Production Ltd. and Belema Sweet Export Terminal Ltd have been granted licences by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for establishment of crude export terminals.

The licences were approved and issued to the companies in Abuja by Mr Farouk Ahmed, Authority chief executive, NMDPRA, in Abuja, yesterday.

The NNPCL Exploration and Production Ltd. will operate Utapate Export Terminal in Akwa Ibom while the Belema Sweet Export Terminal Ltd is located in Rivers State.

They are the first set of licences to establish crude oil terminals, sealed and granted by the Authority.

Speaking at the signing of the Terminal Establishment Licences, Ahmed  said the development would add more than four million barrel capacity to Nigeria’s Export Storage.

Ahmed said the issuance of the licences were pursuant to the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA 2021) which stipulated new provisions for the establishment of new export terminals.

According to PIA Section 174(1) (a) “Except in accordance with an appropriate licence issued by the Authority, a person shall not undertake the following activities with respect to midstream petroleum liquids operations,’’ he said.

He said the licence which it processed and approved enabled one to establish, construct or operate a terminal or other facility for the export or importation of crude oil or petroleum products.

In response, Mr Modibbo Ahmed, who received the licence on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), disclosed that the crude oil terminal would be operational within three months.

According to him, the NNPCL E&P is a subsidiary of the NNPC Ltd responsible for the exploration and production of crude oil and will have its first cargo soon for the benefit of Nigerians.

The chief executive officer of Belema Oil Producing Limited, Mr Tein Jack-Rich, who lauded the Federal Government for facilitating business operations in Nigeria, said the terminal would bring Nigeria to a global scale as a high breed terminal.

Jack-Rich said the terminal had the capacity to generate over 11 billion dollars to national revenue and over 400,000 barrels of crude daily with a storage point that could store eight million barrels of crude.

“Basically the terminal will create over 100,000 jobs for people of the Niger Delta and Nigerians at large, and Nigeria will benefit through revenue earnings when operational,” he said.

He emphasised that the establishment of the Belema Sweet Crude Export Terminal would position Nigeria as the global leader in establishing a climate-conscious crude oil export terminal that integrated renewable energy through a virtual power plant model.

Speaking on the subsidy removal, he said the development would spur production of more oil and crude for local refineries and consumption.

“With this, what we produce will be accounted for. We also have another wing of the project to establish a mini refinery to refine excess capacity for local consumption,” he said.