NNPC to hand over Warri, Kaduna refineries to private operators

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has stated plans to engage reputable operations and maintenance companies for the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.

The NNPC, in a notice on its website, said this was to ensure reliability and sustainability to meet the nation’s fuel supply and energy security obligations.

The PUNCH recalls that, in January, the NNPC sought private operators to run the Port Harcourt refinery, but it is yet to be known whether or not this has been concluded.

In a notice uploaded on Thursday, the NNPC management said the O&M tender for WRPC and KRPC would be treated as a single tender through a three-stage tender process (expression of interest, technical and commercial) leveraging on all the possible opportunity costs associated with procurement of consumables, personnel/manpower management, utilisation of computerised maintenance management software, warehousing management system, among others.

“The O&M contract scope of work shall cover, but not be limited to, the following: long-term and short-term production/operations planning; Production and operations execution; Monitoring, reporting and optimization of operations; Maintenance planning (short-term); and maintenance execution,” the NNPC stated.

In its financial requirements, the company requested audited accounts for the past four years (2020-2023), including income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement.

It stated that bidders were to provide evidence of their company’s latest credit ratings and the name of the rating agency.

According to the state-owned energy firm, they must also demonstrate a minimum average annual turnover of at least $2bn for the financial years ending 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

For the statutory requirements, interested operators were asked to provide evidence of the company’s registration and incorporation issued by the respective governing body; a certified true copy of the certificate of incorporation obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission within the last 12 months ending August 2024 and CAC status report generated within three months of bid submission (for national companies and similar documentation from the respective governing body for foreign companies); particulars of directors; certified true copies of statutory documents indicating ownership structure of the company; name(s) of major shareholders and percentage shareholding.

The firm also required the bidders to provide a detailed company profile and a signed letter of application indicating interest on the company’s letterhead paper bearing among others, telephone number, email address and company’s full address, listing verifiable location (s) of your operational head office and spread of your branch office(s) with a comprehensive company profile addressed to the NNPC.

It also asked for a copy of the tax clearance certificate for the past three years: 2021, 2022 and 2023, issued by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (for national companies and similar documentation from the respective governing body for foreign companies).

“Certification must be valid up to 31st December 2024,” it was stated.

It added that documents should be submitted online through the electronic NNPC/NipeX tender portal on or before noon on Thursday,

“The EOI shall be opened virtually, following the deadline for EOI submission at noon on Thursday, October 10, 2024, using the NNPC Microsoft Teams. Bidders who have submitted their EOIs and external observers shall be invited to attend the virtual live-stream bid opening session.

“In the event of any unscheduled holiday on the EOI submission date, the new deadline for submission of EOIs will be on the next working day. Accordingly, the EOI closing date/time shall be extended to the next working day and time,” the notice explained.

The Warri and Kaduna refineries have been moribund for years and efforts by the Federal Government to revive them have yet to yield the desired results.