91 companies bid for NNPC bunkering services.

A total of 91 companies have submitted bids to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to secure contracts for the provision of coastal and bunkering vessel services to the national oil firm.

According to the corporation, the 91 technical bids are largely from indigenous vessel owners vying to secure the contract for the operations of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, said in a statement that the bid exercise was conducted in the presence of the representatives of the bidding companies, officials of the Bureau of Public Procurement and those from the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, as independent assessors.

The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, expressed delight at the turnout of indigenous companies and vessel owners for the bid process.

He was quoted as saying, “I am happy that there is much show of interest in this process. The process is going to be transparent from the beginning to the end, and we want the best yield in terms of value addition and best services; and obviously, we are going to grow the Nigerian content in this regard.

“I am hoping that you are going to be part of the journey that we are taking NNPC through.”

Kachikwu pledged to sustain the ongoing reform process in the corporation, which has witnessed the monthly publication of NNPC’s financial and operational transactions for public scrutiny.

The bid exercise, according to the corporation, seeks to engage the services of reputable organisations with essentially three ranges of deadweight tonnage – 5,000 to 8,000DWT; 10,000 to 20,000DWT; and 25,000 to 50,000DWT.

It stated that under the scope of work, the coastal vessel was designed to evacuate petroleum products from NNPC’s coastal refineries to various discharge ports in or outside the country as might be designated by the PPMC.

The NNPC said it would ensure the delivery of petroleum products to water-fed depots with restricted draft jetties of six to 11 metres as well as conduct ship-to-ship transfer of cargo from import tankers and discharge same at water depots, among other functions.