…Petitions NNPC Board

ORGANISED Labour in the nation’s petroleum industry expressed fears over the possibility of the Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, for Port Harcourt Refineries and Petro-Chemicals, PHRC, being done in the nearest future especially in 2014.

Under the umbrella of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, in a petition to the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and copied to  the Group Managing Director of NNPC, amongst others, detailed what PENGASSAN termed its findings on the proposed TAM for PHRC.

In the petition dated March 17, 2014, it equally detailed its expectations, findings, request and prayers.
The petition titled “Our findings on proposed Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, for Port Harcourt Refineries Company, PHRC, Limited, read “We write to commend the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) signed with the leadership of PENGASSAN and NUPENG on 7thJanuary, 2014, and wish to acknowledge that this is a landmark achievement if honestly implemented to bring about the much desired resuscitation of the nation’s oil refineries.

While the National leadership look forward to submitting a business model as a proposal for government consideration, the in-house union of PHRC PENGASSAN deem it necessary to report in advance, our findings on the proposed Turn Around Maintenance as specified for Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) in article (ii) of the MOU which reads; “ The meeting appreciated the Honorable Minister of Petroleum’s efforts so far on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the refineries and urged that the process be expedited, and full TAM of PHRC should begin in the first quarter of 2014″.

Expectations
“Following the financial bid and consequent negotiations with the TAM main contractor (TECHNIMONT), the NNPC Head-quarter Tenders Committee (HTC), is expected to prepare necessary documentation for submission to the NNPC Board, after which the following process will take place before the TAM can commence fully:-(i) NNPC Board approval (ii) BPP (No objection) and NCDMB certification (iii) FEC Approval/Award (iv) Letter of intent/Agreement (v) Down payment to main contractor (TECHNIMONT)

The findings
“Our findings revealed that none of the above processes has commenced. This invariably implies that it will not be possible for the TAM to commence in the first quarter of 2014 as contained in the MOU. Other constraints includes:- (i) Suspension of LC’s (Letters of Credit) by HTC since September 2013 (This has led to PHRC not meeting up with the mandatory 75% TAM material availability as a prerequisite for the project commencement) (ii) Delay in issuance of form M and duty payment by Group Finance & Accounts
Department (GFAD) (ill) Lack of progress on the TAM commercial evaluation report by the Headquarters Tender Committee (HTC). (iv) Lack of budget provision for the additional TAM and Rehab funds required.

Request
“Since TAM materials are usually not bought off the shelf, it will be ideal to consider a period of six months to allow for manufacture, shipment and delivery of ordered items. It is therefore our earnest request that HTC should please consider the immediate opening of outstanding LC’s to guarantee 75% availability of TAM materials by the 4thQuarter of 2014.

We equally implore Group Finance & Accounts Department (GFAD) to also consider the release of fund for the procurement of short term delivery, non OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) materials to complement the long lead items.

“We fear that perceived over inflated contract price coupled with bureaucratic bottlenecks in the above request may postpone the already overdue TAM for PHRC beyond 2014. Except our fears be allayed by meeting our expectations as earlier enumerated, we rather pray that the NNPC Board kindly consider and approve the “PHRC strategy”; a proposal by Management to enable us,the workforce, identify the minimum “must do” work list to guarantee plant operation at 90% for two years.