Delivery of the last stage of automation of all transactions involving the supply, marketing and sale of the various grades and blends of Nigeria’s crude oil across the world shall be completed in 2018.
This is part of the core strategic development plans of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) this year.
Group general manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division of the Corporation, Malam Mele Kyari, in a recent interview with Oil & Gas Forum, NNPC Weekly TV hinted that the Corporation has already achieved 98 per cent of the automation exercise.
He said the automation exercise which would be concluded in 2018 had enabled the corporation to achieve an end-to-end monitoring of every barrel of crude oil sold in the country.
According to him, “Today at a click of a button we can tell you how much crude oil is sold, at what price, who bought it and where it has gone to etc”.
“The projection was to operate a complete paperless crude oil data management regime in line with the ongoing transformation of the processes which has witnessed sweeping reforms since 2015.
“The reforms to include; the open bid process of customer selection for lifting and purchase of Nigeria’s crude oil grades, emplacement of efficient crude for product import processes, leading to savings of $1 billion in one year as well as the introduction of improved pricing system, which has evolved into a robust and auditable pricing mechanism.
Kyari hinted also that the reform had led to the harmonization of Nigeria’s crude oil data and lifting information, providing access to major internationally recognized reporting agencies like Plat and Argus Media to achieve real time reporting of Nigeria’s crude oil transactions.
Besides, the digitalization of the process will among other things, eliminate the perennial disagreement with its major stakeholder, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on actual production and lifting figures.
