Good News from PPMC

Since April 2010 when Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was appointed the Minister of Petroleum Resources by President Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian oil and Gas industry has witnessed rapid transformation.

This transformation is evident in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry. For instance, in the upstream, the period has witnessed a steady increase in the nation's daily oil production which is currently put at 2.450million barrels per day.

Similarly, in the downstream, there has been a steady and sustained supply of petroleum products since 2010 not withstanding the political and economic challenges the system had to grapple with in recent times.

Industry watchers have attributed these successes recorded in the oil sector to the team assembled by the Minister of Petroleum resources to man the industry, especially within the NNPC which is headed by Engineer Austen Oniwon.

Nigerians believe the NNPC is working when there is steady supply of petroleum products across the country. The arm of NNPC that is responsible for the supply and distribution of petroleum products is the Pipelines And Products Marketing Company, PPMC.

So in February 2011, when Prince Haruna Momoh was appointed Managing Director of PPMC, he had his work cut out for him.

Coming to head a subsidiary which has a direct bearing on the economic and social lives of Nigerians, and at a time the nation was transiting from one civilian rule to another, Prince Momoh assured every one of his commitment to fulfill public expectation through efficient service delivery to the people.

On the 15th of February 2012, it was time for stock taking at PPMC, and a town hall meeting was organized. Speaking at the event, prince Momoh reminded his colleagues that ''when we took over the mantle of leadership one year ago, we emphasized the need to inculcate in our selves the core values of NNPC. The realization of our business mission was uppermost in our agenda, with the burning desire to reassure staff of our readiness to move PPMC forward as the flagship of NNPC"

Speaking further, the onetime NNPC Group Managing Director's Merit Award winner commended his colleagues for helping to fulfill his agenda, saying, ''your resilience, determination, courage and selfless service to the company provided impetus for the modest achievements we have recorded so far ''

Indeed, there has been a great transformation in PPMC in the last one year and a review of these achievements will reveal that to describe them as modest is an understatement.

For instance, most of the Storage depots across the country that were dried for more than a decade have become wet due to aggressive repairs of the pipelines embarked upon by new PPMC management, especially in the northern part of the country.

These are Kaduna-Jos line, Jos-Gombe-Maiduguri as well as the Suleja –Kaduna Lines. As at the time of writing this, Hydro testing had started on the Aba- Port-Harcourt, Warri- Benin lines and products pumping, we understand, will start immediately after the exercise. While Enugu-Makurdi-Yola , Enugu –Auchi, Benin- Auchi-Suleja lines are currently being surveyed. The re-commissioning of these pipelines has resulted in either delivery or pumping of products to most of the 21 storage depots across the country.

One of the earliest task undertaken by Prince Momoh last year was the introduction of strict internal control s within the system and in less than one year, records have indicated a reduction of 72.3% in-depot loses. Still on mitigation of losses, the PPMC management has successfully reduced demurrage costs to the barest minimum compared to the previous years.

It would be recalled that successive PPMC management have been in a long drawn impasse with chevron Nigeria Limited on the redelivery of MT Oloibiri, but The New Managing Director has resolved it and thereby recovering the sum of $27.7m for the NNPC.

Administratively, Prince Momoh has been commended by his colleagues for his style of leadership. He has been described in various terms such as a 'magician', the right man for the job' and so on, owing to the fact that he has made possible what was thought to be impossible in the recent past. He has also received accolades in the area of staff training, repositioning of the Commercial Division of the company, the computerization of the financial and billing system, among others.

This good news coming from PPMC is a welcome development, especially coming at a time the oil and gas industry is undergoing a transformation. Credit should be given to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Engineer Austen Oniwon for putting a "round peg in a round hole" by the appointment of the current PPMC management team led by Prince Haruna Momoh