Uche Usim, Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday claims to have saved $2.2bn through the Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) template of petroleum products supply since its inception in 2016.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, made the disclosure in Abuja at the public opening of bids for the 2019 term-contract for lifting crude oil and petroleum products under the DSDP scheme ..
According to him, 29.5million metric tons or 39.6billion litres of petroleum products had been supplied under the scheme, representing 90% of the nation’s requirements.
Highlighting other benefits of the scheme, the GMD said its competitive pricing framework which is lower than the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency’s (PPPRA) benchmark, led to about 84% reduction in products demurrage cost.
He explained that the public bid opening exercise was in keeping with President Muhammadu Buhari’s transparency and anti-corruption stance which the corporation had imbibed and championed relentlessly under his stewardship.
He said the objective of the DSDP scheme was to engage reputable and qualified companies and ensure that selection of off-takers was carried out in a transparent and accountable manner in compliance with the Public Procurement and Nigerian Content Acts.
The GMD noted that the ultimate aim of the scheme was to ensure value optimization to the federation.
The bid round was witnessed by officials of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Bureau of Public Procurement and other Non-Governmental Oganisations (NGOs).