The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurum, Delta State, is seeking to be included as a component of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently being repackaged by a committee set up by the federal ministry of petroleum.
The PTI position was made known in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos last week.
The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurum, Delta State, is seeking to be included as a component of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently being repackaged by a committee set up by the federal ministry of petroleum.
The PTI position was made known in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos last week.
The institute's Acting Principal/Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Nnenna Dennar said her leadership was doing everything possible to ensure that PTI which is responsible for the training and retraining of 85 percent of the technical manpower in the entire upstream and downstream oil and gas sector in the country was given fair representation in the PIB reforms.
"As you are all aware, the oil and gas sector is undergoing a holistic transformation. Various committees have been set up to pore over parastatals in the ministry of Petroleum Resources. Also, a committee has been set up to repackage the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for presentation to the National Assembly. I wish to assure you that management is doing all it can for the institute to be included as a component in the PIB," Dennar said in the statement.
According to the PTI boss, the management concern is spurred from the fact that the petroleum industry is capital and technology intensive, which gives no room for poorly trained manpower or operations on trial and error basis. She maintained that the inclusion of the PTI will quicken its development as a competent trainer of manpower for the oil and gas industry.
Dennar noted further that other efforts put in place by management have been fetching PTI deserved recognition including the recent approval given to it by the governing body of the Nigerian Institute of Welding-Authorized National Body (ANB) to serve as a training body for International Welders.
South Sudan Petroleum Company Slashes Prices, Seeks to Reduce Inflation
A locally-owned South Sudanese Petroleum Company; Imatongas; has announced an 8 percent reduction in fuel prices across the country; an initiative which could positively impact on the country's inflation rate, now at 42 percent.
In a statement issued last week, the company said that the price per litre of both diesel and petrol, initially set at SSP6 [US$2.20], has now fallen to SSP5.5 [US$2], with the new changes applying to all its outlets in Juba, the South Sudan capital; Bor, Jonglei state; and Torit, Eastern Equatorial.
Warile Benjamin Warile, the company's chief executive officer said that the 8 percent reduction in fuel costs will improve the economic situation in South Sudan, by reducing local transport costs and commodity prices, in addition to strengthening the company's position in the market.
"We believe this reduction will contribute positively to the government's efforts to reduce inflation in the new country. Inflation last month reduced to 42.2 percent compared to 47.83 percent in January after the government streamlined taxation and removed illegal roadblocks and taxes," he remarked.
The new pricing strategy, Warille said, incorporates changes witnessed in the region in recent months, adding that the unexpected upsurge in fuel prices came in the aftermath of north Sudan's decision to close it borders with South Sudan in September 2011, forcing the latter to source products from Kenya and elsewhere.
"Since then, lots of changes happened and the prices didn't change," he said, urging other petroleum companies in the country to align their pricing with changes in oil prices in other regions.
He urged the government to devise effective mechanisms for regulating hard currency flow from South Sudan to other nations, which is a common practice among local importers of products into the country.
Last month, South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics announces a 3.5 percent reduction in country's Consumer Price Index (CPI), while annual inflation reportedly fell from 47.8 percent in January to just 42.2 percent in February.
CPI is an index which tracks the price of a representative basket of goods and services consumed by households in South Sudan, with the composition of the goods and services in the basket reflecting average household consumption in the country.
South Sudan is under severe economic pressure as it shut its oil pipelines in January, in the escalation of a row with Khartoum of the payment of transit fees. South Sudan relies upon oil for up to 98 percent of its revenues.
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