Minister of Transportation, Chief Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has warned all maritime stakeholders to ensure strict compliance with the presidential approval and ensure that all port development facilities associated with the development of any port facility including FPSO are carried out in accordance with extant public procurement and infrastructure development laws and policies. He made the declaration while scrutinizing a gazette presented by the management of LADOL Integrated Logistics FZE which allegedly gave them authority to receive ships conveying oil and gas related cargo (a maximum of two-ocean going ships per week) .Our source said that the query was sent to the company on Sunday,  when the Transportation Minister tasked LADOL to authenticate its claims.  .The letter from the ministry  recalled that at a meeting between the Minister of Transportation, Chief  Rotimi Amaechi and maritime stakeholders in March, LADOL presented a gazette, which the ministry queried its authenticity, and requested that LADOL should provide more information on how it was issued the gazette No 54 , Volume 95 of Lagos, 4th Sept, 2008, .The minister had at a meeting held with maritime stakeholders in March told terminal operators to submit documents to show that there were no terminals dedicated to handle oil and gas cargoes, and disclosed that  decisions reached then was that the most recent Presidential approval of April 20, 2015, be adhered to by all relevant maritime stakeholders. Our source further revealed that  the presidential approval states that “the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) project can be located at Agge, Bayelsa State, when the facilities to handle such operations are developed. The FPSO can be located at any designated oil and gas terminal. All oil and gas related cargoes must be handled only at the designated terminals as contained in the letter from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). Operators are, however, free to choose port of discharge of their cargoes within the designated terminals at Calabar, Onne and Warri “.  With this directive,  vessels coming to Nigeria, particularly oil and gas related cargoes, except petroleum products must first proceed to the appropriate NPA concessioned terminal  operators and shipping lines.  And the owners of the vessels must pay the necessary dues/charges and obtain releases before proceeding to locations for final discharge including those meant for LADOL. The Ministry stated that this process is aimed at promoting competition as well as maintaining  transparency in the sector.
