Thursday 26 January 2017

WHY WE SPONSOR QUIZ CONTESTS, BY MOBIL

Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) has said that it sponsors quiz competitions amongst secondary schools in Bonny, Rivers State, because “it is a key strategy for enhancing reading and learning culture amongst students in the locality.” The General Manager, Public and Government Affairs of MPN, Mr Paul Arinze, who said this during the seventh edition of the competition organised for secondary schools in Bonny by NNPC/Mobil Joint Venture, expressed hope that the programme would continue to provide a platform for interaction and healthy competition amongst the students.



NNPC LACKS OIL TRADING SKILLS, SAYS GMD


The Group Managing of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, on Wednesday said the firm lacked international oil trading skills. According to him, several attempts made by the national oil firm’s management in the past to have a stronghold on oil trading have not yielded the expected dividend.


TOTAL RETURNS TO THE “CAPE OF STORMS” IN LATE 2017


Total will return to drilling in the ‘Cape Of Storms’ in late 2017, a full year and several months after the original planned date. The French major halted drilling in Block 11B/12B in South Africa’s offshore Outeniqua Basin in November 2014 because of mechanical problems on the rig, caused by the challenging environment in the Agulhas, with its chaotic combination of currents, waves and winds, which contrasts sharply with the mild metocean conditions of the West African deepwater.

Wednesday 25 January 2017

NIGERIA SEES OIL HITTING MID-$60S IN COMING MONTHS AS OPEC BITES

Crude oil prices hovering around $55 a barrel since early December, will climb by about $10 in the coming months, as OPEC-led measures to curb a glut take hold, Nigeria’s oil minister said. “Ultimately, the effects over the next few months will get us to where we want to be, which is in the mid-$60s.”


INDIGENOUS FIRMS NEARING COMPLETION OF STRUCTURES FOR $16B EGINA FPSO PROJECT


Indigenous oil firms have demonstrated local capacity in the execution of the over $16 billion worth Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility for Total’s Egina oil field project. The Egina field, when completed, is expected to add 200,000 barrels per day to the national oil production by 2018, while the project will be completed in 2017.

UPSTREAM ASSETS ACQUISITION TRIPLED TO $31BN IN DECEMBER – REPORT


Total acquisitions of oil and gas fields, known as upstream assets, tripled to $31 billion in December, according to data from consultancy Energy Market Square. Deals in the last month of 2016 alone accounted for nearly a quarter of total activity during the year, the report added.

Friday 20 January 2017

KEROSENE FULLY DEREGULATED, SAYS PPPRA


The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency on Thursday said that the kerosene market had been fully deregulated and that there was no plan to increase petrol price. Its reaction on kerosene was based on the recent astronomical hike in the price of the product and calls by consumers as well as operators for an intervention by the Federal Government.

NCDMB PLANS CATEGORISATION OF OIL, GAS FABRICATION YARDS

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB)  has said as parts  of it efforts  to support  investments  in the oil and  gas  sector it would soon embark on the categorisation of the over $10billion fabrication yards and other major service companies scattered across the country  for specific work scopes.

TOTAL NIGERIA LAUNCHES TRUCK RENEWAL SCHEME


Total Nigeria unveiled new fleet of trucks in Lagos to launch its truck renewal scheme. The robust fleet acquisition scheme is targeted at renewing 20 percent of Total Nigeria’s fleet of trucks in 2017 in order to ensure a continuation of its sustainable business model.

Thursday 19 January 2017

COURT REPRIMANDS FG FOR POOR HANDLING OF CASES AGAINST IOCS


Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday reprimanded the federal government for not diligently prosecuting its case against Shell and other oil companies. At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, counsel to the plaintiff, Mr. Charles Nwabulu, informed the court of his application for amendment of his pleadings.

EWT FABRICATES PILES FOR TOTAL’S $15BN EGINA PROJECT


A subsidiary of the Obijackson Group, Energy Works Technology Limited, has completed the fabrication of nine Oil Loading Terminal buoy anchor mooring piles for the Egina field development by Total Upstream Nigeria Limited. The piles were inaugurated on Tuesday during the load-out and sail-away ceremony at Nestoil Industrial Area, Abuloma Jetty, Port Harcourt.



OPEC RAISES OIL FORECAST TO 95.60 MILLION BPD


The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in its latest Monthly Oil Market Report, raised its forecast for global crude oil demand to 95.60 million barrels daily, up by 1.16 million bpd from the estimated 2016 average of 94.44 million barrels daily.

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Monday 16 January 2017

PROFITABLE RETAIL OPERATIONS BUOY TOTAL NIGERIA EARNINGS


In the midst of operating difficult which characterised much of 2016 Total Nigeria emerged the top earner on the back of its downstream operations. From the first quarter of 2016, the company maintained high growth momentum and ended the year as the leading company by earnings per share.

SHELL, NNPC, OTHERS SURGE NIGERIA’S CRUDE PRODUCTION ABOVE 1.8M BARRELS DAILY


Nigeria’s crude oil output from contracts and ventures between international oil companies (IOCs) such as Shell and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has surged above 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd), owing to the relative peace in the oil rich Niger Delta.

NNPC TO FAST-TRACK REPAIRS OF VANDALISED PIPES


The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has promised to fast-track the repairs of all pipelines vandalised last year to ensure stable gas supply to thermal power plants for improved power supply. The Corporation made the commitment during a closed-door meeting of operators and stakeholders in the power sector with the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, in Lagos.


RENEWED OIL SEARCH PUSHES NNPC’S DEFICITS TO N19BN


The renewed search for crude oil in the frontier inland basins has started impacting the monthly trading financials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), its monthly financial and operations report for November 2016 has disclosed.


NLC CHIEF WARNS FOREIGN OIL FIRMS AGAINST DISRESPECT OF LABOUR LAWS


Leading labour leader, Issa Aremu has urged international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria to ensure decent work conditions for their workers in tune with the nation’s laws. Aremu was speaking yesterday against the backdrop of the recent three-day warning strike called by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).


50 COMPANIES BID FOR NNPC’S BOAT SUPPLY CONTRACT


At least 50 companies are scrambling to provide sea worthy tug boats on charter time basis for the maritime operational requirements of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt.

The public bid opening for the contract, which held at the NNPC Headquarters Abuja, had in attendance representatives of the bidding companies with officials of the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR; Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI; Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB; and some members of the civil society as observers.


Wednesday 4 January 2017

FULL DOWNSTREAM DEREGULATION NECESSARY TO ATTRACT INVESTMENT


Deregulation will herald free market regime, where the forces of demand and supply will dictate price, and free government’s interference and price fixing. The stakeholders, which included the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu; Chairman, Integrated Oil and Gas Limitd, Emmanuel Iheanacho; and former Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Reginald Stanley, at different fora in Lagos emphised the need for quick deregulation of the subsector.

NIGERIA TO END IMPORTATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS BY 2018 – MINISTER



Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said the Federal Government will ban the importation of refined petroleum products by 2018. A statement, made available to our correspondent in Abuja, disclosed that Onu said this in his country home Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State while addressing a meeting of stakeholders of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

OIL HITS 18-MONTH HIGH AT $58PB AS OUTPUT CUT BEGINS


Crude oil price rose to an 18-month high of $58.37 on the first day of trading in 2017, yesterday. This followed anticipations anchored on a possible deal between members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members, which could lead to cut in production.

Tuesday 3 January 2017

FG BEGINS N5,000 PAYMENT TO ONE MILLION POOR NIGERIANS


The Federal Government plans to spend N915m on counterpart funding for the procurement of contraceptive commodities this year. The budget for the national distribution of the commodities is also included in the allocation. The sum is part of the total sum of N31.bn allocated to the Federal Ministry of Health in the 2017 Appropriation Bill currently before the National Assembly.

OIL PRODUCING SAUDI ARABIA AND MEXICO PLAN FUEL PRICE HIKES AS NIGERIA DIGS IN


Saudi Arabia and Mexico will ditch artificially low petrol costs this year, as the increase in international oil prices combine with strained public finances to make it too expensive to maintain artificially low prices. This is in contrast to Nigeria, which has since resisted calls to review an eight-month old petrol price template.

NIGERIA’S OIL OUTPUT TOPS FOREIGN INVESTORS’ CONCERN


Foreign investors planning to invest in Nigeria and other global markets this year are taking a keen look at the nation’s oil output among other factors. According to a Financial Times’ report, oil supply from the world’s biggest producers will be in focus from the first trading day of January as market participants assess the extent to which countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia reduce production following a global deal to cut supplies for the first time since the global financial crisis.

NEITI CONDEMNS N1.1 TRILLION TAX WAIVERS TO OIL FIRMS


By granting Pioneer Status, the Federal Government has waived $2.1 billion (N1.1 trillion) to 22 oil companies through tax holiday as at 2014. These companies are operators in the marginal field segment of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, according to the latest report from the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
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