FG GRANTS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY TO JOINT VENTURES

The Federal Government, Wednesday, granted financial autonomy to some Joint Venture (JV) oil companies, giving the JVs control over their budget, empowering them to source for funds and remit taxes, royalties and dividends to the government.

Read more @ Vanguard Online

OIL, GAS EXPLORATION COSTS SET TO FALL 33%, SAYS WOOD MACKENZIE

As oil and gas industry operators adjust to the low oil price environment with exploration budget cuts in 2015 expected to average 30 per cent, a new report by Wood Mackenzie suggests that the cost of exploration in the sector will slump by 33 per cent by 2016.

In its report “Upstream cost deflation: how much could costs of exploration fall?”, Wood Mackenzie stated that exploration deflation will average 33 per cent by 2016, comprising three global elements that are locally compounded by favourable exchange rate moves.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

OIL PRICE SLUMP: NIGERIA SLASHES 2015 BUDGET

The Federal Government has more than halved capital expenditure to less than 10 per cent of the 2015 budget spending, axing badly needed infrastructure investment due to the collapse in the price of oil, the country’s main source of revenue, according to the full budget submitted to the national Assembly.

Even though government’s capital spending seldom materialises as planned, shelving projects such as port upgrades and roads will only perpetuate the inefficiencies that have plagued Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy for decades.

Read more @ SweetCrude

FG SLASHES PETROLEUM SUBSIDY BY N771BN AS PRODUCT LANDING COSTS SLIDE

The Nigerian government has slashed the amount that it would pay for petroleum subsidies in 2015 by N771 billion to N200 billion, with the hope that landing costs of oil products would continue to drop as oil prices drop.

The N200 billion which is against N971 billion paid in the current 2014 fiscal year, is contained in the 2015 budget proposal awaiting appropriation before the National Assembly.

Read more @ Businessday

NIGERIA BUDGET CUT PLEDGE FALLS SHORT AS OIL PRICES DROP

Nigeria’s pledge to trim spending in the face of plunging oil prices may fall short of what’s required as Africa’s biggest crude producer heads into an election year.

Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s proposal to cut expenditure by 6 per cent may be insufficient to address investors’ concerns after oil prices plunged by about 30 percent since July, said economists including Alan Cameron of FCMB Group Plc (FCMB) in London. The budget approval process will probably also face delays because of the vote, scheduled for February 14.

Read more @ Thisday Live

SENATE REJECTS $78 OIL PRICE BENCHMARK

Strong indications emerged on Wednesday that the Senate had rejected the $78 oil price benchmark proposed for the 2015 budget as contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper sent to it by President Goodluck Jonathan penultimate week.

The development, according to a source in the upper legislative chamber, came as a result of the decision of the Joint Senate Committee on Finance and National Planning to return the 2015-2017 MTEF and FSP document to the Senate’s leadership.

Read more @ The Punch