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.

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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.

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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.

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NNPC REFORM, FISCAL CHANGES, OTHERS STALL PIB PASSAGE

With the Petroleum Industry Bill seeking to restructure the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the lingering concerns of International Oil Companies over the changes in fiscal terms, the passage of the bill should not be expected anytime soon, industry analysts have said.

The delay in the passage of PIB, which seeks to overhaul the oil and gas industry, is said to be taking a toll on the industry

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SENATE COMMITS TO PASSING PIB BEFORE 2015 ELECTION

The Senate President, David Mark, weekend stated that the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB) will be passed into law before the 2015 elections.

He said Nigeria must as a matter of urgency pass the bill because oil companies are beginning to get worried, stressing that the situation might drive away investment in the nation's oil and gas industry

Read more @ Thisday Live

WILL ZERO GAS FLARE BE ACHIEVED EVEN BY 2020?

Africa’s biggest crude exporter, Nigeria has been making frenetic efforts, setting and shifting deadlines to end gas flaring over the years. The country’s unsuccessful attempts to end the hazard, despite deadlines, dates back to 1969, when General Yakubu Gowon ordered oil companies to end gas flaring by 1974. After four decades, records from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) indicate that the country is still flaring about 24 per cent of its 7.8 billion cubic feet gas wells production per day, worth an estimated $2.5 billion annually, due to lack of infrastructure to harness the gas.


Of concern, is the revelation by the international oil companies (IOCs), that they may continue to flare substantial amount of the gas resources in the country until 2020 which, according to them, is the feasible year for the flare out deadline.  The IOCs argue that it takes money to utilize this gas and the government needs to pay its own share of it since they are in joint ventures with government.

Read more @ Businessday

HOW IOCS FLEECE NIGERIA OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN M&A FEES, TAXES

Nigeria reportedly lost about $10 billion in revenue which should have accrued to the country from mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by multinational oil companies over 10 years ago.


A report of an investigation by the Committees on Justice and Finance of the House of Representatives, exclusively obtained by THISDAY, reveals how oil companies manoeuvred their way and avoided payments of fees they were under obligation to pay.

The report also shows that Nigerian officials were willing collaborators as they failed to make demands from these companies monies due to the country.

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OIL THEFT: IOCs KEEP MUM AS STAKEHOLDERS TRADE BLAME

Shell and Chevron, two leading international oil companies(IOCs) active in Nigeria have maintained stoic silence over the declaration on Wednesday by the chief of naval staff, Vice-Admiral Usman Jibrin that oil companies are culpable in oil theft, a LEADERSHIP survey of stakeholder reactions has revealed. 

While Chevron’s general managerin charge of public affairs , Sola Adebonwo, did not respond to telephone enquiries, his colleague, Ibe Ojo, refused to comment insisting that only his boss could talk to the press on the matter. Similarly, Shell spokesman, declined to comment on the issue. However, Nigeria’s representative on the global board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Faith Nwadishi, said the IOCs cannot be exonerated from alleged culpability in oil theft.

Read more @ Leadership

NAVY ACCUSES IOCs OF AIDING OIL THEFT

The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, has accused International Oil Companies (IOCs) of aiding and abetting all forms of criminality in the nation's maritime sector, especially crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and piracy.

Jibrin stated this yesterday in Abuja during a meeting with chief executives of the IOCs at the naval headquarters' conference room to discuss issues on crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and other related crimes in the nation's maritime sector.

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PIB: NIGERIA WILL LOSE MAJOR FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN OIL AND GAS SECTOR

In this interview with CHIKA IZUORA the first female chief executive officer of Total Upstream in Nigeria Mrs. Elizabeth Proust, speaks on the imminent crash of revenue if government fails to consider major oil companies input in the petroleum industry bill (PIB). She predicts mass exodus of investors and low investment if the law is punitive.

The International Oil Companies (IOCs) are fingered as playing politics with the PIB. How true is this?

Read more @ Leadership