OPEC DIVIDED OVER OIL OUTPUT CUTS

OPEC is expected to stick with its strategy of not cutting oil production when its ministers meet in Vienna on Friday, with the cartel split over who should take responsibility for reducing supply to support prices.

Read more @ BusinessDayNg

OPEC NOVEMBER OIL OUTPUT RISES, LED BY IRAQ, SAUDI

OPEC oil output has risen in November from the previous month, a Reuter’s survey found, led by a rebound in Iraqi exports after bad weather had temporarily halted supply growth from the group’s second-largest producer.

Read more @ Businessday

END PETROL SCARCITY IN TWO WEEKS, SENATE TELLS KACHIKWU

The Senate on Thursday asked the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to end the current scarcity of petrol within two weeks.

 

The upper chamber also directed the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Jamila Soara, and heads of other agencies in the sector to ensure steady supply of the product in all filling stations across the country at the approved pump price.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

OPEC’S CONFIDENTIAL REPORT MAY SQUEEZE MARKET SHARE

Global demand for OPEC’s crude oil will remain under pressure in the next few years, the producer group said in an internal report, potentially fuelling a debate on its strategy of defending market share rather than prices.

The draft report of OPEC’s long-term strategy, seen by Reuters, forecasts crude supply from OPEC – which has an output target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) – falling slightly from 2015’s level until 2019, unless output slows faster than expected in rival producers.

Read more @ The Guardian

UNSOLD CRUDE CARGOES RISE TO $3.572BN

The fortunes of Nigeria’s tottering economy worsened yesterday as the stock of its unsold cargoes of crude oil rose to $3.57 billion.

The bearish demand for the nation’s crude oil, which began months ago, degenerated as major buyers like China showed preference for crude grades from Angola over Nigeria’s and helped Angola to fare better in the suppliers’ bearish transactions buoyed by supply glut.

Read more @ New Telegraph

GROUP TASKS NNPC ON SERVICE DELIVERY TO INDUSTRIES

Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria (OGSPAN) has emphasised the need for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure regular supply of petroleum products to industries.
The group, which has endorsed the transformation programme of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, advised Kachikwu to work on the production and refining of different petroleum products in order to meet domestic demand of industries and other consumers.

Read more @ The Guardian

GAS PRICING INTRIGUES HURTING NEW DEALS

The intrigues trailing the formalisation of the gas pricing at $2.50 may have been jeopardising numerous gas-to-power supply deals anticipated by the operating firms in the sector.

The price was approved by the former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke since August last year, but The Guardian gathered that the price has not been properly formalised by the appropriate quarters, thereby making it difficult for prospecting contractors to sign various supply agreements.

Read more @ The Guardian

NNPC SHUTS WARRI REFINERY OVER VANDALISM

Barely a month after it resumed production, the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited has been shut down again, a situation that may constitute a setback to the new administration’s current efforts at shoring up local supply of petroleum products.

 

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said on Sunday that it took the action because the pipelines supplying crude oil to the Warri refinery had been compromised by vandals.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

DPR BEGINS IMPLEMENTATION OF GAS TRANSPORTATION CODE

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has stated that it had commenced the implementation of Nigeria Gas Transportation Network Code (NGTNC).

This is coming as the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) has hinted that gas supply to power plants would increase to 800 million standard cubit feet by the end of 2016.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

HOST COMMUNITY SHUTS SHELL GAS PLANT, DEMANDS ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

Indigenes of Koroama community, which is host to Shell’s Gbarain-Ubie Integrated Gas Plant in Bayelsa State have shut down operations at the gas field and are demanding electricity supply from the power plant component of the facility.

Read more @ The Guardian

US-IRAN DEAL: NIGERIA COULD LOSE N333BN BY YEAR END

Nigeria could lose about N333billion in crude oil revenues by year end, following the nuclear deal reached with Iran by world powers on Tuesday July 14, 2015.

 

The reduction in earnings will come from a further drop in crude oil prices in the international market, due to an exercabation of the supply glut, as Iran increases its crude oil exports, resulting in lower demand by Nigeria’s clients.

 

Read more @ Businessday

BUHARI CONSIDERING RECOMMENDATION TO DEREGULATE GAS PRICES, BOOST SUPPLY

As part of the submission to President Buhari on the roadmap for his government, the oil and gas sub-committee of the Transition Committee recommended the deregulation of gas prices and the acceleration of domestic gas supply to 250mmscf per day within the first 100 days of the administration.

Read more @ Businessdayonline

FREE GAS FROM PROTOCOLS, POLITICS, STAKEHOLDERS DEMAND

One quick and effective way for the Federal Government under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari to encourage investment, make the local industry competitive and generate jobs on a large scale, would be to resolve the protocols and politics cramping the production and delivery of gas, stakeholders say.

Meanwhile, the gas supply crisis threatens to upend the landmark privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity industry, prolonging the pains of millions who expected that years into the process, electricity supply ought to have improved significantly.

Read more @ Businessday

FUEL SUBSIDY: FAILURE OF A 42-YEAR-OLD PRICE FIXING POLICY (4)

 

As the new president, Mohammadu Buhari settles into office today, it is clearly evident that one of the most urgent (may not necessarily be most important) task before him would the optimal decision on the lingering fuel crises (supply or pricing crises) which ironically welcomed him to office while bidding good (or bad) by to the former president Goodluck Jonathan last weekend.

With a flurry of arguments in the public media over the challenges of fuel crises concentrating on one dominant issue, subsidy, our series on this issue in today’s edition is taking a close look at the histonomics or (historical economics) side of the discuss on subsidy.

Read more @ SweetCrudeRep

NIGERIA: FUEL SCARCITY TO LINGER BEYOND MAY 29

There are strong indications that the on-going fuel scarcity being experienced in the country may linger beyond the May 29, date for handover to the President-elect, Muhamadu Buhari.

According to industry operators, the supply of fuel at the depots cannot meet demand. They unanimouslydeclared that the rate at which the tankers are being loaded at the various deports falls short of what could abate the lingering scarcity in the coming weeks.

Read more @ Sweetcrude Reports

POST-ELECTION: FUEL IMPORTATION DROPS, SCARCITY WORSENS IN ABUJA

The rate of importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, to West Africa from Europe has slowed down as demand dropped after Nigeria’s presidential elections.

Reports show that the pre-election relative stability in fuel importation and supply was orchestrated by the administration to win support from Nigerians, and may have been abandoned since the loss in the March 28 Presidential elections.

 

Read more @ SweetCrude Reports

POST ELECTION: FUEL IMPORTATION DROPS, AS SCARCITY WORSENS

The rate of importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, to West Africa from Europe has slowed down as demand dropped after Nigeria’s presidential elections.

Reports show that the pre-election relative stability in fuel importation and supply was orchestrated by the administration to win support from Nigerians, and may have been abandoned since the loss in the March 28 Presidential elections.

Read more @ SweetCrude

POWER SUPPLY FALLS TO 2,988MW

Power supply from the national grid again slumped below the 3,000-megawatts mark to 2,988.72MW on Sunday on the back of gas shortfall and lower water supply to the nation’s thermal and hydropower plants respectively, our correspondent learnt on Monday.

Gas-fired power plants generate about 70 per cent of the nation’s electricity, while the balance is derived from hydro power plants, including the Kainji and Jebba power stations, which have a combined installed capacity of 1,330MW.

Read more @ SweetCrude

GHANA REFUTES CLAIM THAT NIGERIA CUT GAS SUPPLY DUE TO INDEBTEDNESS

The Ghanaian government has denied claims that it owes $100 million to the Nigerian Gas Company, which had led to a cut-off in the supply of gas for its power plants.

A communications consultant to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Edward Bawa, denied the reports that Nigeria has cut gas supply to Ghana in an interview with a local news site.

Read more @ SweetCrude

OPEC PRODUCTION DECREASES BY 53,000BPD

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) produced 30.15 million barrels per day in January, representing a decrease of 53,000 bpd from the previous month.

These declines were mainly due to Iraq and Libya, with Angola, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all increasing supply.
 
Read more @ Guardian