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Boko Haram Threatens to Disrupt Nigeria’s Elections in New Video

Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram. The insurgents distributed leaflets in the town advising residents not to vote in the presidential and legislative elections, which were delayed from Feb. 14. Source: AP Photo (Bloomberg) — The leader of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram vowed in a new video to disrupt Nigeria’s rescheduled general elections starting March 28. “This election will not hold even if we are dead,” Abubakar Shekau said in the video posted on Twitter, which couldn’t be independently verified. “Allah will not even allow it to happen.” Shekau claimed responsibility for a Feb. 14 attack on the northeastern state capital of Gombe, where detained militants were freed. The insurgents distributed leaflets in the town advising residents not to vote in the presidential and legislative elections, which were delayed from Feb. 14. Boko Haram has escalated its six-year-old campaign to impose Islamic law on Nigeria, Africa’s biggest […]

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Egypt Launches Airstrike in Libya Against ISIS Branch

CAIRO — Egypt conducted an airstrike against an Islamist stronghold in Libya on Monday in retaliation for the beheading of at least a dozen Egyptian Christians by a local franchise of the Islamic State, in Cairo’s deepest reach yet into the chaos that has engulfed its neighbor. Hinting at possible further action, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt said in a statement that he had convened “a continuous session” of his National Defense Council to monitor events in Libya and to weigh additional measures. But the strike itself, hitting in the Libyan town of Derna at dawn, was a new turn in the breakdown of regional order in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolts and the Islamic State’s emergence. Nearly three and a half years after the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, two rival coalitions of militias are battling for control over Libya and its vast resources, including […]

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Libya’s Chaos Puts Neighbors on Alert as Italy Weighs Action

Destroyed buildings seen after Egypt’s army warplanes carried out airstrikes in neighboring Libya against targets belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group in Derna, Libya, on Feb. 16. Photographer: Jawhar Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images (Bloomberg) — The beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by Islamic State’s affiliate in Libya is giving impetus to calls for broader military action against Islamist militants in the oil-rich country. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, whose air force bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, said his country will ask the United Nations Security Council to authorize intervention in the North African nation. Italy, Libya’s former colonial ruler, said it would consider sending a force under a UN mandate. The Egyptian military also deployed soldiers at home to “secure vital institutions and installations,” it said in a statement. Tunisia, Libya’s western neighbor, said helicopters and fighter jets were conducting reconnaissance […]

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Oil supply from Libya’s Sarir to Hariga halted after pipeline attack

London (Platts)–16Feb2015/747 am EST/1247 GMT Crude production at Libya’s major Sarir field has been halted following an attack by saboteurs on the pipeline linking the field with the port of Marsa el-Hariga in eastern Libya, bringing the country’s remaining onshore oil production almost to a complete standstill. The loss of Sarir output means Libyan production will now likely have fallen below 150,000 b/d and exports from its onshore terminals effectively halted. Production had already fallen to around 350,000 b/d in early 2014 — less than one third of the country’s capacity of around 1.5 million b/d — due to fighting near key oil infrastructure and attacks on fields, terminals and pipelines. Output continues from the offshore El Jurf and Bouri fields, which have been unaffected by the recent unrest across mainland Libya, at an estimated 100,000 b/d. The latest attack near Sarir occurred early Saturday and resulted in a […]

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Blaze extinguished at Libya’s largest oil field

Blaze at Libyan oil field extinguished, the terrorists concerns spreading in the country. UPI/Tariq AL-hun. Though flames are out at a pipeline from its largest oil field, the Egyptian bombing of Islamic State targets in Libya show terrorists are gaining ground. The fire that resulted from the militant bombing of a pipeline at the Sarir oil field, the largest in Libya, was extinguished during the weekend. Sarir is in the same region as oil fields attacked last week by fighters claiming loyalty to the group calling itself the Islamic State. Libya before NATO-led forces intervened during civil war in 2011 was producing around 1.2 million barrels of oil per day. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in its latest monthly report said member-state Libya was producing around 343,000 bpd as of January, a 27 percent decline from December. Sarir was producing around 185,000 bpd. Libyan production declines since the […]

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Italy Mulls Intervention in Libya to Halt Islamic State

A relative of one of the Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly murdered by Islamic State group militants in Libya reacts after hearing the news in the village of Al-Awar in Egypt’s southern province of Minya, on Feb. 16, 2015. Photographer: Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP via Getty Images (Bloomberg) — Italy’s government will brief parliament this week on the deteriorating situation in Libya as Prime Minister Matteo Renzi considers military intervention to halt the advance of Islamic State on his Mediterranean doorstep. Italy is ready to send more than 5,000 soldiers under a United Nations mandate to stop Islamic State, “which is now 350 kilometers from our shores,” Foreign Minister Roberta Pinotti said in an interview published Sunday in newspaper Il Messaggero. “We’ve been discussing it for months, but now the need for intervention has become urgent.” A power struggle between Islamists and the elected Libyan government has divided the country, driving it […]

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Sisi warns of response after Islamic State kills 21 Egyptians in Libya

CAIRO (Reuters) – Islamic State released a video on Sunday that appeared to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned that his country would respond to the deaths as it saw fit. Speaking on national television hours after the release of the video, Sisi said Cairo would choose the "necessary means and timing to avenge the criminal killings". Egypt’s state news agency MENA quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by Islamic State were dead. The beheadings could stiffen Sisi’s resolve in dealing with security threats from militants thriving in neighboring Libya’s chaos who want to topple his U.S.-backed government. Egypt has denied reports in the past that it had taken part, along with its close ally the United Arab Emirates, in air strikes against militants based in Libya. The footage […]

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Libya Islamists Vow to Combat Islamic State in Sirte: LANA

(Bloomberg) — Libya’s rival Islamist parliament said it would fight to retake the city of Sirte from Islamic State militants, as the North African oil producer slipped deeper into anarchy. The General National Congress’s decision, reported today by the state-run Libya News Agency, came after it agreed with the allied Libya Dawn group of militias to form a joint military force to recapture state installations in the city that militants had seized. The move underscores tensions among Islamists at a time when the GNC and others are seeking to distance themselves from Islamic State, the militant movement that has seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq. It also adds another layer of friction between Islamists who refused to accept the results of last year’s parliamentary vote, and the elected legislature and government that blame them for the spike in violence, saying they created a breeding ground for “terrorists.” The […]

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Libya Warns of Oil Shutdown as Attacks Escalate

Smoke rises from the port of the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi during clashes between forces loyal to the internationally recognised government and militias, on Feb. 14, 2015. Photographer: Abdullah Doma/AFP via Getty Images (Corrects length of Qaddafi’s rule in fourth paragraph in story originally published Feb. 14.) (Bloomberg) — Libya’s state-run oil company warned that it would shut production at all fields if authorities in the divided nation fail to contain an escalation of attacks on facilities that cut crude output to a year-low. “If these incidents continue, National Oil Corp. will regrettably be forced to stop all operations at all fields in order to preserve the lives” of employees, the company said in a statement on its website. “National Oil Corp. urges the Ministry of Defense and the Petroleum Facilities Guard to take the appropriate measures to protect oil sites.” The North African nation’s oil production was […]

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Libya Pipeline Explosion Called Sabotage

Libyan oil officials have blamed saboteurs for blowing up a pipeline and stopping flows from the country’s largest oil field. The fire from the Saturday explosion was extinguished on Sunday, the state-owned National Oil Co. said. The blast affected the pipeline from Sarir, until now the country’s highest-producing oil field at 185,000 barrels a day, said the company on its website over the weekend. The blast came after gunmen assaulted a U.S.-Libyan oil field Friday and less than two weeks after gunmen claiming to represent Islamic State killed nine guards and kidnapped at least three workers at a nearby Libyan-French facility. The field attacked on Saturday is operated by an NOC subsidiary. Libya’s production level fell to about 325,000 barrels a day in January from almost 900,000 barrels in October. Production has been dented by an armed conflict between two rival governments and now oil officials fear foreign terrorist […]

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Two Libyan Oil Fields Attacked

Two Libyan oil fields were attacked on Friday, Libyan oil officials said, in a fresh wave of violence targeting the North African country’s vital energy sector. The Libyan oil officials said guards repelled gunmen who assaulted the Bahi oil field operated by Waha Oil Co., a joint venture between the state-owned National Oil Co. and U.S. companies ConocoPhillips , Marathon Oil Corp. and Hess Corp. Meanwhile, the neighboring Mabruk oil field, operated by a Libyan joint venture with France’s Total SA, was stormed, officials said. “Smoke is coming out of the Mabruk field,” one official said. No one claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks. Mabruk was also assaulted on Feb. 3 in what Libyan officials described as a coordinated terrorist attack. Nine guards were killed and three workers were taken hostage, officials said. A group claiming to represent Islamic State took responsibility for that attack on Mabruk. Libya’s oil production […]

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South Sudan to Cancel Presidential Election Amid Civil War

(Bloomberg) — South Sudan’s government plans to cancel presidential elections scheduled for June 30 and extend its own term by two years amid efforts to end the conflict in the oil-producing country. “In our quest for peace, the cabinet has decided to call off the elections and extend the lifespan of the elected positions so that we give peace a chance,” Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth told reporters today in the capital, Juba. The main opposition party welcomed the move. President Salva Kiir and the legislature’s tenures will be extended until July 9, 2017, Lueth said. Lawmakers will vote next week on a constitutional amendment for the government to continue without elections, he said in a phone interview. South Sudan has been engulfed by conflict since December 2013, when a power struggle within the ruling party turned violent. After Kiir arrested rivals for allegedly plotting a coup and ethnic […]

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Zuma Seeks Nuclear Power to Solve South Africa’s Energy Crisis

(Bloomberg) — South African President Jacob Zuma said his priority is to solve the energy crisis in the country that’s curbing output at mines and factories and stifling economic growth, including adding more nuclear power by 2023. “We will pursue gas, petroleum, nuclear, hydropower and other sources as part of the energy mix,” Zuma, 72, said in his annual state-of-the-nation speech in Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday. “The country is currently experiencing serious energy constraints which are an impediment to economic growth and is a major inconvenience to everyone in the country.” Zuma’s speech follows nine consecutive days of rolling blackouts implemented as demand for power outstripped supply. State utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which provides 95 percent of the nation’s electricity, has warned of almost-daily blackouts until the end of April. The power crisis has soured investor appetite for South Africa’s currency and debt. The rand reached […]

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Nigeria: NNPC Rejects “Missing U.S.$20 Billion” Indictment

Despite a recommendation by a government-appointed auditor that it should refund $1.48 billion (about N248.6 billion Naira) to the federation account, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, insisted Wednesday that it was not indicted by the investigations carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Group Managing Director, GMD, of the NNPC, Joseph Dawha, said the investigations carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers over the alleged missing $20 billion oil money, did not indict the corporation in anyway. Mr. Dawha said the report "has clearly vindicated our long held position that the alleged unremitted crude oil revenue was a farce from day one". He said the $1.48billion the corporation was directed to refund was actually the balance of the book value of the divested assets transferred to NNPC upstream subsidiary, the NPDC, excluding taxes and royalties. "This does not constitute indictment; rather this value is still being reconciled with the Department of Petroleum Resources […]

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Somali Petroleum Minister Sees Start of Oil, Gas Output by 2020

(Bloomberg) — Somalia may start producing oil and gas by 2020 after exploration work showed the potential for “huge” deposits of the resources in the Horn of Africa country, outgoing Petroleum Minister Da’ud Mohamed Omar said. “We expect that Somalia will produce oil and gas in 2020 and the nation will reap enormous benefits such as alleviating the poverty and leading the country into prosperity,” Omar told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Mogadishu. He didn’t identify which oil companies are carrying out exploration work in the country. Somalia is considering its first bidding round for oil blocks since 2009 as increasing stability begins to attract more foreign investors. African Union-backed government forces have regained control of about 70 percent of the country that had fallen under the control of al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked militant group seeking to create an Islamic state in Somalia. The government is in talks with companies […]

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Nigeria: FG Cries Out Over Pipeline Vandalism

Abuja — The Federal Government on Wednesday cried out over the continuing attacks on pipelines supplying gas to power plants across the country, declaring that there are forces undermining its effort to boost power supply to Nigerians. Minister of Power, Cinedu Nebo said in Abuja that pipeline vandals are targeting gas facilities to ensure that power generation do not exceed 4,000mega watt. To check this, Nebo said Government was deploying remote sensing technologies to assist security agents to curb the menace. He, however, stressed that Government efforts would amount to nothing without the collaboration of citizens. Nebo therefore called on Nigerians to join the Government in its fight against the vandals by promptly reporting incidences of vandalism in the areas. To achieve this, Government signed a memorandum of understanding with Charlie Boy, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and other youth groups to sensitize citizens on the activities of […]

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The Battle for Libya’s Oil

The Battle for Libya’s Oil thumbnail The first artillery rounds landed just as the setting sun threw shadows on this barren stretch of coast. Atop an earthen observation berm, a young fighter in an oversize flak vest peered through a makeshift periscope. Six miles away was the prize: white storage tanks filled with oil. Over the walkie-talkie came a hurried voice: “Saadun, Saadun, the bird is here, the bird is here!” Saadun was the codename for a portly commander in the Libya Dawn militia and my escort on the frontline when I visited Libya in January. His men—boys, actually—had teased him earlier for struggling to haul his hefty frame up the berm. The bird was a MiG-21 or MiG-23 fighter-bomber belonging to the rival Dignity forces. An overhead roar gave way to crackling flashes across a cloudless sky—flak from anti-aircraft guns. The MiG dropped its bomb about a mile […]

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East African Countries Could Lose Out On Low Oil Prices

Nairobi — East African countries are unlikely to significantly benefit from falling global oil prices due to inadequate storage facilities, a new research paper released by Deloitte East Africa indicates. "East African countries’ failure to set up sufficient oil storage facilities will mean that the region could miss out on a chance to accumulate cheap stockpiles as is the trend abroad," the research note argues. Over the past few months, global oil prices have more than halved, to stand at just below $50 (Sh 4,568) a barrel for the first time since May 2009. Across East Africa, motorists have however complained that the drop in pump prices is not commensurate with the movements in crude oil prices. "The plunge in prices of oil has rekindled the debate whether lower prices are cascading down to drivers such as the cost of electricity (generated from fossil fuels) and if travellers are […]

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Nigeria Naira Falls to Record as Devaluation Threat Seen Rising

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria’s naira fell to a record after the West African nation’s decision to postpone elections increased risks the continent’s worst-performing currency will be devalued. The naira retreated as much as 1.5 percent to 199.10 per dollar before paring losses to trade at 199.01 by 11:12 a.m. in Lagos. The currency is depreciating for a seventh day to the weakest level since Bloomberg started compiling the data in January 1999, extending losses this year to 7.8 percent, the most among 24 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. “Traders are seeing higher uncertainties in the market with the postponement of the election,” Lanre Buluro, head of research at Primera Africa Securities Ltd., said by phone from Lagos. “There is speculation on the naira with many buying dollars in anticipation of imminent devaluation before the election or after.” Investors are delaying decisions to commit money to Nigeria as escalating violence by the […]

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Libya: Strike Closes Another Oil Export Port

Hariga, an oil export port in Tobruk eastern Libya, has been shut down because of a security guard strike, a port official said, Al Arabiya reported Feb. 8. Hariga was the last functioning export port aside from two offshore fields. Before closing, it exported around 120,000 barrels per day. The guards went on strike the morning of Feb. 7, saying they had not been paid. Libya is in middle of a power struggle between two governments , and the effect on the oil industry has led to a budget crisis. Stratfor provides global awareness and guidance to individuals, governments and businesses around the world. We use a unique, intel-based approach to analyze world affairs. Copyright © 2015 Stratfor Global Intelligence, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 221 West 6th Street Suite 400 – Austin, TX 78701, USA unsubscribe from this list     update subscription preferences | forward email […]

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Nigeria Postpones Elections, Saying Security Is a Concern

DAKAR, Senegal — Nigeria ’s election agency on Saturday night put off a closely contested presidential election after weeks of pressure to postpone it from the ruling party, which analysts say was facing potential defeat for the first time in more than 15 years. The move is sure to anger the opposition, which has been arguing against a postponement, and inflame its supporters in a volatile electoral environment. The election, originally scheduled for next Saturday, will now be held March 28, the election agency head told a news conference in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, late Saturday night. The elections official, Attahiru Jega, after days of what were reportedly heated meetings with the government, cited “security” concerns for the delay. He said that Nigeria’s top military men — themselves close to the government — refused to ensure that security would be “guaranteed” if the vote went ahead as scheduled. The country’s […]

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Oil Companies in the Cross Hairs of Libyan Violence

ENLARGE Firefighters worked to put out a fire at an oil-storage tank in the port of Sidra in January. Photo: Reuters The violence roiling Libya has increasingly targeted oil companies and their assets, upending long-term investments by Western companies and driving down production in a country that helped trigger the world-wide rout in oil prices. In short order, Libyan oil output has fallen to about 325,000 barrels a day in January from nearly 900,000 barrels a day in October, largely because of oil fields being taken over by Libyan militias or shutdowns due to security concerns, according to officials at the state-owned National Oil Co. The plunge in production comes after civil war broke out mid-2014, leading to two big closures at the end of the year. French major Total SA closed the Mabruk oil field in central Libya, a facility that once produced 30,000 to 40,000 barrels a […]

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Special Report: Anatomy of Nigeria’s $20 billion ‘leak’

ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) – In late 2013, Nigeria’s then central bank governor Lamido Sanusi wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan claiming that the state oil company had failed to remit tens of billions of oil revenues it owed the state. After the letter was leaked to Reuters and a local news site, Jonathan publicly dismissed the claim and replaced Sanusi, saying the banker had mismanaged the central bank’s budget. A Senate committee later found Sanusi’s account lacked substance. Sanusi has since become Emir of Kano, the country’s second highest Islamic authority, and has smoothed over relations with the president. He declined to discuss his earlier assertions. Before he was sacked, though, the central banker submitted to Nigeria’s parliament more than 300 pages of documentation in support of his claim. Reuters has reviewed that dossier, which offers one of the most comprehensive studies of waste, mismanagement and what Sanusi called “leakages” of cash in Nigeria’s oil industry. Detailed here, […]

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Angola Must Raise Taxes, Cut Fuel Subsidy as Oil Falls, IMF Says

(Bloomberg) — Angola should raise taxes and eliminate fuel subsidies to help offset plummeting revenue as oil prices plunge, the International Monetary Fund said. “First, get taxes up,” Nicholas Staines, the IMF’s resident representative in Angola, said in a presentation in Luanda, the capital, on Thursday. “I absolutely love taxes. It’s how a state runs. Without taxes, no state.” Oil prices have slumped by more than half since June, cutting revenue in Angola, where crude accounts for almost all of exports and more than two thirds of government income. Authorities have slashed the oil price estimate in the 2015 budget to $40 a barrel from $81 a barrel and are due to publish a revised spending plan next month. Budget revenue will probably drop by $17 billion and oil exports fall by $27 billion based on a $45 a barrel oil price and 2014 average production of 1.66 million […]

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Libya’s Guard Takes Oil Field Stormed by Islamist Gunmen

(Bloomberg) — Libya’s Petroleum Facilities Guard restored control over an idled oil field captured on Tuesday by Islamist gunmen who were said to be seeking a source of funds in the politically divided North African country. The assailants took three Philippine workers as hostages in their retreat from al-Mabruk oil field, Ali al-Hasy, a spokesman for the guard, said by phone on Thursday. Of the 15 guards deployed at the site when it came under attack on Feb 3., two survived and 13 are missing, he said. The field, operated by Total SA as part of a joint venture with Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp., stopped pumping crude on Dec. 15 after an Islamist attack shut Es Sider, the country’s largest oil port and the export terminal for al-Mabruk. Libya’s oil production dropped to 300,000 barrels a day last month from a peak in 2013 of 1.4 million barrels, […]

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Oil Companies in the Cross Hairs of Libyan Violence

Dow Jones Newswires By Benoît Faucon And Georgi Kantchev The violence roiling Libya has increasingly targeted oil companies and their assets, upending long-term investments by Western companies and driving down production in a country that helped launch the world-wide rout in oil prices. In just three months, Libyan oil production has fallen from nearly 900,000 barrels a day in October to about 325,000 barrels a day in January, largely because of oil fields being taken over by armed Libyan groups or shutdowns due to security concerns, according to officials at the National Oil Co. The plunging output comes after civil war broke out mid-2014 and caused two big closures at the end of the year. French major Total SA closed the Mabruk oil field in central Libya, a facility that once produced 30,000 to 40,000 barrels a day. And the country’s main oil port, known as Sidra, was closed […]

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Nigeria Audit Urges Revamp of ‘Unsustainable’ State Oil Company

Lamido Sansusi (Bloomberg) — Nigeria’s state oil company operates an “unsustainable model” and should refund a minimum $1.48 billion to the government, a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP audit recommends. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. spends 46 percent of domestic oil proceeds on operations and subsidies, according to highlights of an 18-month review between January 2012 and July 2013 released by the office of Nigeria’s Auditor General. The NNPC can’t sustain monthly remittances to government or meet operational costs from crude revenue and incurs third-party liabilities to fund the gap, according to the statement. “PwC therefore recommended that the NNPC model of operation must be urgently reviewed and restructured,” according to Auditor General Ukura Samuel’s statement. “The current model which has been in operation since the creation of the corporation cannot be sustained.” The audit came after the former central bank governor of Africa’s largest oil producer, Lamido Sanusi, wrote to President […]

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Nigeria Says It Has Budget Plans for Oil Price as Low as $45

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria’s Finance Ministry isn’t wedded to an oil benchmark price of $65 per barrel estimated in this year’s budget and has plans on how it will respond if crude drops lower. The government has a “scenario-based approach with accompanying adjustment measures, given the uncertainty as to where the oil price would eventually settle,” Paul Nwabuikwu, spokesman for the ministry, said in an e-mail on Thursday. “The scenarios developed go as low as $45 per barrel.” Crude prices have plunged by more than half since June, cutting revenue in Africa’s biggest oil producer and forcing the government to tighten its budget. The currency has slumped 17 percent against the dollar in the past six months, the most of more than 30 African nations tracked by Bloomberg. The government will introduce additional measures to protect capital expenditure in the budget if oil prices remain below $65 a barrel, Nwabuikwu […]

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Nigeria: Jonathan Receives NNPC Audit Report

Lamido Sanusi Photo: Leadership Abuja — PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday received the report of the forensic investigation into the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with a pledge to ensuring that all aspects of the reports would be implemented to move the industry forward. The submission of the report is coming barely 24 hours after Sanusi’s predecessor in office, Prof. Charles Soludo, raised fresh allegation against the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that no less than N30 trillion had been mismanaged under her tenure. But receiving the report at the new Banquet Hall Presidential Villa, Abuja, Jonathan admitted that there had been so much of controversy over this NNPC and expressed the hope that with the submission of the reports, all the issues generated would be put to a final stop. Though details of the reports were not made public, the President has […]

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12 Are Killed in Attack on Libyan Oil Field

TRIPOLI, Libya — Attackers killed 12 people, among them two Filipinos and two Ghanaians, after storming a remote Libyan oil field, a Libyan official said Wednesday. “Most were beheaded or killed by gunfire,” said Abdelhakim Maazab, commander of a security force in charge of protecting the Mabruk oil field, about 100 miles south of the Mediterranean city of Surt. Mr. Maazab added that his men had regained control of the field, which used to pump 40,000 barrels a day but is not operating now. The French energy company Total has a stake in the site, but it is contracted to a Libyan company. The Filipinos worked for an Italian company, Sogepi S.r.l., according to a statement earlier Wednesday by the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs. It reported three of its citizens as among seven foreigners who had been “abducted by unidentified armed men.” With Libya in turmoil, details of […]

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New fighting for Libyan oil ports as UN tries to revive talks

New fighting for Libyan oil ports as UN tries to revive talks thumbnail New clashes erupted on Tuesday between rival factions fighting for control of Libya’s biggest oil ports Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, killing at least 10 people, the two sides said. The fighting came a day after the United Nations said it was seeking a ceasefire to pave the way for a new round of peace talks between factions operating two opposing governments, nearly four years after Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow. Libya’s internationally-recognised government under Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and the elected House of Representatives have been based in the east since a group called Libya Dawn seized Tripoli last summer, set up its own administration and reinstated the old parliament. Troops loyal to the Tripoli government launched an offensive in December to try to take the eastern Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports, which have had […]

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Fighting Resumes Near Libya’s Largest Oil Port

Fighting between rival militias resumed close to Libya’s largest oil port on Tuesday, while Islamic State claimed another attack in Tripoli, as the country further descends into lawlessness. Islamic State’s Tripoli faction had already said it was behind an attack on the upmarket Corinthia hotel in the capital last week that killed nine people, including an American. Clashes erupted at the Sidra oil terminal between Dawn, an Islamist militia that controls the capital Tripoli, and forces loyal to the internationally recognized government based in the east of the country, according to the Facebook pages of both factions and Libyan oil officials. Dawn said it was making military progress and inflicted heavy casualties on the troops of Gen. Khalifa Hifter, who supports the legitimate government. It also said one of its fighters had died and nine had been wounded. The First Brigade of the Libyan National Armyled by Gen. Hifteronly […]

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Gunmen Storm Libyan Oil Field, Says Oil Company Officials

ENLARGE Black smoke billows from a fire at an oil depot struck in crossfire between militias battling in Tripoli, Libya, last July. Fighting for control of the country’s oil facilities continues, with gunmen storming an oil field in central Libya on Wednesday, according to oil officials. Photo: Associated Press Gunmen have stormed an oil field in central Libya, oil officials said on Wednesday, just one day after fighting resumed near the country’s largest oil port. The attack underscores the chaos that is gripping Libya as rival factions vie for the control of its vital oil industry . A spokesman for state oil company National Oil Co. said unknown gunmen had entered the Mabruk oil field, which is operated by its joint-venture with France’s Total SA . Staff were able to leave the premises and are now safe, he said, but the status of the facility isn’t known. A manager […]

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How Floating Armories Help Guard Cargo Ships From Pirates on High Seas

The MNG Resolution, a floating arsenal in the Gulf of Oman, shuttles guards and weapons for private maritime security companies that protect ships in one of the most dangerous shipping routes in the world. Photo: Niki Blasina/The Wall Street Journal ON THE GULF OF OMAN—Before dawn one morning in November, four men on the deck of the MNG Resolution lifted cases of guns and body armor out of shipping containers and heaved them into a waiting speedboat. The team zipped across the water to a tanker, where the crew pulled aside razor wire and hoisted the weapons aboard. The four men clambered up a rope ladder, and the speedboat raced back. The 141-foot Resolution, built 30 years ago to service offshore oil platforms, has a new job: She is a floating armory and bunkhouse for contract security forces. At least a half dozen such boats ply the Gulf of […]

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Libyan oil official released; kidnappers still unidentified

Libyan oil official freed, though no word on responsible party. File Photo by Tariq AL-hun/UPI TRIPOLI, Libya, Feb. 2 (UPI) — Though he’s been released, it’s unclear which group was behind the kidnapping of a member of the Libyan National Oil Co., his family said. Samir Kamal, a member of the NOC’s planning committee, disappeared Jan. 15 while leaving his office in Tripoli. He was released Sunday , though no group has yet to claim responsibility for his kidnapping. "He is well, but of course shaken up," a family member told the Libya Herald. "The reasons for his kidnapping are unclear, and the people responsible are still unknown." Kamal has represented Libya’s interests at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as the country struggles to resume its North American dominance in the 12-member group. OPEC in its January market report said continued unrest in Libya led to "significant disruption" […]

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Dana Gas building momentum in Egypt

Emirati energy company Dana Gas sees strong foundation for growth in Egypt. Photo: Dana Gas. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 2 (UPI) — Emirati energy company Dana Gas said there was positive momentum building behind its exploration and production operations in Egypt. Dana said two concession agreements signed for operations in the Nile Delta provides the company, the sixth largest gas producer in Egypt, a strong foundation for growth . "We see this positive momentum continuing and are excited about our exploration and development plans in Egypt," Chief Executive Officer Patrick Allman-Ward said in a Sunday statement. Dana in early January said it received $60 million from the Egyptian government, which represents about a quarter of its outstanding debt . Political and economic instability in Egypt has left the government in debt to energy companies eager to tap the country’s natural gas potential. The government recently agreed to cover […]

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Islamic State Affiliate Takes Root Amid Libya’s Chaos

ENLARGE A Libyan worker cleans in front of the Corinthia Hotel last week, a day after it was targeted. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency Islamic State’s affiliate in Libya has capitalized on the battlefield failures and disillusionment among better-established, more moderate Islamist groups in the country, following the same formula that brought the radical movement success in Syria and Iraq, Western counterterrorism officials said. A group calling itself Islamic State’s Tripoli Province claimed responsibility for an attack on Tuesday on a hotel that killed nine people, including an American. It was the first time the group came to prominence in Libya, raising concerns that the reach of the extremists is spreading beyond Syria and Iraq. But the attacks also underlined the threat Islamic State poses to more entrenched Islamist groups such as Libya Dawn, a more moderate Islamist militia that is ideologically close to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and now fights […]

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Libyan crude oil came to USGC in November, first time since mid-2013: EIA

Houston (Platts)–30Jan2015/520 am EST/1020 GMT Crude oil from Libya was imported to refiners in the US Gulf Coast in November for the first time since August 2013, according to data released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Administration. In November, two Aframaxes arrived in the Gulf Coast from Libya, chartered by BP and Citgo, carrying 32.5 and 36.6 API crude, respectively, and both with a sulfur content of 0.14%, the EIA data showed. The BP-chartered cargo delivered to Oil Tanking PL in Houston carrying 449,000 barrels, while the cargo chartered by Citgo headed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where Citgo owns a 425,000 b/d refinery, contained 552,000 barrels. Platts cFlow ship-tracking software shows the EuroChampion 2004 deported from Ras Lanuf on October 18, and arrived at Offshore Galveston Lighterage on November 5. The Nissos Delos left the port of Marsa el Hariga on October 27, and arrived the Port of […]

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Explorers Curb 2016 Drilling Plans in Namibia on Oil-Price Drop

(Bloomberg) — The plunge in crude prices to below $50 a barrel has curbed oil and gas explorers’ plans for drilling in Namibia next year, the country’s petroleum commissioner said. “We have at least three majors which have indicated to us that they will be drilling in 2016, Immanuel Mulunga said by phone on Thursday from the capital, Windhoek. ‘‘I am more confident of three instead of five or six’’ announced last year, he said. While Namibia was interesting to explorers ‘‘way before’’ oil rose to $100 a barrel, ‘‘the current trend is worrying,’’ Mulunga said. Explorers are cutting back or delaying projects and drilling plans after crude plunged more than 50 percent since June. Basins off Namibia have attracted attention from the world’s biggest oil explorers on a bet that the southwest African nation’s coastal shelf may mirror that of Brazil across the Atlantic and neighboring Angola, the […]

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Twenty-six killed in attacks in Egypt’s North Sinai

CAIRO (Reuters) – Twenty-five people were killed in a bomb attack on military buildings in the capital of Egypt’s restive North Sinai province on Thursday, while an army major was shot dead at a checkpoint in Rafah near the Gaza Strip, medical and security sources said. The flagship government newspaper, al-Ahram, said its office in the town of Al-Arish, which is situated opposite a military hotel and base that security sources said were the intended targets of the bombing, had been "completely destroyed". Later, suspected militants killed an army major and wounded six others at an army checkpoint in Rafah, security sources said. An Islamist insurgency based in Sinai has killed hundreds of security officers since president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power following mass protests against his rule. Tensions have also been raised across Egypt this week by protests, some of them violent, marking […]

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Nigeria’s Growth Set to Slow to 5.5% as Oil Plunges, Agency Says

(Bloomberg) — Economic growth in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude producer, is projected to slow to 5.5 percent this year after oil prices plunged, the statistics office said. Gross domestic product growth is set to decelerate from an estimated 6.2 percent last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a report on its website. The economy is forecast to expand 5.8 percent in 2016 and 5.8 percent in 2017. “The decline in crude oil prices is a downside to the economy in both the short and medium term,” the agency said. “The crude oil price shocks, the resulting declining government expenditure and its multiplier effects are likely to impact businesses.” Oil prices have plunged more than 50 percent since June, curbing export revenue in Africa’s biggest economy, forcing the government to cut back on spending and prompting the central bank to devalue the naira as foreign-currency reserves slumped. The […]

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Scrapped: Oil Prices Shelve an $11 Billion Gulf Coast Project

A rendering for one of Sasol’s projects near Lake Charles, La. ENLARGE Photo: C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates, LLC South African energy giant Sasol Ltd. said Wednesday it was shelving an $11 billion project on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, imperiling one of the largest foreign investments on U.S. soil because of the plunge in oil prices. Sasol has spent years planning to expand its chemical factory outside Lake Charles, La., into a sprawling facility to turn natural gas into industrial compounds and diesel fuel. In October, the company committed $8 billion for equipment that produces ethylene, which is used to make plastics and other products. That plant is still going forward, but Sasol said on Wednesday that a bigger project, to use natural gas rather than crude to make diesel, is on hold. Plummeting oil prices have forced it to push back its own 2016 deadline for deciding whether to build […]

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Libya Producing 363,000 Barrels per Day

Oil output from Libya, where ports and oilfields have been shut due to fighting, has fallen to 363,000 barrels a day with exports at about 200,000, the oil minister appointed by forces in control of the capital Tripoli told Reuters. Two governments allied to armed factions are vying for control of Libya four years after the toppling of leader Muammar Gaddafi. The United Nations and Western powers do not recognise the administration which controls ministries in Tripoli. Its oil minister, Mashallah Zwai, told Reuters in an interview that Libya is producing 362,780 bpd of oil, showing a report from the National Oil Corp. That is down by half from November, when OPEC member Libya was producing around 750,000 barrels a day, and well below the 1.6 million which the North African country produced in 2010. Zwai said oil revenues would fall to between $10 billion and $12 billion this […]

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In Bold Push Forward, Islamist Militants Attack a Major Nigerian City

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Maiduguri, the major city in Nigeria’s northeast, came under sustained attack from Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday, and officials here called it the group’s most audacious assault on the city to date. By early afternoon, the attackers had been beaten back, but not before dozens of soldiers had been killed, officials said. They said the insurgents had taken a major military base to the north of the city, sending about 1,400 soldiers fleeing into the bush. The attack on this city of more than two million people, a commercial and administrative hub, began late Saturday when the militants from the Islamist insurgency rushed in from at least two directions. Loud explosions could be heard in the center of the city, as well as small-arms fire and artillery in its suburbs. The attack was a significant thrust forward in a creeping campaign that began last summer to […]

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Nigeria: Trans-Forcados Pipelines Attacked Four Times This Year

Abuja — The Trans-Forcados pipelines which carries crude oil from production facilities to export terminals in Forcados has been attacked four times by vandals and oil thieves, since the beginning of this year alone. Executive Director, Gas and Power, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. David Ige who disclosed this in Abuja at the weekend noted that besides the loss of thousands of barrels every day, about 1000 million cubic feet per day of gas are lost too. Ige explained that the loss of gas from the pipelines means several power plants are also shut down. "We have had the vandalisation of Trans Forcados Pipeline almost once every week for the last couple of weeks and it is not just a recent outage. From the first of January this year and today, the pipe has been vandalized, we fixed it and it is vandalized again and again and we […]

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Beleaguered, Nigerians Seek to Restore a General to Power

KADUNA, Nigeria — Boisterous crowds packed the streets for the retired general, while young men climbed lampposts, walls and billboards to glimpse his gaunt face. Others danced on careening motorcycles, brandishing homemade brooms, symbols of his campaign. With Nigeria ’s presidential election only weeks away, Boko Haram’s unchecked rampaging here in the country’s north is helping to propel the 72-year-old general, Muhammadu Buhari, to the forefront. After ruling Nigeria with an iron hand 30 years ago as the country’s military leader, Mr. Buhari is now a serious threat at the ballot box, analysts say, in large part because of Boko Haram’s blood-soaked successes. “The state is collapsing and everybody is frightened,” Jibrin Ibrahim, a political scientist with the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, said of Boko Haram. “They are able to capture more and more territory, but also increase the level of atrocity,” he […]

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South Sudan’s Warring Factions Sign Peace Deal

ENLARGE South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, left, exchanges documents with rebel leader Riek Machar, right, in Arusha, Tanzania, as Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete looks on. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images KAMPALA Uganda—Warring factions in South Sudan have signed an agreement to reconcile the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement party, officials said on Thursday, in the latest effort to resolve the conflict that has ravaged the oil-rich nation for more than a year. Under the deal, signed in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha, the parties agreed to “reunify and reconcile” the three factions within the party, the Finland-based conflict-resolution group Crisis Management Initiative said in a statement. President Salva Kiir, signed the deal with his former deputy Riek Machar —now a rebel leader—and Deng Alor Kuol, the representative of former political detainees who were arrested shortly after the outbreak of the violence in December 2013. The deal outlines the road […]

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Libyan Fighters Seize Benghazi Branch of Central Bank

BAYDA, Libya — Fighters for one of the factions battling for control of Libya seized the Benghazi branch of the country’s central bank on Thursday, threatening to set off an armed scramble for the bank’s vast stores of money and gold, and cripple one of the last functioning institutions in the country. The central bank is the repository for Libya’s oil revenue and holds nearly $100 billion in foreign currency reserves. It is the great prize at the center of the armed struggles that have raged here since the overthrow of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. Western leaders had hoped that it might play a crucial role in helping to bring the rest of the country back together. Since Libyan rebels toppled Colonel Qaddafi with the help of Western airstrikes, the country has slipped into chaos, as militias grounded in particular locations or ideologies have battled for turf, money […]

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Algeria Thwarts Plans to Attack Oil Installations

Algiers — In anticipation of possible attacks on the second anniversary of the Tiguentourine gas plant siege, Algerian troops stepped up security on the southern border. Authorities announced last week the foiling of a series of terrorist operations targeting three areas of oil and gas installations in the south. Army forces already succeeded in dismantling a 12-member terrorist cell that was planning attacks against vital facilities in conjunction with the January 16th anniversary of the In Amenas assault. The operation came a few days after the discovery of weapons and military equipment along the border area with Libya, which sparked fears of a fresh attack targeting oil facilities in the vicinity of Tiguentourine. A defence ministry communique stated that the neutralised terrorist cell was preparing to carry out operations in Algeria in co-ordination with groups operating abroad. The communique pointed to a link between this cell and a terrorist […]

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Algeria expects oil price to fall further, delays spending: PM Sellal

Algiers (Platts)–22Jan2015/608 am EST/1108 GMT Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said late Wednesday he expects the oil price to fall further, adding that Algeria is now in a state of economic "crisis." Speaking on state television, Sellal said Algeria is to defer a number of key infrastructure projects due to the falling oil price as the slump begins to hit the North African country’s economy. "The decline in the oil price will continue and it will not go back to $120/b," he said. "We are in a state of crisis," Sellal said. "Oil is below $50/b, and no one anticipated such a fall." Algeria’s 2015 budget is based on a price of $60/b. "We will continue to invest in social projects, but we will have to cut certain non-essential spending such as trams and railways. These will be postponed," Sellal said. Despite the economic crisis, Sellal said Algeria had […]

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