Category: Nigeria

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, generated about N8.1trillion between 2012 and May 2015, but paid only N4.3trillion to the federation account, Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, said Monday, citing new details from the federal economic council meeting. The balance of the oil money — about N3.8trillion — was withheld and spent by the NNPC unilaterally without approval or National Assembly appropriation, the governor told journalists. Also, the governor confirmed at the meeting that from November 2014, about $2.1billion was withdrawn from the excess crude account without the approval of the National Economic Council, NEC. Mr. Oshiomhole, who, alongside the governors of Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and Zamfara governor, Abdulazeez Yari, briefed journalists, said following the discovery, the NEC has set up a four-member committee to comb the books of the NNPC to confirm its remittances and how the excess crude account was utilised. President Muhammadu Buhari dissolved […]

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Nigeria’s ruling party recommended the government discard a long-delayed oil-industry bill, review fuel subsidies and sell off some units of the state petroleum company. The Petroleum Industry Bill should be scrapped and replaced by a new reform bill that’s based on discussions with international oil companies to “ensure all perspectives are adequately considered,” the All Progressives Congress said in a report obtained by Bloomberg on Monday. Kayode Fayemi, the APC’s policy director, confirmed the authenticity of the document. The bill has been delayed in parliament for six years due to political wrangling and opposition by international energy companies against proposed tax and royalty terms, deterring investment into Africa’s top oil producer. The APC handed the report, which was based on closed-door meetings on May 20 and 21 in the capital, Abuja, to President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office on May 29 and is yet to appoint a cabinet. The […]

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Nigeria ’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday dissolved the board of the state oil company from which billions of dollars is reported to be missing. A statement from the head of the Civil Service, Danladi Kifasi, announced the presidential directive regarding the Nigerian National Petroleum Co., the government agency in charge of nearly all aspects of the country’s oil industry , the seventh largest in the world. Mr. Buhari took office last month promising to halt corruption, and he said this week that Western governments had promised to help recover looted state money. The president’s action came before he has named a cabinet and amid speculation that he may be planning to take charge himself of the petroleum portfolio. A former Central Bank director last year largely blamed the state petroleum company for missing federal revenues of about $20 billion — an amount that the company disputes.

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Nigeria will probably be hit by fuel shortages in three weeks as the government doesn’t have enough money to pay for gasoline subsidies, according to the head of Seplat Petroleum Development Co Plc. “In three weeks we will be back to scarcity because we simply don’t have the money to pay for the subsidy,” Austin Avuru, chief executive officer of Lagos-based Seplat, said on Thursday at a Bloomberg conference at the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Nigeria almost ground to a halt last month during the country’s worst fuel shortage in a decade due to a dispute between oil-product marketers and the outgoing government. The shortage left service stations closed, aircraft grounded, and businesses unable to operate. A lack of oil refining capacity means Nigeria subsidizes gasoline imports and suffers frequent fuel shortages even though it’s Africa’s biggest crude producer of about 2 million barrels a day. President Muhammadu Buhari, who […]

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As the nagging oversupply of physical oil takes its toll, official prices for Nigerian crude have hit their lowest in at least a decade. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) lowered the official selling price for its largest crude oil stream, Qua Iboe, to dated Brent plus 35 cents per barrel, the lowest differential since May 2005. Bonny Light, once in demand for its high yield of valuable motor fuels, fell to dated Brent plus 23 cents, with the differential below May 2005 levels, traders said. According to a report by Reuters yesterday, the drop follows North Sea crude, which hit a 10-year low earlier this week as all Atlantic Basin sellers, particularly those with light, sweet oil, struggle to place cargoes. "They’re playing along now, towing the line with other OPEC members to try and capture market share," said Kash Kamal, senior research analyst with Sucden. Nigeria is […]

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Nigeria’s four refineries are set to roll back to life in July, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said. Ohi Alegbe, the spokesperson for the NNPC told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday that the ongoing phased maintenance of the refineries was nearing completion and that the facilities would soon commence production. "I think by July, the four refineries should begin to work," Mr. Alegbe said. He said the two refineries in Port Harcourt are scheduled to begin to receive crude next week while those in Warri and Port Harcourt would follow shortly after. Mr. Alegbe said the turnaround maintenance of the refineries, which he said began in November 2014, was being undertaken by NNPC’s in-house engineers. "We had to resort to in-house engineers after the original builders of the refineries, who were called in to do the job, kept coming up with outrageous bills," he said. He said parts of […]

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The shale boom that’s reduced U.S. dependence on overseas crude is reverberating in Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil producer cuts the pricing for its flagship grade to the lowest in a decade. The country, part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will sell July supplies of its Bonny Light crude at 23 cents more than Dated Brent, according to an e-mailed statement from state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. That’s the smallest differential since 2005 and compares with a 50 cent premium in June and $2.55 a year earlier, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Surging output from U.S. shale formations contributed to a market glut that drove crude down almost 50 percent last year, roiling global markets as producer nations lost revenue and foreign-exchange reserves. While oil has pared losses this year, prices are still below what some producers including Nigeria and other OPEC members need to balance their […]

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Nigeria’s central bank will meet with banking executives and currency dealers on Friday and will probably discuss foreign-exchange trading restrictions, people familiar with the matter said. While the agenda hasn’t been disclosed, officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria may consult about easing currency trading rules, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the meeting is private. Traders and bankers have called for a loosening of controls enforced by central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele to protect the currency of Africa’s biggest oil producer against a 40 percent slump in Brent crude prices in the past year. The naira has weakened 18 percent against the dollar in that period. Central bank spokesmen Ibrahim Mu’azu and Ugochukwu Okoroafor couldn’t immediately confirm whether a meeting is taking place when contacted by phone on Thursday.

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The federal government and the oil and gas producing companies may have lost an estimated $11.5billion to the drop in the price of Brent crude oil from $115 per barrel in June to $68.62 yesterday, THISDAY has learnt. With Nigeria producing about 2.4 million barrels per day and exporting 2.2 million barrels per day, the country may have lost as much as $11.5 billion between June and November this year, forcing the federal government to introduce a raft of measures to shore up its revenue in the face of dwindling earning from crude oil, its main revenue source. The situation may even become more dire should the slide persist. When THISDAY called the Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala late last night for confirmation of the amount lost so far, she said: “It is not a straight forward arithmetical issue. It is pretty late […]

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The Nigerian government should start selling off its stakes in oil joint ventures with foreign partners to ease the funding issues and leakage of cash due to corruption and waste which have impeded the country’s bid to increase production, oil industry auditors said Monday. The government through state oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. holds an average 57% interest in joint ventures with Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and Eni, which account for about 90% of Nigeria’s 2 million b/d oil output. "This divestment will open the arrangement for private sector participation," auditor the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said. "Above all, it will reduce the corrupt practices, waste and other leakages associated with the management of the JVs over the years," the agency said, adding that the recommendation, following a review of the industry by stakeholders, aimed to assist the reform program of the new government. Article continues […]

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