Category: West Africa

Aftermath of Car Bombings in Nigeria People combed through the debris at the site of back-to-back explosions that killed at least 46 people in a crowded business district in the central city of Jos. ABUJA, Nigeria — Two powerful explosions killed scores of people, many of them female vendors, in the central Nigerian city of Jos on Tuesday afternoon, officials and witnesses said. While no one claimed responsibility for the bombing, it occurred as international attention has focused on the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram following the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls last month and may have been a bloody act of defiance. The blasts shattered a bustling market area as working people were doing afternoon grocery shopping. With rescue operations still underway in a chaotic, smoky tangle of blasted stalls and body parts, the police commissioner confirmed that at least 46 were killed and 45 wounded in the […]

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The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s explosion at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) jetty, Okrika, Rivers State, which left an unspecified number of people dead and scores injured. This came as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) called for urgent probe of the incident. In a statement posted online Monday afternoon, MEND said the explosion was part of its Operation ‘Hurricane Exodus" aimed at sabotaging oil installations in the Niger Delta region. The statement signed by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, read, "The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) takes responsibility for the sabotage on Sunday, 18 May, 2014 , on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Refinery Jetty pipelines in Okrika, Rivers State of Nigeria" .

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AN unconfirmed number of people have been killed in a pipeline fire that erupted at one of the local pipelines belonging to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation NNPC in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Residents said vandals who were siphoning fuel from one of the corporations damaged pipeline caused the fire explosion. The Chairman of Okrika local government area, where the incident took place, Tamuno Williams, confirmed the incident. “The fire incident is as a result of oil thieves who were siphoning oil from NNPC pipelines. As you can see, there is no management staff of the NNPC or persons you can say are in-charge of the corporations operations here. "The gates of the NNPC remain closed to visitors, so, we have not seen anybody that we can officially lay our complaints.” He berated the NNPC management for allegedly covering up accidents in their facilities. “Those who survived […]

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There is no better demonstration of how Nigerians suffer unduly on account of the padding of project costs by the International Oil Companies, IOCs, operating in the country than in the sudden request by the Nigerian unit of French oil giant, Total for a review of its Ofon 2 project. Total Exploration & Production Nigeria, TEPN, Financial Vanguard reliably gathered, is seeking additional $3.78billion to an existing $2.85billion originally proposed for the project. If approved, this will bring total costs for the project to $6.63billion, representing a whopping 132.6 per cent increase, a development that is giving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, a majority partner in the Joint Venture, JV, grave concerns. While cost padding is not peculiar to Total, as it cuts across all the multinational operators, this particular review stands out as the price of crude per barrel is being estimated above the $77.5per barrel being […]

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Nigeria’s oil revenue fell about 9% month-on-month to Naira 474.88 billion ($2.9 billion) in April, due to disruption to oil production and exports at the Shell operated Forcados oil terminal and ExxonMobil’s export terminals, Nigeria’s finance ministry said Friday. "Oil revenue fell to about Naira 474.88 billion in April compared to about Naira 519.99 billion in March. The decline in revenue is due to production shut-in at the Qua Iboe and Yoho terminals as well as the shut down of Forcados," the ministry said in a statement. Consequently, Nigerian government revenue dropped to Naira 584.15 billion in April from Naira 614.35 billion in March. Oil accounts for more than 80% of Nigerian government revenue. But Nigeria’s crude production and exports have declined steadily over the last 12 months because of pipeline problems, production shut-ins and large-scale oil theft. Nigeria’s central bank estimated that the country’s oil production averaged 1.86 […]

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Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced on Thursday that the accounting firm – PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been appointed to carry out the audit exercise on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the alledge missing $20 billion. She spoke during a debate at the 24the edition of the World Economic Forum for Africa with theme: "Forging inclusive growth, creating jobs." Okonjo-Iweala said the exercise would be carried out within 16 weeks under the supervision of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation. The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had blown the whistle on a missing $20 billion, which he claimed was not remitted to the federation account by the NNPC. Following the controversy generated by the revelation, Okonjo-Iweala said the forensic audit would help unravel all mystery surrounding the missing fund. "On the issue of holding government to account, […]

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The allegation of contract inflation in the oil and gas industry by oil firms, particularly, international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria is generating ripples in the sector, THISDAY investigations have revealed. Presidency sources hinted that top officials of multinational oil companies use their connections in the presidency to secure oil and gas contracts at very exorbitant rates, when compared to costs of executing similar projects in other parts of the world. It was gathered that the oil majors often bypass the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to get direct approval from the presidency on multi-billion dollar projects that were hitherto disapproved by the corporation because final costs of their execution were ridiculously high. A Canadian oil company operating in Nigeria was said to have recently submitted a tender for a multi-billion dollar project, for which the cost was far higher than what it takes to execute similar project […]

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Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc , which has interests ranging from agriculture to oil, said it will drill wells on its prospecting lease after signing a production-sharing deal with the state oil company. Transcorp paid $30 million for oil-prospecting lease 281, or OPL 281, following a sale by the Nigerian government in 2007. The lease holds an estimated 104 million barrels of oil reserves, 335 million barrels of probable additional reserves and about 4 trillion cubic feet of gas, the Lagos-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. “We are excited by this development and the opportunity to fully exploit the huge reserves and gas resources,” said company Chairman Tony Elumelu. “We will produce enough gas to run our Ughelli plant to its current installed capacity of 1,000 megawatt and expand this to over 3,000 megawatt in the near future.” Transcorp, 44 percent owned by Elumelu, was set up […]

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