Category:

Pirates Suspected of Hijacking Oil Tanker

An oil tanker that has disappeared off the coast of West Africa may have been hijacked by pirates, potentially marking the most southerly such attack to date in increasingly dangerous waters off African oil hubs Nigeria and Angola. The MT Kerala, a Liberian-flagged tanker carrying fuel oil, is owned by Dynacom Tankers. A person working for Dynacom in Athens said that the company hasn’t had any contact with the vessel since Friday afternoon. "We don’t know if the vessel has been hijacked—it is a suspected hijack," said the person, who didn’t want to give his name. Dryad Maritime Intelligence, a U.K.-based shipping intelligence firm, said that it had warned of a "suspect vessel operating off the Angolan coast" in the days leading up to the MT Kerala’s disappearance. If confirmed, this would mark the most southerly hijacking in the waters off West Africa for the purposes of refined product […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria Overstates Crude Production in 2014 Budget – Report

Global rating agency, Standard & Poor’s, S&P, yesterday, raised concerns that Nigeria’s crude oil production forecast of 2.39 million barrels a day in the 2014 budget, was over-estimated. This, according to the rating agency, was due to increased tension in the Niger Delta region and the forthcoming 2015 general elections. Ravi Bhatia, an analyst at S&P, said: "It’s a concern if they have a big rise in pre-election expenditure and there’s a big revision on the oil price or there is a production shortfall due to Niger Delta tensions. High global oil prices are helping to sustain the picture as it stands now." Bhatia described as optimistic, the 2.39 million barrels a day projection put forward by the Presidency to the National Assembly According to him, a $10 to $15 fall in the global oil price might change the fiscal equation for Nigeria, adding that " the country is […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Italy's Eni Shuts Nigeria Pipeline After Sabotage

Eni SpA said Friday it had shut down an export pipeline following a sabotage in the Niger Delta of Nigeria as community unrest adds to oil theft to rattle the oil industry in the restive African nation. "There was a shutdown of the pipeline, due to sabotage" in Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria, a spokesman The pipeline, called Tedidaba-Brass pipeline and operated by a local Eni joint-venture, normally carries the high-quality Brass grade for export. The Eni spokesman said the Italian company was losing 3,500 barrels […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Italy’s Eni Shuts Nigeria Pipeline After Sabotage

Eni SpA said Friday it had shut down an export pipeline following a sabotage in the Niger Delta of Nigeria as community unrest adds to oil theft to rattle the oil industry in the restive African nation. "There was a shutdown of the pipeline, due to sabotage" in Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria, a spokesman The pipeline, called Tedidaba-Brass pipeline and operated by a local Eni joint-venture, normally carries the high-quality Brass grade for export. The Eni spokesman said the Italian company was losing 3,500 barrels […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigerian oil unions drop strike threat as government says won't sell refineries

The Nigerian government will not privatize its four ailing oil refineries, labor minister Chukwuemeka Wogu said Wednesday, prompting the country’s two powerful oil workers’ unions to declare that they have now dropped plans to embark on a nationwide strike intended to cripple crude oil production and exports. "The Federal Government is not selling the nation’s refineries," Wogu said in a statement issued after a meeting with the unions in Abuja. The government called the meeting after the unions had threatened to begin a strike this week aimed at forcing the government to reverse earlier announcements by two government agencies that Nigeria would commence the sale of the state-owned refineries by first quarter of this year. "After extensive deliberations on the situation with the refineries, the two parties agreed that…the unions shall not embark on any form of industrial action over the subject matter," Wogu […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigerian oil unions drop strike threat as government says won’t sell refineries

The Nigerian government will not privatize its four ailing oil refineries, labor minister Chukwuemeka Wogu said Wednesday, prompting the country’s two powerful oil workers’ unions to declare that they have now dropped plans to embark on a nationwide strike intended to cripple crude oil production and exports. "The Federal Government is not selling the nation’s refineries," Wogu said in a statement issued after a meeting with the unions in Abuja. The government called the meeting after the unions had threatened to begin a strike this week aimed at forcing the government to reverse earlier announcements by two government agencies that Nigeria would commence the sale of the state-owned refineries by first quarter of this year. "After extensive deliberations on the situation with the refineries, the two parties agreed that…the unions shall not embark on any form of industrial action over the subject matter," Wogu […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ivory Coast Sees Soaring Oil Output Rivaling Ghana by 2019

Ivory Coast Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan said his nation will boost oil production within five years to 200,000 barrels a day, rivaling neighboring Ghana as stability returns to a country racked by a decade of turmoil. The West African nation wants oil companies to increase exploration and drilling offshore after output more than halved to about 30,000 barrels a day because of technical problems, he said in an interview Jan. 6. Ghana pumps about 100,000 barrels a day and wants to more than double output to 250,000 by 2021. Ghana is West Africa’s fourth-largest producer, after Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. “We have about 50 oil blocks of which half have been awarded,” Duncan said in the commercial capital, Abidjan. “We expect to add at least five wells a year.” President Alassane Ouattara has pledged to spur economic growth by investing in energy and infrastructure […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigerian government did not approve oil refineries privatization plan: report

The Nigerian government did not approve a plan to sell the country’s four ailing refineries, state media reported Friday quoting presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, contrary to earlier reports that the president had given the green light for the privatization of the plants. "The Federal Government will not sell the refineries. There is no presidential endorsement. Even the minister does not have the powers to sell government’s property," Abati was quoted as saying in state radio. Nigeria’s state privatization agency, the Bureau of Public Enterprise, on December 21 said it had received approval from President Goodluck Jonathan to proceed with the sale of the four state-owned refineries despite strong opposition and strike threats by the country’s powerful oil unions. "President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the commencement of the privatization of the nation’s four refineries by the BPE. This is in keeping with the [government] agenda, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigerian President Gives OK for Oil Refineries Privatization

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the launch of the privatization process of the country’s four oil refineries, the Bureau of Public Enterprises said Friday. The BPE listed the refineries as the Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd. I, Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd. II, Kaduna Refining & Petrochemical Company Ltd. and Warri Refining & Petrochemical Company Ltd. The refineries with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels a day have worked well below their installed capacities for years due to poor maintenance. As a result, Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, relies on fuel imports to meet around 80% of its needs for gasoline, diesel and other petrochemicals. The two refineries in Port-Harcourt have a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels a day, Warri has a daily processing capacity of 125,000 barrels and Kaduna has a capacity of 110,000 barrels. Further details on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria Plans to Stick to Spending Targets as Oil Output Falls

Nigeria plans to spend 4.9 trillion naira ($30.96 billion) in 2014, little changed from this year, amid government expectations of reduced oil production. Budget proposals submitted by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to lawmakers today in Abuja on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan are based on an oil output of 2.39 million barrels a day and a price of $77.5 a barrel. The economy will expand 6.75 percent next year, faster than this year’s 6.5 percent estimate, with the budget deficit increasing to 1.9 percent of GDP from 1.2 percent this year. Africa’s biggest oil producer will use an exchange rate of 160 naira a dollar to calculate its expenditure, according to the minister. Oil output estimates for next year are 6 percent lower than the figure of 2.53 million barrels a day used for this year’s spending plan. In his medium-term expenditure proposals sent to lawmakers in September, Jonathan […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple