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Nigeria’s Jonathan Weakened by Oil Dispute, Obasanjo Attack

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is facing the biggest test of his three years in office after reports the central bank questioned the lack of accounting for $50 billion in oil revenue and a former leader criticized him for failing to tackle corruption. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a stalwart of the ruling People’s Democratic Party , said in a letter to Jonathan this month that he has failed to tackle graft and security threats in Africa ’s biggest oil producer. He also accused him of widening a split between the mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south in a bid to retain power. Obasanjo’s criticism came after newspapers including Lagos-based ThisDay said Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Lamido Sanusi wrote Jonathan a letter alleging that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. is withholding more than three-quarters of oil revenue earned from January 2012 to July this year. The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria’s leader under fire over missing $50B in oil money

President Goodluck Jonathan is under growing pressure from top-level corruption in Nigeria’s oil industry, with the central bank asking what happened to $50 billion in missing oil revenues and his political mentor, former president Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo complaining about massive fraud in the industry. Meantime, massive oil theft in the Niger Delta, the southern region where Nigeria’s oil production is centered, is rising amid reports of growing politicization of militants who have been blamed for much of the theft in recent years. They have threatened to bring oil production to a halt by 2015 unless the government and foreign oil companies compensate impoverished villagers for massive environmental damage in the region and introduce more equitable sharing of oil revenue. The multifaceted oil issue is becoming a major problem for Jonathan, who hails from the Christian south himself, and is currently grappling with a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria's leader under fire over missing $50B in oil money

President Goodluck Jonathan is under growing pressure from top-level corruption in Nigeria’s oil industry, with the central bank asking what happened to $50 billion in missing oil revenues and his political mentor, former president Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo complaining about massive fraud in the industry. Meantime, massive oil theft in the Niger Delta, the southern region where Nigeria’s oil production is centered, is rising amid reports of growing politicization of militants who have been blamed for much of the theft in recent years. They have threatened to bring oil production to a halt by 2015 unless the government and foreign oil companies compensate impoverished villagers for massive environmental damage in the region and introduce more equitable sharing of oil revenue. The multifaceted oil issue is becoming a major problem for Jonathan, who hails from the Christian south himself, and is currently grappling with a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Eni Shuts Flow Stations at Nigeria Pipeline After Fire

Eni SpA said Saturday it has shut flow stations serving a key pipeline following a fire in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. A spokesman for the Italian company said “a fire occurred along the Tebidaba-Brass line.” “We have promptly started the shut-in operations for the flow stations related to the pipeline,” the spokesman said. The pipeline, which is operated by Eni’s Agip unit, normally carries 75,000 barrels a day of the high-quality Brass grade for export. A Nigerian official said oil theft was the suspected […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pirates Looting Cargoes With AK-47s Threaten African Oil: Energy

Ankur Varma, third officer on the oil tanker M/V Cotton, opened his cabin door at five minutes to midnight on July 14 to find two men pointing AK-47s at him. “They just pushed me into the cabin with the guns in my chest and they told me to stay silent,” Varma said in a phone interview from India . “They were threatening, they were showing the guns, pointing at us. They took everything — everything that we had — including clothes, toiletries, electronics.” They also took the ship’s cargo. The Maltese-flagged vessel was carrying about 10,000 tons of fuel oil belonging to France’s largest oil company when it was attacked by 15 pirates off the coast of Gabon in West Africa. The hijackers kept control of tanker for seven days as they siphoned off the fuel. While Total SA (FP) eventually got its fuel oil back with the help […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Afren finds major oil deposit off Nigeria

LONDON, Nov. 19 (UPI) — Afren, an energy company focused on African reserves, said Tuesday it encountered more oil than it expected in a frontier area off the coast of Nigeria. Afren said it encountered oil at prospecting lease 310 off the coast of Nigeria. It said the results from the exploratory drilling operation were “significantly” better than it expected. The company said Tuesday it drilled its Ogo-1 well to a total depth of 10,518 feet and encountered an oil layer measuring 524 feet thick. Based on that data, the company said it expected the prospect holds at least 774 million barrels of oil equivalent. Afren, headquartered in London, said the Ogo prospect represented a wildcat opportunity, meaning it was located in an area not proven to hold oil reserves, in an underexplored area off the Nigerian coast. It said preliminary data show there may be “several prospects” in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria oil production, GDP increases

ABUJA, Nigeria, Nov. 18 (UPI) — The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics said crude oil production increased more than 7 percent from the second quarter to 2.26 million barrels per day. NBS released data for the third quarter of the year. It said crude oil production increased 7.1 percent from the second quarter to average 2.26 million bpd for the third quarter, Nigerian newspaper ThisDay reported Monday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Nigerian crude oil production for October was 1.8 million bpd. NBS said Nigeria’s gross domestic product increased to 6.81 percent for the third quarter, up from the 6.18 percent reported for the second quarter. The bureau said third quarter GDP growth was attributed largely to economic sectors not related to oil. A July report from the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative estimated Nigeria lost $10.9 billion in oil revenue to theft and sabotage from 2009 to […]

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Exxon: Nigeria not living up to oil potential

LAGOS, Nigeria, Nov. 14 (UPI) — Elijah White, a vice president of Exxon Mobil Production Co., said Nigeria needs to create a “stable and attractive” climate for energy investors. “Nigeria needs to create a stable and attractive investment climate, competitive fiscal terms to attract capital and develop clear regulatory and competitive policies that would enable her to realize the full potential of the industry,” he was quoted as saying Wednesday from Lagos by the Platts energy news service. Nigeria aims to increase its proven crude oil reserves from 35 billion barrels currently to 40 billion barrels by 2020. Companies like Exxon said that’s unlikely, though the Nigerian government said it’s on pace to meet its goals despite a fragile national security situation and declining international investments. Royal Dutch Shell has repeatedly said it was unable to fulfill its contractual obligations in Nigeria because of issues involving militants who, in […]

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Nigeria: Amnesty International – ‘Shell Must Come Clean On Niger Delta Oil Spills’

The rights group Amnesty International and the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development ( CEHRD) say oil giant Shell has been manipulating its investigations into oil spills in Nigeria. A joint report by the two groups says Shell has wrongly reported the cause of oil spills, the volume of oil spilt, as well as the extent and adequacy of clean up measures. Amnesty International says that the consequences for the affected communities in the Niger Delta region are devastating and can result in them receiving little or no compensation. DW: Can you give up us some examples to illustrate the claims you make in your report? Audrey Gaughran: We’ve documented two thingsin the report and one is systematic problems with the oil spill investigation process, where we’ve looked at every step of the process and found flaws. the other thing we’ve documented were specific cases where things have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria: Amnesty International – 'Shell Must Come Clean On Niger Delta Oil Spills'

The rights group Amnesty International and the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development ( CEHRD) say oil giant Shell has been manipulating its investigations into oil spills in Nigeria. A joint report by the two groups says Shell has wrongly reported the cause of oil spills, the volume of oil spilt, as well as the extent and adequacy of clean up measures. Amnesty International says that the consequences for the affected communities in the Niger Delta region are devastating and can result in them receiving little or no compensation. DW: Can you give up us some examples to illustrate the claims you make in your report? Audrey Gaughran: We’ve documented two thingsin the report and one is systematic problems with the oil spill investigation process, where we’ve looked at every step of the process and found flaws. the other thing we’ve documented were specific cases where things have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple