GOVERNMENT INACTION STALLS $18BN BONGA SW DEEPWATER PROJECT

The Nigerian Government’s inaction from 2011 till date towards resolving issues surrounding the multibillion dollar Bonga South-west oil and gas development is truncating the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the project.

Read more @ Businessday

RELIEF AS PPPRA SLASHES NNPC’S ALLOCATION FOR Q2 FUEL IMPORTS

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has released the second quarter petrol import allocations to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the private oil marketing companies, a development that will potentially ease the current product shortages, THISDAY has learnt.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

 

SHELL PROBED IN ITALY OVER $1.1BN NIGERIAN SCANDAL

Italian prosecutors are investigating Royal Dutch Shell as part of a probe into the acquisition of an offshore oil field in Nigeria, the Anglo-Dutch company said on Wednesday.

 

Oil Prospecting Licence 245 was said to have been purchased in 2011 by Shell and Eni for $1.3bn. But corruption scandal has continued to trail the transaction.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

CHINA REDUCES IMPORT OF NIGERIAN CRUDE OIL

Nigeria saw its share of China’s crude oil imports shrink by 7.5 per cent last year as the world’s largest energy consumer reduced its import of Nigerian crude to 10.56 million barrels.

 

China’s crude import from Nigeria stood at 11.41 million barrels in 2014, data obtained on Monday from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation showed.

 

R5ead more @ Punch Online

EU, OPEC WORRY AS LOW OIL PRICES CRASH INVESTMENTS

The European Union (EU) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were apparently unconfortable with the current trends of crude oil prices which has significantly crashed major investments in the sector.

Arising from twelfth energy dialogue in Vienna Austria recently, the dou confirmed that there has been a growing challenge in energy markets, particularly for oil since the last energy dialogue meeting in June 2014.

Read more @ The Guardian

NNPC’S FUEL IMPORT REFORM SCHEME REDUCES U.S. PETROL EXPORT TO NIGERIA BY 10,000BPD

The United States (U.S.) exports of gasoline to Africa decreased by 28,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2015, compared with 2014 due to lower exports to Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest fuel importers.

The EIA, which made this disclosure in a statement at the weekend, attributed the shortfall in U.S. petrol export to Africa to fuel import programme reforms, which took place in Nigeria recently.

Read more @ The Guardian

KACHIKWU APOLOGISES, ASSURES NIGERIANS FUEL SHORTAGES TO EASE OFF NEXT WEEK

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Tuesday apologised to Nigerians for his comment on the nationwide fuel shortages, adding that enough measures had been put in place to end them by next week.

Specifically, he said even though a two-week target had been set to end the scarcity of fuel, he was working assiduously to ensure that between April 5th and 7th, the lingering queues would have largely disappeared.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

SHELL INCREASES GAS PRODUCTION IN EASTERN NIGER DELTA

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture has announced that more gas is being produced from Agbada field in the Eastern Niger Delta in support of federal government’s aspiration of increasing domestic gas production for manufacturing and power generation.

This development is coming at a time Nigeria’s power supply has dropped significantly due to gas shortages to power stations

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

OIL PRICE SLUMP REDUCES SECTOR’S OUTPUT BY N3.6TN

The massive drop in global oil prices impacted negatively on the performance of the Nigerian oil and gas sector, which recorded a decline of N3.6tn in output in the 2015 fiscal period.

 

A report showing the performance of the sector, which was obtained by our correspondent from the National Bureau of Statistics, revealed that in monetary terms, the sector recorded a huge decline of 37.5 per cent from N9.61tn in 2014 to N5.99tn at the end of last year.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

NNPC UNVEILS STRATEGIES TO END CURRENT FUEL SCARCITY IN NEXT FEW DAYS

Apparently miffed by the controversy generated by the declaration of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, that the current petrol shortages could last up to two months, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has unveiled strategies to end the scarcity within the next few days.

The corporation has also reassured Nigerians that it was on top of the petroleum products supply and distribution situation, and remained committed to eliminating this endemic issue once and for all within the next few days.

Read more @ Thisdaylive

LABOUR KICKS AS KACHIKWU SAYS FUEL SCARCITY’LL LINGER TILL MAY

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, on Wednesday, said despite the efforts being put in place by the Federal Government, fuel queues might not be completely eliminated until about two months.

 

He said since he was not a magician, the fuel queues could not be eliminated with a magic wand.

 

Read more @ NNU online

SHELL BOOSTS SUB-SURFACE OIL DRILLING SKILLS IN VARSITY

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has donated an ultra-modern subsurface research centre to The University of Ibadan, aimed at promoting the development of top rate manpower for the nation’s oil and gas industry.

The centre has 15 fully-networked workstations, a high-end server complete with internet facilities and a standby 45-Kva generator among other facilities.

Read more @ The Guardian

STAKEHOLDERS IDENTIFY OPTIONS BEYOND CRUDE OIL RESOURCES IN NIGERIA

Nigerian economy is mono-cultural, depending on a single commodity for revenue generation. Other sectors have been relegated to the background, while the management of oil revenues has proven inefficacious in driving the economy to bring about the needed level of development.

With the recent plummeting crude oil prices and drop in the country’s daily revenue by half, industrialists and experts who gathered at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)/
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) forum, called on the Federal Government to look beyond crude oil for economic development.

Read more @ The Guardian

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MAY OKAY N6.07TR BUDGET TODAY

The National Assembly may today adopt N6, 077,680,000,000 as budget for 2016. This came to light yesterday following the successful presentation by the Appropriation Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives of reports on the 2016 budget which they have been working on since December, 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari laid the budget proposal before the joint session of the National Assembly.

Read more @ The Guardian

NIGERIA’S CRUDE OIL EARNINGS DROP BY 40.3% TO N9,728.5B

Nigeria’s earnings from crude oil resources have dropped from N16,304.0 billion recorded in 2014 to N9,728.8 billion in 2015, representing a 40.3 per cent decline.

The country’s crude oil component of total trade decreased by N4,945.9 billion or 41.6 per cent as against the level recorded in 2014.

Read more @ The Guardian

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO PRESENT HARMONISED PIB NEXT WEEK

Tired of endlessly waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to send a new draft of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to the National Assembly, the federal legislature has taken the bold step to independently initiate the bill towards its prompt passage.

Against this background, the National Assembly had designed its own version of the bill ahead of the formal presentation of its harmonised version before each chamber of the National Assembly next week.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

NNPC FAILED TO REMIT N4.9TR TO FEDERATION ACCOUNT, SAYS FISCAL COMMISSION

Amid the denial by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of the allegation by the Auditor- General of the Federation ( AuGF), Mr. Samuel Ukura, that it didn’t remit into the Federation Account N3.25 trillion crude oil minerals revenue, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission ( RMFAC) has said the amount quoted by the AuGF was under-reported.

According to the commission, the amount standing to the NNPC as un-remitted liability is indeed N4.9 trillion, explaining that the N3.25 trillion only represents the corporation’s liability in 2014. Before then it said NNPC had a pending liability which if aggregated would make it N4.9 trillion.

Read more @ The Guardian

DPR REVIEWS GUIDELINES ON FUEL DEPOT OWNERSHIP

The Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Mordecai Ladan, says the agency has commenced a review of its guidelines to ensure that no one builds fuel depots without retail outlets for distribution.

 

Ladan stated this in Lagos on Saturday at the inauguration of a new filling station along the Lekki-Ajah Expressway by Northwest Petroleum & Gas Company Limited.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

22 MODULAR REFINERIES TO PRODUCE 1.429MBPD

Nigeria’s quest for domestic fuel sufficiency may have been given a lift with the award of 22 licences for modular refineries to private individuals.

The refineries have combined capacities of 1.429 million barrels per day, mbpd. Efforts to boost domestic refining capacity through other alternatives like modular refining, follows the inability of the nation’s five refineries, with combined capacity of 446,000bpd to meet daily national requirement of 40 million litres per day.
Read more @ Vanguard

NIGERIA MAY LOSE N200B TO FORCADOS PIPELINE DISRUPTION

While Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) works towards the rehabilitation of the Forcados Export Terminal pipeline damaged by vandals, Nigeria would have lost about 25 million barrels of crude oil before it’s repaired.

The Forcados Terminal in Delta State, which is one of Nigeria’s biggest terminals with the capacity to export about 400,000 barrels of oil a day, was supposed to export 250,000 between February and May 2016.

Read more @ The Guardian

OIL PRICE RISES TO $40.71 AS OPEC MENDS FENCES

Oil price rose, yesterday, after the world’s biggest suppliers firmed up plans to meet to discuss an output freeze.

Oil producers, including Gulf OPEC members, support holding talks next month on a deal to keep production at current levels, even if Iran declines to participate, OPEC sources said on Wednesday. A meeting would increase the likelihood of the first global supply deal in 15 years.
Read more @ VanguardNgr

COURT TO HEAR APPEAL-CHALLENGING JURISDICTION ON $1.015B CHEVRON DIVESTMENT SUIT

Hearing of the appeal on whether or not the Federal High Court can assume jurisdiction over a matter instituted by Britannia-U Nigeria Limited, seeking the court to restrain Chevron Nigerian Limited from divesting its interests in Oil Mining Leases (OML) 52, 53 and 55 to Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited has been fixed by the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division.

The Appellate Court on Tuesday, fixed November 22, 2016 for hearing of the substantive appeal on CA/L/557/2014.

Read more @ The Guardian

OIL PRICE SLUMP: NIGERIAN COMPANIES’LL SURVIVE — KACHIKWU

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday, allayed fears that the volatility in the price of crude oil in the international market would plunge oil and gas companies and financial institutions in the country into bankruptcy.

According to him, Nigerian companies are resilient and will survive the plunge.

Read more @ VanguardNgr

WHY PRIVATE, GREENFIELD REFINERIES, CAN’T TAKE OFF

Nigeria’s plan of producing over 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), the reason for which 45 licences were issued by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) between 2002 and 2014 for the establishment of private refineries in the country, may remain a pipe dream never to be realised.

This is because the DPR has already withdrawn the licences as the projects failed to take off after an 18-month deadline, due to political interferences, a lack of finance and technical know-how and inability to get the assurance of crude oil supply from the Federal Government.

Read more @ The Guardian

OIL SLUMP: NIGERIA, OTHERS TO MEET IN APRIL

Oil producers, including the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, have supported holding talks next month on a deal to freeze output even if Iran declines to participate, OPEC sources have said, as political pressure to prop up prices increases.

 

Nigeria had in February backed Saudi Arabia and Russia in freezing oil production, while giving Iran and Iraq a way out to regain some of their lost market shares due to sanctions and war.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

NNPC REJECTS AUDIT REPORT ON NON-REMITTANCE OF N3.2TN

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) wednesday rejected the findings of the audit report submitted recently to the National Assembly by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation, stating that the audit query it raised over the non-remittance of N3.235 trillion to the Federation Account was erroneous.

The corporation also said that the report with its “errors” had the capacity of undermining its current and future business operations, compelling it to set the records straight

Read more @ Thisdaylive

SENATE TO PROBE NNPC OVER N3.2 TRILLION ALLEGED FRAUD

The Senate yesterday vowed to probe all alleged financial misdeeds associated with the nation’s 2014 audit report and recommend appropriate sanctions for erring agencies, departments and parastatals of government.

Specifically, it is to investigate the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for alleged failure to remit N3, 234,577,666,791.35 trillion domestic crude oil receipts to the Federation Account.

Read more @ The Guardian

$2B MALABU OIL BLOCK DEAL: ADOKE’S ACCOUNTS UNDER PROBE

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has started investigating the accounts and transactions of a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke(SAN).

Some past public officers are also being probed over the $2billion Malabu oil block deal.

Read more @ The Nation

NIGERIA, IRAQ CUT OPEC’S OUTPUT BY 175,000BPD

Total crude oil production of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell by 175,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 32.38 million bpd in February, courtesy of output slide from Nigeria, Iraq and some other member countries.

Specifically, crude oil output declined by 94,200 bpd to 1.75 million bpd from 1.84 million bpd it recorded the previous month.

Read more @ The Guardian

AUDIT REPORT EXPOSES OVER N3TR FRAUD AT NNPC, ONSA

A damning audit report from the Auditor-General of the Federation, Samuel Ukura, which was submitted to the National Assembly yesterday showed monumental corruption in some Federal Government’s establishments.

Key aspects of the 2014 report which was presented to the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Salisu Maikasuwa, include the alleged refusal of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to remit some N3,234,577,666,791.35 trillion revenue for the sale of domestic crude oil to the federation account

Read more @ The Guardian

NASS ADOPTS $36 OIL BENCHMARK FOR 2016 BUDGET

Indications emerged on Monday that the National Assembly may have finally adopted a $36 per barrel oil benchmark for the 2016 budget as against the $38 benchmark earlier proposed by the Executive in what is seen as a conservative stance on the recovery of volatile oil prices.

Read more @ BusinessDay Online

CRUDE OIL SLIPS TO BELOW $40 AS IRAN DASHES HOPES OF OUTPUT FREEZE

Despite the pledge by Saudi Arabia to cooperate with other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stabilise the oil market, the price of crude oil fell by almost three per cent yesterday after Iran dashed hopes of a coordinated production freeze in the nearest future.

Saudi Arabia and several fellow OPEC members had agreed with non-OPEC Russia to freeze output at January levels in an attempt to prop up prices.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

KACHIKWU: NIGERIA TO BECOME EXPORTER OF REFINED FUEL

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said that Nigeria will begin to export refined petrol and other petrochemical products within the next four years if plans to ramp up the country’s domestic refining capacity work out well.

 

Kachikwu stated this recently in Abuja when he briefed journalists on his plans for the country’s petroleum sector.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

NNPC MAY EMERGE SOLE PETROLEUM PRODUCTS IMPORTER

There are indications that major and independent marketers may be excluded from petroleum products import in the second quarter.
The Guardian learnt that this is due to the failure of the marketers to deliver the 22 percent allocation granted to them which is causing the current scarcity of petrol in the country.

Read more @ The Guardian

TOTAL E&P INVESTS $10 BILLION IN NIGERIA

French oil giant, Total Exploration and Production Nigeria (TEPN) said it has invested $10 billion in Nigeria since it began oil business operations in the country more than 50 years ago. Managing director of Total E&P, Nicholas Terraz has also assured that the oil company would continue to work towards enhancing development.

Read more @ Businessday Online

KACHIKWU: NIGERIA IS TARGETING 2.4MBPD OIL OUTPUT IN 2016

Nigeria is targeting 2.4 million barrels of crude oil per day (mbpd) in output in 2016, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has disclosed. Kachikwu spoke recently in Abuja while outlining his broad strategy for the country’s oil and gas sector for the year.

 

He said that even though the target of 2.4mbpd was not used as a production benchmark for the 2016 budget, he explained that the production volume would be pursued by his ministry.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

PIB, OTHERS THREATEN OUR OPERATIONS IN NIGERIA – SHELL

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has said the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, which seeks to overhaul the Nigerian oil and gas industry, could take a huge toll on its current and future operations in the country.

 

The oil major stated this in its annual report for the year ended December 31, 2015, which was released on Thursday and obtained by our correspondent.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

OIL WORKERS SUSPEND STRIKE, FUEL SCARCITY WORSENS

The industrial action embarked upon on Tuesday by oil workers across the country due to the restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has been suspended.

 

As a result, work resumed at both the Abuja headquarters of the corporation and all its subsidiaries, as well as at petrol stations operated by the national oil firm.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

SENATE, HOUSE DISAGREE ON NNPC RESTRUCTURING

The two chambers of the National Assembly have disagreed with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, over the restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

 

While the Senate has backed the reforms, saying the minister’s action did not contravene any known law, the House of Representatives insists that the restructuring of the national oil firm is illegal.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

OPEC MEMBERS RAKE IN $18.7 BILLION FROM OFID

Nigeria and other 134 countries have so far benefited from $18.7 billion OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

Meanwhile, Brent crude oil price dropped from the $40.84 it earlier recorded to $39.65 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) declined from the $37.90 a barrel to $39.65 per barrel.
Read More @The Guardian

N696BN UNPAID SALARY THREATENS OGONI CLEAN-UP PROJECT

The implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme Assessment report on oil pollution in the Niger Delta is being threatened by the inability of the Federal Government to pay about 36 months’ salary arrears of the workers of the Hydro Carbon Pollution Restoration Project.

 

With barely three weeks to the official commencement of the long-awaited clean-up of Ogoniland by President Muhammadu Buhari, investigation by our correspondent revealed that the three-year backlog of salaries owed workers of the department responsible for the clean-up remained unpaid.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

LABOUR GROUNDS POWER, FUEL SUPPLY OVER NNPC’S UNBUNDLING

Economic activities across the country took a severe blow yesterday following an industrial action embarked upon by workers under the aegis of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and affiliate groups during which electricity installations and petroleum depots belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were shut down.

The angry workers barricaded offices and facilities of the NNPC in protest against splitting into several other business units of the state oil company by the Federal Government on Tuesday.

Read more @ The Guardian

U.S. MAY RAISE SHALE PRODUCTION OVER RALLYING OIL PRICES

A gathering storm may soon hit economies of oil producing countries, as the United States of America (U.S.) has given indications of raising the production of its shale oil, sequel to the rising crude oil prices.

The Brent crude rose to $41.39 a barrel yesterday from 40 a barrel on Monday.

Read more @ The Guardian

PRESIDENT APPROVES NNPC’S RESTRUCTURING INTO SEVEN UNITS, 20 COMPANIES

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into seven new divisions, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, announced on Tuesday at a press briefing in Abuja.

He explained that under the new structure, NNPC will have five core new divisions comprising the upstream, downstream, refining group, gas and power, as well as the ventures’ groups. The other two, he said, are finance and services groups.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

NNPC’S OIL REVENUE REMITTANCE TO FAAC DROPS BY N382M

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) monday said its monthly naira remittance to the federation account dropped by N382 million from N86,340,969,392 to N85,958,157,358 in the month of January.

The corporation, in its January financial and production report which was released yesterday, also explained that it has cut its monthly loss figures from N11.86 billion which it previously recorded in its December records to N3.55 billion.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

OIL PRICES HIT 2016 HIGH, RISE ABOVE $40/BL

The price of Brent crude monday rose for the sixth consecutive trading day in a row, hitting a 2016 peak of over $40 a barrel, as buyers were encouraged by talk that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was targeting a higher anchor price after a sell-off that has lasted nearly two years.

 

The rise in oil prices coincided with comments by the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who advised Nigerians to stop viewing the low oil price environment as a setback, saying that the situation offers the nation an opportunity to diversify its revenue base.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

CRUDE THEFT: FG SUES IOCs OVER $12BN MISSING OIL REVENUE

In a move interpreted by industry watchers as a major step by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to curb the menace of oil theft in the country, the federal government has instituted civil suits against international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the country in a bid to recover over N2 trillion in alleged missing revenues from over 57 million barrels of crude oil shipments that were believed to have been declared or under-declared between 2011 and 2014.

 

Read more @ Thisdaylive

OIL WORKERS KICK AGAINST NNPC’S UNBUNDLING

Oil workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers have expressed reservations about the plan to unbundle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into 30 companies without following due process.

 

The union stated in a statement on Sunday that the move was an attempt to provoke workers in the oil and gas sector and cause industrial unrest in the country

 

Read more @ Punch Online

NIGERIA LOSES N139.2B MONTHLY TO GAS FLARING

Nigeria has continued to lose N139.2 billion monthly to gas flaring following the inability of the Brass and Olokola liquefied natural gas companies to come on stream to reduce the revenue-sapping situation.

The country lost up to $814.14 million (about N162.8 billion) to gas flaring in 2015 alone.

Read more @ The Guardian

REFINERIES RECORD FIRST PROFIT IN 12 MONTHS

Nigeria’s three refineries, for the first time since February 2015, were able to make profit at the close of business in January this year, latest figures from the financial and operations report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation have shown.

 

The report showed that the refineries recorded losses consecutively from February last year up till December; but in January 2016, they made an operating profit of N5.67bn

 

Read more @ Punch Online

AGIP CONTRACTORS FLAY ARREST OF MEMBERS IN BAYELSA

AGIP Indigenous Contractors Association in Bayelsa State has expressed concern over the alleged arrest and detention of two of its members by operatives of Department of State Services, DSS, in the state.

President of the association, Mr Clement Adaminegbe, in a statement in Yenagoa, while lamenting the incarceration of James Angese and Nengi Ikiba in DSS detention, pointed out that since their arrest over two weeks, the DSS had refused to make known to them, the offence they committed, adding that family members of the detainees have not been allowed to take them on bail as it had also refused to charge them to court.
Read more @ Vnaguard
 

FG TO UNBUNDLE NNPC INTO 30 COMPANIES

The minister of state for petroleum resources and group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ibe Kachikwu, on Thursday said that the state-run oil firm will be unbundled into 30 profit-making companies with separate managing directors in the weeks ahead, as part of the ongoing transformation of the national oil company.

Read more @ Businessday

SHELL IN FRESH BATTLE OVER NIGERIA OIL SPILL

Oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, is facing fresh environmental claims in the London High Court from two Nigerian communities who alleged that they had suffered from repeated large-scale oil spills from the company’s pipelines in the Niger Delta.

 

The two separate lawsuits were filed on Wednesday, with Leigh Day representing the communities after winning an unprecedented £55m in damages from Shell in a landmark ruling by the same court last year.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

NAPIMS TERMINATES BRISTOW CONTRACTS

National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), a subsidiary corporate services unit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has called for the termination of Bristow

Helicopters contracts in the country following the emergency landing of a Bristow-operated Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter on February 3, 2016.

Read more @ Tribune online

NIGERIA, ANGOLA, OTHERS OIL EXPORTS TO FALL BY 600,000BPD IN SIX YEARS

Nigeria and her counterparts in Africa producing crude oil will have their crude oil exports fall by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the next six years as production from Africa’s biggest producers slips and rising regional refinery activity absorbs more domestic output, the International Energy Agency says.

Read more @ BusinessDayNg

NIGERIA LOSES $21BN OIL INVESTMENT, FACES STIFF COMPETITION

The Nigerian oil and gas industry, which saw a decline of about $21bn in capital investment in 2015, needs to be repositioned to be able to compete globally for shrinking investment occasioned by the sharp drop in oil prices.

 

Industry operators stated this in Lagos while discussing the issue of low oil prices, the challenges and opportunities.

 

Read more @ Punch Online

UNION FAULTS CALL TO STOP BRISTOW’S CONTRACTS

The Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association has decried the call by the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, a unit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, for the termination of Bristow Helicopters’ contracts following the emergency landing of a Bristow-operated Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter.

 

NAPIMS is reported to have said that the accident and recent incident calls to question Bristow’s maintenance and inspection programmes, thereby requesting on its joint partners to terminate all Bristow helicopter services contracts.

 

Read more @ Punch

OPEC’S OIL, GAS INVESTMENT MAY DROP TO $320B THIS YEAR

The International Energy Information Administration (IEA) expects oil and gas investment in Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to drop from $1.2 trillion it recorded in 1012 to $320 billion in 2016.

The IEA, which made this disclosure in its Medium Term Oil Market report released recently, stated that as a whole, oil export revenues slumped from a peak of $1.2 trillion in 2012 to $500 billion in 2015 and, if oil prices remain at current levels, this will fall in 2016 to approximately $320 billion.

Read more @ The Guardian

SAUDI, IRAQ BATTLE NIGERIA OVER ‘JUICY’ INDIAN CRUDE OIL MARKET SHARE

Saudi Arabia and Iraq are battling Nigeria to gain more market share from India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer, with the two Middle East countries’ oil exports hitting the highest levels in more than a decade, in January 2016.

Read more @ BusinessDayNg

FUEL QUEUES RETURN TO MAJOR CITIES

With long queues of vehicles at filling stations, Nigerians are again contending with the scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has stressed the need for members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-members to cooperate and find a common ground to stabilise crude oil prices.

Read more @ The Guardian

TOTAL FPSO WILL BOOST LOCAL CONTENT DEVT.

The fabrication of the Floating Production Storage Off-loading, FPSO, for Total E&P Egina oilfield project is estimated to boost local content development up from current levels of 10 percent to about 15 percent.

The Managing Director, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics, LADOL Base, Dr. Amy Jadesimi, who disclosed this in Lagos, said upon the completion of the facility, other FPSO’s can berth there.

 Read more @ Vanguard

MULTINATIONALS SAY NIGERIA’S DOLLAR CRUNCH IS HURTING BUSINESS

Multinational groups say a dollar shortage in Nigeria, driven by the oil price crash is forcing local suppliers to buy hard currency at a black market premium, pushing up their operating costs and prices, and obstructing business in Africa’s biggest economy, the Financial Times reports.

Read more @ Businessday