Energy/Oil & Gas

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday said it was wrapping up funding arrangements on the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project. Dr. Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of NNPC, who disclosed this yesterday while speaking at the Nigerian Day during the 30th edition of Gas Technology Conference in Barcelona, Spain, explained that tremendous progress was recorded towards securing funding for the project during the last visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Beijing, China. Dr. Baru, who was represented at the event by NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power, Engr. Saidu Mohammed, revealed that the Corporation had gone far in negotiating the terms of funding as well as the best payback structure for the project, affirming that the financial partners...

The imports of Nigerian crude oil and other West African grades to the United States look set to plunge to nearly zero amid growing shale oil production in the North American country, our correspondent has learnt. The US Atlantic Coast imports of West African crude oil are expected to decline due to harsh arbitrage conditions made difficult by the large premium of ICE Brent futures over West Texas Intermediate, as well as strong premiums for WAF grades. According to S&P Global Platts, Traders tracking these grades exported in the US expect WAF imports to the USAC to fall to virtually zero. The USAC from May to August imported an average of roughly 24 million barrels a month, of which 8.7 million barrels were from West Africa, data from the Energy Information Administration com...

The construction of the 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day Dangote Refinery is expected to help Nigeria save over $7.5 billion through import substitution. The project, will put Nigeria on the global map as major oil and gas hub in Africa, the Group Executive Director, Devakumar Edwin, has hinted. Nigeria currently imports large amount of its petroleum products due to the inability of refineries to utilize their full capacity. For example, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) latest data showed that the downstream of the Nigeria oil and gas sector imported N812billion of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) during the first quarter of 2018. According to NBS, the country imported N349.45 billion worth of PMS in March 2018, representing the highest volume of petroleum product import dur...

Crude oil production from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries increased last month as Saudi Arabia pumped near-record volumes to make good on a pledge to consumers that demand would be met. The kingdom’s oil production grew by 230,000 barrels a day in July to 10.65 million barrels per day. This is just shy of an all-time peak reached in 2016, according to Bloomberg’s survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data. Higher crude output from the Saudis, along with Nigeria and Iraq, pushed up total production from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries by 300,000bpd, offsetting losses from a spiraling economic collapse in Venezuela, political clashes in Libya and the onset of US sanctions against Iran. The group’s 15 members, which now include Congo,

Global oil benchmark, Brent crude, fell further on Monday amid talk of a possible release from global crude reserves, according to data from the International Monetary Fund showing a slowdown in global economic growth and the potential for United States waivers on Iran oil sanctions. Brent, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, dropped by $3.18 to $72.15 per barrel as of 8:30pm Nigerian time. “The market is on the defensive because of the potential release of oil from global reserves,” said a senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, Phil Flynn, according to MarketWatch. The President Donald Trump administration is considering a release from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, though a draw down from the stockpile of crude is not imminent, The Wall Street Journal reported on

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, an indigenous independent oil and gas firm, has said it has optimised its capital structure to enable it invest more and continue to pursue its growth opportunities. The Chief Executive Officer, Seplat, Mr Austin Avuru, who stated this at the firm’s ‘Facts behind the Figures’ presentation at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, disclosed that the company was targeting  opportunities to acquire more assets. Avuru said, “For us, almost everything we do, both in terms of emphasising our corporate governance structure and culture, and how we manage our assets and plan our work programme and budgets, is all about being a company that will consistently deliver natural gas into the domestic market and crude oil for exports.” He said the firm would contin