Oil Sector Archives - Page 2 of 3

Oil in North: Transparency issues becloud �one billion barrels� discovery claim

November 7, 2022November 7, 2022 Aminu Imam

With about seven months to the end of Muhammadu Buhari�s administration as President and Minister of Petroleum Resources, concerns are seriously rising over Nigeria�s exploration activities in the northern part of the country as well as a purported one billion barrels crude oil discovery made in the region. Stakeholders, yesterday, expressed worry over the secrecy in the development amidst transparency issues even as the details of a one billion barrels of crude oil discovered in the Gongola basin, located between Bauchi and Gombe remained only in the news two years…

Oil theft: Another major export pipeline of stolen 400,000bpd crude, platform uncovered

October 17, 2022October 17, 2022 Aminu Imam

Operatives of the company owned by ex-Niger-Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo, and security officials have uncovered a key illegal underwater pipeline attached to Trans-Forcados Export Trunkline, and a platform through which crude oil was being diverted to the high seas for export. The discovery by the company, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd (TSSNL), which is coming few days after an illegal 4-kilometre crude oil pipeline belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) was exposed, was made about a week ago by operatives of TSSNL through an exclusive…

“Buhari Govt. has failed in Nigerian oil and gas sector” – el-Rufa’i�

October 14, 2022October 14, 2022 Aminu Imam

…Says NNPC is Nigeria’s biggest problem Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i, has said the Federal Government should not have anything to do with the oil and gas business and should quit the sector immediately.� The governor took this position while speaking on a television programme yesterday, on the occasion of the seventh edition of KadInvest, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency. El-Rufa’i, while speaking on the theme for this year’s event: �Building a Resilient Economy�, asserted that the Government fumbled in the sector, said…

Crude Oil theft: Nigeria drops to Africa�s fourth largest oil producer

October 13, 2022October 13, 2022 Aminu Imam

…Angola leads Nigeria is facing a record reduction in oil production, oil cartel OPEC reports, dropping from the first largest producer in Africa to the fourth, behind Angola, Algeria and Libya. The latest monthly oil market report released by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) yesterday shows that in September Angola produced the most oil on the continent, at 1.18 million barrels per day (bpd), followed by Libya, with 1.152 million bpd. The report also said that Algeria produced 1.04 million bpd, while Nigeria pumped 1.09 million bpd in…

Oil theft: 1million barrels of crude stolen daily � Senate president, Ahmad Lawan

October 8, 2022October 8, 2022 Aminu Imam

�Says crude oil thieves are Nigeria�s worst enemies The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, says Nigeria loses one million barrels of crude oil daily to crude theft. He made the remarks at the presentation of the 2023 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, yesterday. According to him, the Nigerian economy was still challenged by a dearth of revenues and the situation worsened recently, culminating in the loss of one million barrels of crude per day. He said: �Translated into monetary terms,…

“Why there is no end in sight to curbing oil theft in Nigeria” – Engr. Buba Galadima

October 6, 2022October 6, 2022 Aminu Imam

A chieftain of the New Nigeria People�s Party (NNPP), Engr. Buba Galadima, has warned that there is no end in sight to the massive crude oil theft being experienced in the Niger-Delta area of the country. The elder statesman and renowned politician, who was the Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Authority (NMA), now known as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) from 1996 to 1998, stated this while featuring as a guest on the LibertyTV programme: “Democracy in Practice”, yesterday. Galadima, who was asked whether there is any…

Video Surveillance: In race to curb rising theft, NNPC adopts Saudi Aramco�s model

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Aminu Imam

With losses from pipeline vandalisation and theft overwhelming Nigeria�s oil business in recent weeks, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said it is adopting Saudi Aramco�s model of using video surveillance to monitor its pipelines carrying crude oil from wells to flow stations in the Niger-Delta. The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, disclosed this during a press briefing at the State House in Abuja yesterday. According to him, �We have put up a control centre, it started in April 2022; it�s not yet…

Stakeholders decry how Govts frittered $22bn from ECA in 12 yrs

August 22, 2022August 22, 2022 Aminu Imam

…As Reps Caucus decries crude oil theft, urges probe of officials Various Nigerian stakeholders have lamented that the wasteful culture, poor management, corruption, lack of trust between State and Federal Governments as well as a worsening fiscal outlook may have played key roles in the depletion of the over $22 billion left in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) some 12 years ago. Recall that in less than 12 years, after the death of former President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua, Nigeria has depleted the ECA from a whopping $22 billion to only…

Fiscal crisis: Nigeria bleeds while Middle-Eastern oil producers reap $1.3tr price windfall – Report

August 20, 2022August 20, 2022 Aminu Imam

For many Nigerians and their beleaguered out-going government, these are not happy times. At a time when oil-rich Middle Eastern countries are basking in an unprecedented oil windfall in excess of $1.3trn according to the International Monetary Fund, (IMF), Nigeria, Africa�s top oil producer, is bleeding at a frightening pace. An IMF director for the Middle-East and North Africa, Jihad Azour, told The Financial Times yesterday that relative to expectations before the war in Ukraine, Middle-East oil and gas exporters, particularly the Gulf States, �will see additional cumulative oil revenues…

Insecurity: Foreign oil companies divest N20tr from Nigeria�

August 8, 2022August 8, 2022 Aminu Imam

Some International Oil Companies (IOCs) that are operating in Nigeria have over a period been divesting their portfolio in the country, with current trends reaching an alarming level. Several reports since 2021 had shown that some of the IOCs were in the process of divesting assets worth over N20.8 trillion. For instance, Shell plans to divest about $2.3bn in assets, Eni�s asset divestment is around $5bn and ExxonMobil would offload $15bn in assets. More so, an international energy consulting firm, Rystad Energy, in its energy transition report, estimated that Total…