Africa > West Africa > Nigeria > Petroleum / Mining

Petroleum / Mining in Nigeria

  • Osinbajo tasks African petroleum-producing countries on reforms

    NIGERIA, 2017/07/29 The Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, has advised Ministers of African Petroleum Producers’ Orgnisation (APPO) to evolve workable reforms to solve the energy challenges and improve energy access on the continent. Osinbajo made the call while declaring open the extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers of APPO in Abuja on Monday. APPO was founded in 1986 with its headquarters in Brazzaville, Congo.
  • Africa rejects Europe's 'dirty diesel'

    BOTSWANA, 2017/05/04 Ghana and Nigeria are the first countries to respond to reports of European companies exploiting weak fuel standards in Africa. Stricter limits on the sulfur content of diesel will come into force on July 1. Governments in West Africa are taking action to stop the import of fuel with dangerously high levels of sulfur and other toxins. Much of the so-called "dirty diesel" originates in Europe, according to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, last year. The report exposed what Public Eye calls the "illegitimate business" of European oil companies and commodities traders selling low quality fuel to Africa. While European standards prohibit the use of diesel with a sulfur content higher than 10 parts per million (ppm), diesel with as much as 3,000 ppm is regularly exported to Africa.
  • Nigeria: ExxonMobil discovers one billion barrel oil field

    NIGERIA, 2016/10/29 “We are encouraged by the results and will work with our partners and the government on next development plans,” said Stephen M. Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. According to the US oil giant, the capacity of the recent find was between 500 million and 1 billion barrels of crude oil. The Owowo-3 well was drilled by ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater Ventures) Limited. It has a height of 10,410 feet (3,173 meters) and in water at 1,890 feet (576 meters). The company’s statement noted that there were five partners with interest in the current oil find. ‘‘ExxonMobil holds 27 % interest and is the operator for OPL 223 and OML 139. Joint venture partners include Chevron Nigeria Deepwater G Limited (27 % interest), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (18 % interest), Nexen Petroleum Deepwater Nigeria Limited (18 % interest), and the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company Limited (10 % interest),’‘ it said.
  • Ministry Confirms Nickel Find in Kaduna

    NIGERIA, 2016/09/05 The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has confirmed that it is aware of the discovery of high grade nickel in Kaduna National. It however advised excited members of the public to be patient and await an official position of the ministry next due investigation. In a press statement issued at the weekend, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mohammed Abbas, said: “The Ministry of Solid Ministry of Solid Minerals Development is aware of the excitement in the media about the discovery of nickel in parts of Kaduna National.
  • Nigeria resumes cash pay-offs to former militants in oil hub

    NIGERIA, 2016/08/03 Nigeria's government has resumed cash payments for former militants in the restive Niger Delta, an official said on Monday, in a bid to end a wave a wave of militant attacks on oil and gas facilities. In February, Nigeria stopped the payments for former militants who agreed under a 2009 amnesty to stop blowing up crude pipelines in exchange for cash, the official said.
  • Beyond Commodities: How African Multinationals Are Transforming

    BOTSWANA, 2016/05/11 Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”
  • Nigeria: Output Freeze - Opec to Resume Talks in June, Sidelines Non-Member Countries

    NIGERIA, 2016/04/21 The Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC) plans to resume oil output-freeze talk next its members and non-OPEC nations failed to reach a transaction last Sunday in Doha, Qatar. Iraq's governor to OPEC, Falah Al-Amri said on his Facebook page, that discussions would resume in June at OPEC's general conference, to reach an agreement on freezing oil output. His statement came just days next politics thwarted a transaction to cap production and curb the world glut. No transaction will be possible without a change in "political positions," he said.
  • Nigeria's oil company offers to discuss revenue retention claims

    NIGERIA, 2016/04/04 Nigeria's national oil company has offered to talk to an international watchdog that says it failed to hand over billions of dollars in oil revenues despite government promises to tackle mismanagement and corruption. President Muhammadu Buhari last year fired senior staff at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and approved a revamp of its structure last month.
  • Nigeria launches restructuring of oil sector

    NIGERIA, 2016/03/31 Far-reaching and long-awaited plans aimed at reforming Nigeria’s oil industry are gathering pace, though they have met with resistance from some stakeholders. Nigeria’s flagship hydrocarbons industry – which produces an average of 1.95m barrels per day as of January, accounting for two-thirds of government revenue and 90% of export earnings – has been targeted for reform for several years, with draft legislation in the works since 2007. However, the drop in world energy prices has accelerated the pace of reforms earmarked for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
  • Nigeria hopeful oil producers will meet in Russia by end of March

    RUSSIA, 2016/03/09 Nigeria is hopeful some members of OPEC will meet other oil producers in Russia before the end of March for talks about an oil output freeze, Minister of National for Petroleum Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said on Tuesday. Africa's biggest oil producer has been pushing for action by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Nations because the drop in oil revenue, on which it relies for around 95 % of foreign earnings, has undercut its public finances. Kachikwu initial mooted the possibility of talks in Russia last week.