Shell’s Bonga Southwest/Aparo major boost for Nigeria’s deepwater - GlobalData
V
ienna, Austria -- An oil and gas analyst has described the decision by Royal Dutch Shell and its partners to commence the tendering process for the development of Bonga South West/Aparo, BSWA, deepwater oil project offshore Nigeria as a major boost for the countr y's
deepwater development. Cao Chai, upstream oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, noted that the development would open further opportunities in Nigeria's deepwater oil and gas sector. “The agreement between Shell Nigeria Exploration and
Production Company (SNEPCo) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is a key step towards a final investment decision (FID) for BSWA. It will open further opportunities in the deepwater oil and gas sector in Nigeria, whilst creating significant benefits for the state. BSWA,
located in in OML 118, OML 132 and OML 140, will be the first major deepwater project in Nigeria since Egina, which started development in 2013. “The FID for BSWA was initially set for 2014; however, it has faced various delays due to the oil price crash in the same year, as well as the high costs associated with
deepwater developments and a dispute over the key commercial terms of the related production sharing contract," he said. BSWA has the potential to produce 150,000 to 200,000 barrels of oil per day, which will
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A Review Of The Nigerian Energy Industry facebook.com/sweetcrudereports
WEEKLY
UU PP D D A A TT EE SS WEEKLY BASKET PRICE FEB-15 FEB-08 FEB-01 JAN-25 JAN-18 JAN-11 JAN-04 DEC-28 DEC-21 DEC-14 DEC-07 NOV-30 NOV-23 Daily | Weekly | Monthly | Yearly
63.07 61.93 60.47 60.76 58.34 58.04 53.40 51.34 55.20 59.05 59.95 58.80 62.83
February 20, 2019
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Port terminal operators, shipping firms impose new illegal levies
63.07U$
72 70 68 66 64 62 60 58 54 52 50
NOV18
DEC18
JAN18
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Oyo, Benue, Taraba pay highest price for petrol in January Lagos -- Newly-released figures by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, have listed Oyo, Benue and Taraba states as seeing the highest price of the premium motor spirit, also known as petrol, in January, this year. The figures showed that while consumers of the product paid an average N150.50 per litre price in Oyo State during the month, those in Benue paid N150.09 and Taraba, N150. This is a far cry from the official pump price of N145 per litre. The NBS found that the average price paid by consumers for petrol decreased by 23.7 percent year-on-year and 0.1 percent month-on-month to N145.70 in January 2019, from N145.80 in December 2018. States with the lowest
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Apapa port, Lagos
VINCENT TORITSEJU
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agos -- Following the introduction of registration fees by the Nigerian Shippers' Council, NSC, shipping firms and port terminal operators have introduced frivolous levies with a view to maximising profit to the detriment of the nation's
economy. Some of the new charges introduced and now collected by terminal operators include terminal deliver y charges, Nigerian port charges, Customs examination charges and bill of lading documentation charges. In one of the bill of lading documents obtained by
Sweetcrudereports from Grimaldi Shipping, a N75,000 charge, labeled ‘Nigerian port recovery charge’ was seen while its terminal, Ports and Terminal Multiservice Limited, PTML, had other questionable charges, such as terminal delivery charges, Customs examination charges, bill of lading documentation
early renewal of the licences of oil blocks to enable it raise the necessary fund for the budget. “We have actually asked for early renewals, because we needed to get money out of it to help finance the budget and from that process, we have actually gotten about $2 billion,” he had said, adding: “I put a policy of early renewals in place so that even blocks that are not due for renewal before 2019 are being renewed right now”.
charges, among others. Similarly, strange demurrage fees are being charged by terminal operators as they latch on to the inaccessibility of the Lagos port roads to fleece freight forwarders and importers of their container deposits via colossal demurrage. While NSC claimed to be oblivious of these sharp practices, maritime stakeholders have expressed worry that terminal operators have been unwilling to extend their three days' grace period to cushion the effect of the Apapa traffic congestion on port users. A senior Cusoms officer in Lagos, who preferred anonymity, stated that Nigerian port recovery charges, bill of lading charges and Customs examination charges were frivolous as such activities were captured in the ter minal handling charges. Our source, who is vast in trade facilitation processes, lamented
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Govt earns N2tr from oil royalty recovery scheme
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a g o s - - T h e Fe d e r a l Government’s royalty recovery scheme has so far generated N2 trillion, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has revealed. The minister made this known as he also disclosed that oil and gas companies operating in the country would not get renewals to their licenses unless their outstanding royalties were paid. According to him, companies that had shown seriousness and mapped out how they intended
OPEOLUWANI AKINTAYO to settle their royalty indebtedness would get their licenses reviewed, but would not get their final certificate until they had settled their debts. Earlier in January, Kachikwu had announced that the government had generated about $2 billion from early renewal of licences of expiring oil blocks. The minister, who had said the fund would go into financing the 2019 federal budget, stated that the government opted for an
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Port terminal operators, shipping firms impose new illegal levies
Oil
U.S. drillers add oil rigs for second week in a row H
ouston -- U.S. energy firms last week increased the number of oil rigs operating for a second week in a row amid concerns that crude supplies will swamp global demand as U.S. output keeps growing from record levels. Companies added three oil rigs in the week to Feb. 15, bringing the total count to 857, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report. The U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is still higher than a year ago when 798 rigs were active after energy companies boosted spending in 2018 to capture higher prices that
year. Thanks to a shale boom, the United States became the world’s top crude producer last year and record output is expected to rise 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to 12.4 million bpd this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a monthly forecast. The Inter national Energy Agency warned in its monthly report last week that the global oil market will struggle this year to absorb fast-growing crude supply from outside the Organization of t h e Pe t r o l e u m E x p o r t i n g Countries, highlighting U.S.
Cooking gas price down in January -NBS L
agos -- The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has indicated that the average price of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas, was down in January, this year. It said in its latest consumer index figures that the average price for the refilling of a 5kilogramme cylinder of the cooking gas decreased by 0.63 percent month-on-month and 6.86 percent year-on-year to N2,039.82 in January 2019, from
Cooking gas cylinders N2,052.79 in December 2018. States with the highest average price were Bauchi (N2,540), Adamawa and Cross River (N2,350), and Borno (N2,325), while those with the lowest average price were Osun (N1,703.57), Ogun (N1,700) and Enugu (N1,672.22).
output growth. However, U.S. drillers have removed on average of 28 rigs this year so far as a lack of pipeline capacity in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. oil shale field, landlocked some output and as investors pushed producers to reduce spending and boost shareholder returns. The price of crude in the Permian of West Texas and New Mexico fell sharply last year, selling as much as $18 below U.S. benchmark prices. More than half the total U.S. oil rigs are in the Permian where active units fell by five last week to 473, the lowest since June.
Gas Similarly, the average price for the refilling of a 12.5-kilogramme cylinder of the product decreased by 1.25 percent month-on-month and 1.16 percent year-on-year to N4,277.86 in January 2019, from N4,332.06 in December 2018. While states with the highest average price were Akwa Ibom (N4,850), Abia (N4,761.54) and Delta (N4,757.14), those with the lowest average price were Oyo (N3,945), Lagos (N3,876) and Kano (N3,866.67).
Power
Power generation plant
India plans over $12bn in power plant, EV incentives to cut pollution
N
ews Wires -- India has proposed incentives worth 885 billion rupees ($12.4 billion) to encourage power plants to install equipment to curb emissions and to develop infrastructure for electric vehicles, EVs. The bulk of the money, 835 billion rupees, would be aimed at curbing sulphur emissions from power plants, with the rest devoted to development of EV infrastructure in
70 cities over five years ending 2025, a government statement said. The proposal by India’s power ministry to its finance commission is in addition to an existing proposal that envisages installation costs for emission-cutting equipment to be passed on to consumers. The ministry’s plans come against the backdrop of a utilities sector under financial stress, with loans from mostly state-run lenders
turning sour or requiring restructuring, according to an Assocham-Grant Thorton report this month. The Association of power producers, an industry group that represents private companies such as Reliance Power and Adani Power as well as state-run NTPC, had been lobbying for incentives for the past two years.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01 that terminal operators through the new charges and their other illegal actions, were killing port business in the country and inhibiting the nation’s economy from growth. Drawing an analogy, he said; “This problem can be likened to a situation where someone buys an airplane ticket and gets onboard. Suddenly, someone appears and says you have to pay for the seats and lights in the plane separately. He also demands that you pay for the air-hostesses to attend to you and the food for the pilots. "Wouldn’t that be abnormal? But that is what is obtainable in the Nigerian port sector because these charges are what make up the terminal handling charges”. Speaking with Sweetcrudereport on the development, the Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto, said the issue had since been on despite the complaints by the licensed customs agents. “These are the issues we have to deal with in the industry and when we shout, people see us and think we are mad. We shout that way as a result of what we go through on daily basis. At times, we finance the clearing of the containers with our personal monies,” he said. According to Farinto, ANLCA had confronted the terminal operators to explain the Nigerian port charges, but they revealed that they were collecting the money on behalf of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA. “We have written to NPA to tell us the importance of this collection but they haven’t answered us. “What is clearing charges, Customs examination charges, and others?” Farinto queried. He added: “At Grimaldi, there would be container deposit charges and provisional demurrage charges. It is criminal to have provisional charges, but, when we complain they insist that if we could return the container on time, they would write-off the provisional charges”. When confronted about these charges, the Director, Monitoring, and Compliance at NSC, Chief Cajetan Agu, expressed shock at the development, assured our correspondent that NSC would begin investigations into the erring terminal operators and shipping companies. Efforts at getting the reaction of the NPA to the development remained unsuccessful at the time of going to press. The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, has, however, debunked claims that the Shippers’ Council has been oblivious of these charges as the association had written to the Council and held several talks with its management on the issue. NAGAFF Public Relations Officer, PRO, Mr. Stanley Ezenga, revealed this while he confided freight forwarders’ plight to our correspondent, stating that, “the charges are not new”. “These are part of the myriad of challenges that freight forwarders are facing here in Nigeria. We have articulated some of these issues with Shippers’ Council who ought to be the port economic regulator. We are following up the development with the top management of Shippers’ Council. “However, we are business people and it is our duty to deliver consignments to our clients. We wouldn’t allow the containers to continue to stay at the terminals while we discuss with NSC because it would accumulate more demurrage. As soon as the goods arrive we do everything to deliver while we are still deliberating with Shippers’ Council on these abnormal charges,” he said. When contacted to clear the issues, the General Manager at PTML, Mr. Babatunde Keshiro, said that he was on vacation and not able to respond to the request.
Govt earns N2tr from oil royalty recovery scheme CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01 Kachikwu also revealed that about 30 fields were granted licences by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, while about 40 others were awaiting approval by President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the Minister of Petroleum.
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Power Shell’s Bonga Southwest/Aparo major boost for Nigeria’s deepwater -GlobalData CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01 account for about 10 percent of Nigeria's crude oil production. Chai added: “BSWA fits in with Shell’s renewed focus on deepwater projects, with the company sanctioning a significant number of deepwater projects in Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico over past few years. “Shell is also well established in Nigeria with the deepwater Bonga Complex already in production and a large portfolio of onshore assets, most of which were granted license renewals last year.”
Suspected electricity cable vandals
Two vandals, accomplice bag two years jail term To Pay N150,000 to Kaduna Electric
L
agos -- The Chief Magistrate in Yabo, Sokoto State, Alhaji Bashar Ibrahim, has sentenced two vandals, Faruk Hussaini and Ila Yellow, and their accomplice, Kabiru Bala, to prison for tampering with and stealing power supply equipment belonging to Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company. The first and second accused were sentenced to six months imprisonment for each of the four offences preferred against them while the third accused, currently at large, was sentenced to one month imprisonment and a fine of N10,000 for the offence of receiving stolen property. In addition to the imprisonment, the convicts were ordered to pay to Kaduna Electric, the sum of N150, 000 being the value of the stolen incomer cable. The accused were arraigned before the court for the offences of criminal conspiracy, trespass, mischief, theft and receiving stolen property contrar y to sections 97, 342, 334, 287 and 317 of the penal code. The Prosecuting Police Officer, Sergeant Abdulkareem Abubakar, and the Investigation Police Officer, Sergeant Saminu Adamu, had earlier told the court that sometime in August 2018, the accused persons were
reported to have criminally trespassed on the K aduna Electric’s distribution sub-station situated at Adarawa village and destroyed its feeder pillar box and other accessories. They also cut and made away with the incoming cable. Sergeant Saminu Adamu, while being led in evidence by the prosecutor, further told the court
that on the 8th day of September, 2018, Faruku Hussaini, Abubakar Altine, Ila Yellow went back to the same transformer with intent to cut and make away with the remaining cables but the first and third accused persons were apprehended by the Adarawa village vigilante group members while Ila Yellow escaped.
Oyo, Benue, Taraba pay highest price for petrol in January CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01 average price were Abuja (N144.20), Ekiti (N144) and Ondo (N144) On the other hand, consumers of automotive gas oil or diesel paid more for the product in January as prices increased averagely by 1.59 percent month-on-month and 5.27 percent year-on-year to N225.09, from to N221.56 in December 2018. States with the highest average price were Kwara (N249.00), Borno (N243.67) and Ebonyi (N239.29) while Adamawa (N197.50), Rivers (N201.86) and Ekiti (N203.57) had the lowest average price.
Finance
N904bn funding gap threatens vessels acquisition by Nigerian shipowners VINCENT TORITSEJU
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agos -- The Nigerian shipowners will need an additional N904 billion to the N36 billion accrued in the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund, CVFF, to acquire vessels needed for the maritime industry in the next four years, a report has shown. The report is coming as the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, said that the CVFF is not enough to finance the acquisition of maritime assets by
indigenous shipowners. According to Nigeria’s Maritime Industry Forecast 2019-2020, tagged, “Harnessing The Maritime And Shipping Sector Fo r S u s t a i n a b l e G r o w t h ” , launched in Lagos by NIMASA, Nigeria’s maritime sector has been estimated to spend about N939.5 billion ($2.588 billion) on vessels financing in the next four years D r. Pe t e r s i d e , w h o w a s considering the fact that shipping is capital intensive, said since the CVFF is not adequate to address the huge demand for
A vessel
maritime asset, NIMASA was looking at other ship financing models to encourage the local operators. “To enable Nigerians to play a major role in the maritime and
Labour
Oil workers caution youths on electoral violence P
MKPOIKANA UDOMA
ort Harcourt -- As Nigerians go to the polls for the presidential and national legislative elections in three days, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENG A SSAN, has cautioned youths in the country against being used by politicians. The senior oil workers' union also cautioned the security
agencies as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be independent and neutral before, during and after the elections. Speaking exclusively to our correspondent, PENGA SSAN Zonal Chairman, Port Harcourt Zone, Comrade Azubuike Azubuike, said the advice was imperative, because oil workers were also stakeholders in the country.
A z u b u i ke w o n d e r e d w h y elections in this part of the world were usually a do-or-die affair, whereas politicians in reality were supposed to be contesting to serve the people. According to him, "I want to advise that this election should not be a do or die affair. "If the contestants actually want to serve the people, I believe it shouldn't be a do or die affair. If it is not for pecuniary gains, why must elections be a do or die
affair? "I want to urge Nigerians, especially the youths who the politicians will use and later dumped, that whatever they will get through election thuggery will never satisfy them." The zonal PENGASSAN boss further cautioned against electoral violence and intimidation of voters, saying that neutrality on the part of security agencies and the electoral umpire would engender a free, fair and credible elections.
shipping sector, two things are critical, the first is asset acquisition and the second is human capacity. “It’s a known fact that shipping is capital intensive and that the CVFF which there is so much noise about isn’t adequate to address the huge demand for Maritime assets. Because of that NIMASA is working with other stakeholders and we are looking at other ships financing models," he said. He continued, “We have had series of engagement at the highest level with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Federal Ministry of Finance (FMOF) and we are pushing for special intervention funds at special interest rate not more than a single digit interest rate and other incentives that will drive optimal performance in the sector. “We shall not relent in our drive to put the right framework together to help beneficiaries and investors have a good return on investment.”
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Freight
NIMASA, others accused of lacking commitment to maritime sector growth VINCENT TORITSEJU
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agos -- Stakeholders have accused the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and the Nigerian Shippers' Council, NSC, of lacking commitment to the growth of the maritime sector. They laid the allegation as t h e y e x p r e s s e d disappointment at the absence of the three key agencies at the grand maritime summit for national budget financing organised recently by the National Economic Growth Summit
Group, NEGSG. The absence of the agencies at the summit drew the ire of stakeholders who berated them for showing lack of commitment to the growth of the industry by their nonattendance. However, the stakeholders have posited that the Nigerian maritime industry, if wellf u n d e d b y t h e Fe d e r a l Government, could provide the much-needed revenue to save the nation from the perennial national budget deficit, which has become the bane of poor or non-existence of infrastr ucture in the country.
Tincan Island port, Lagos Dr. Alex Okwuashi, Rector, Certified Institute of Shipping of Nigeria, CISN, in his paper,
“How the Nigerian maritime subsector can fund the national budget”, noted that
the national budget for the past six years were all based on projected earnings from crude oil, whose prices have been nose-diving over the years, resulting in the slow down of the national economic growth. He maintained that the maritime sector had the potentials to fund the budget but that the federal government must prepare to address the glaring maritime infrastructural deficit and provide policy support for the industry. Okwuashi said: ‘’The national budget, which the maritime subsector has the potential to fund, must be seen to be fair in allocating the much-needed funding so that the sector can generate the revenue necessary to d e f r a y F e d e r a l G o v e r n m e n t ’ s expenditures".
Community
Presidential Amnesty Programme empowers 3,540 persons in N'Delta MKPOIKANA UDOMA
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Warri port
SIFAX to make Warri Port’s Terminal B toast of clients L
agos -- The Sifax Group has taken over as new operator of old Terminal B, Warri Port, with a pledge to keep to all agreements and promises made on running of the port. Managing director of the company, Mr. Adekunle Oyinloye, who gave the assurance, said Ocean and Caro Terminal Services Limited, the new operators, will deliver on its mandate to make the place the toast of clients. Speaking as he formally received the old Warri Terminal B of the port from the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Oyinloye explained that Ocean and Caro Terminal Services Limited are indigenous companies that have come together to run the place. According to him, the company has been a major player in the marine industry and will contribute to the growth of the local economy of the host communities while they go about their business. Earlier, the Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, who was represented by the Executive Director, Marine, and Operations, Mr. Seconte Davies, appealed to the host communities to encourage the new investors to succeed, urging them to also give room for the port to regrow the economy of the area and the region.
ort Harcourt -- No fewer than 3,540 persons from impacted communities during the Niger Delta militancy crises have been empowered by the Presidential Amnesty Programme with various starter packs such as welding equipment, sewing machines, freezers, among others. Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and C o o r d i n a t o r, A m n e s t y Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, flagged off the empowerment programme in Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. Dokubo said no fewer than 177 persons profiled from various communities for each of the 20 distribution centres across states in the Niger Delta, have received items for various trade areas, which included welding equipment, tailoring, catering, deep freezers, and generators of different sizes. He said residents in various communities from Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states had benefited from the distribution exercise held in Warri, Opukiri, Ogwashukwu, Abonnema, Degema and Buguma; Eket/IkotIkpene in Akwa Ibom State; and Ohaji Egbema/Owerri in Imo State.
EDITOR Chuks ISIWU
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The programme was also ongoing at other centres, including Gelegele and Auchi in Edo State, Yakkur and Calabar South in Cross River State; others are Ilaje and Okitikpupa, Ondo State, as well as Ukwa East/West and Umuahia North/South, Abia State. Dokubo warned recipients of the various items against selling what they got, but to make judicious use of them to eke a living. "This is special empowerment for people who are not among the 30,000 beneficiaries captured in
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t h e Pr e s i d e n t i a l A m n e s t y Programme; it is meant for people in crises-impacted communities in the Niger Delta. It is to demonstrate that the Amnesty Programme is for all the people of Niger Delta, and we care for you," he said. The traditional ruler of Degema, King Reuben Zechariah Amos, urged the Federal Government to sustain and adequately fund the A m n e s t y Pr o g r a m m e f o r effective transformation of the Niger Delta.
NSCDC arrest 14 suspected oil thieves in Rivers
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ort Harcourt — The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, says it has arrested 14 suspected oil thieves in Rivers State in the last five weeks as part of its commitment to combating nefarious activities. State commandant of NSCDC, Mohammed Haruna, while parading the suspects, said it was no longer going to be business as usual for oil thieves in the state. Haruna warned that any attempt to get close to oil pipelines would meet stiff resistance from the anti-vandal team of NSCDC. He stated that between January and the first week of February 2019, the Corps, apart from arresting 14 suspects, also impounded two barges and six trucks used in illegal oil bunkering. He said: “On 1st January 2019, at Alakiri, a barge containing unquantifiable litres of suspected adulterated AGO was impounded. On 2nd January 2019 at Aluu, a white truck loaded with suspected illegally acquired crude oil with plate number EBM174XA was impounded”. ENQUIRIES: +234 8135057899, email: chuks@sweetcrudereports.com Sweetcrude Limited, Plot 2191 Osiefa Crescent, GRA, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.
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