FG submits Alison-Madueke’s name for OPEC Secretary-General’s post

The federal government has nominated the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to succeed the long-serving incumbent Abdullah al-Badri as the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iraq’s oil minister said  Tuesday.

The proposal is aimed at solving the deadlock over the post created by opposing candidates from Saudi Arabia and Iran, Abdul Kareem Luaibi was quoted by the Reuters news agency as stating.
Luaibi added that Iraq continues to back its own candidate, and the issue remained unresolved. Badri’s latest term in the office ends in December.

If the Nigerian candidacy is successful, Alison-Madueke would be OPEC’s first female to hold the post and would have to relinquish her post as the petroleum minister.

Nigeria’s oil industry attraction undermined by risks

With highly under-explored oil and gas resources in the country presenting significant upside potential for investors, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry would have seen huge foreign direct investment in recent times but for the risks and challenges plaguing the industry.

Over the past few years, the growing operating risks such as crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism especially on the onshore, pirate attacks on Nigerian waters where oil vessels are usually targeted and the uncertainty in the industry engendered  by the long-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), have taken a toll on the industry.

A recent report by IHS, leading global provider of diverse global market and economic information, said international oil majors were reducing their exposure to Nigeria’s onshore due to worsening security and lower profitability combined with continuing regulatory uncertainty.

Josh Holland, senior analyst and Bruce Roderick, energy analyst at IHS Energy Insight, said the intensification of oil majors’ divestment programmes in Nigeria has cast uncertainty over prospects for new investment, particularly where onshore oil is concerned.

Tony Attah is SNEPCO’s new boss

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) has appointed Mr. Tony Attah as its new Managing Director.

SNEPCO is the subsidiary company of Shell Petroleum responsible for Nigeria’s prolific deepwater operations.
Attah, who took over from Chike Onyejekwe, was a 1987 graduate of mechanical engineering from the University of Benin.

He was, until this assignment, Vice President of Human Resources at Shell Sub Saharan Africa where he focused on talent development and resourcing the business to maintain competitive edge while providing support to the company as a business leader.

NLNG finds bigger market in Japan

The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited has found a bigger market in Japan, after the United States (US) stopped patronising it. The US stopped buying gas from Nigeria following its discovery and production of shale gas.
NLNG Managing Director Babs Omotowa said in Lagos during the company’s presentation of its 2014 facts and figures that the US accounted for 35 per cent of its market. But that doesn’t exist because of shale oil, he said, adding that NLNG has found even a bigger market in the Far East. “Japan is our largest market now,” he said.

He explained that the loss of the US market would not affect NLNG’s operations and sales because the supply contracts are long term, which will last for over 20 years. NLNG, he said, is also exploring other markets depending on availability of gas.

The NLNG chief said the  Train 7 project is on course, explaining that the delay in the construction of the train is caused by gas supply. According to him, the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and funding are some of the challenges affecting the gas suppliers of the project. He however noted that the pre-final investment decision (FID) processes are being concluded.

Cairn Energy spuds second well offshore Senegal

JV partner FAR reports that the operator Cairn Energy has moved the Transocean Cajun Express semi-submersible rig from the FAN-1 well location to the SNE-1 well location whilst ongoing maintenance is being completed.

The FAN-1 well has been drilled to 1,200 metres below the seabed where 20” casing was cemented completing the ‘top hole’ portion of the well. The rig has then moblised to the SNE-1 location to most efficiently utilise the rig by drilling the ‘top hole’ portion of this second well. After 20” casing is cemented on the SNE-1 well, the rig will return to the FAN-1 well location in five to seven days, and drill to the total planned depth.

FAR recently signed two farm in deals with ConocoPhillips and Cairn Energy to secure its share of funding for the two high impact offshore exploration wells in Senegal. FAN-1 is located on the North Fan prospect in 1,500m water depth. SNE-1 is targeting a shelf edge prospect in 1,100m of water. The wells are the first deep water (>1,000m) wells drilled in Senegalese waters and the first offshore wells to be drilled for over 20 years. The two exploration wells will test combined prospective resources of approx. 1.5 billion barrels of unrisked prospective resources (225 mmbbls net to FAR) and FAR retains a 15% working interest in the blocks, with Cairn Energy holding 40%, ConocoPhillips 35% and Petrosen 10%.

Tanzanian law on oil and gas local content in pipeline

Tanzania will soon have a policy and law prescribing the position of local content in oil and gas business, as well as regulation of the lucrative industry, according to proposals by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals.

The ministry also proposes several changes on revenue laws including income tax and value added tax. In a draft “Local Content Policy for Oil and Gas Industry,” Ministry of Energy and Minerals proposes the enactment of Natural Gas Act and Natural Gas Revenue Management Act.

“Legislative and regulatory frameworks will need to be in place in administering nationwide oil and gas development,” the draft policy states.

IOCs to divest U.S.$11 billion worth oil blocks

In a continuous divestment spree which began in 2010, the international oil companies (IOCs) are expected to divest over 20 oil blocks with not less than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day and a monetary value of about $11.5 billion before the end of 2014.

This was disclosed yesterday by the minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, while delivering a keynote address with the theme “Assets Divestment in Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry: Opportunities and Challenges” at the ongoing 2014 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, USA.

This is even as she disclosed that already the total assets divestment by the IOCs is worth about 2.2 billion BOE of hydrocarbon reserves at an estimated monetary value of at least $5 billion. Shell, Total, Agip, Chevron and ConocoPhillips have led the pack of divesting majors.

FG orders forensic auditing of $20bn missing oil fund

The Federal Government on Thursday said it had directed the Auditor-General of the Federation and Price WaterHouse to undertake forensic auditing of the alleged missing 20 billion dollars oil money.

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced this when at a panelist discussion on the topic: “Africa Rising’’ at the ongoing 24th World Economic Forum on Africa, in Abuja.

The Forum with theme: “Forging inclusive growth, creating jobs’’ is being attended by over 1,500 delegates from over 70 countries.

The suspended Central Bank Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had alleged that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to remit 20 billion dollars to government coffer.

Okonjo-Iweala said the exercise which started last week, would be carried out within a period of 16 weeks.

According to her, the auditors are to assist in unraveling mysteries surrounding the unaccounted 20 billion dollars. “The issue of holding government to account, I don’t think Nigerians are laying back. We need that transparency and we welcome it.“The (suspended) CBN Governor raised issues on unaccounted amount from the federation account.

NLNG to train 180 Nigerian technicians in South Korea

Nigeria Liqudfied National  Gas Limited (NLNG), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Bonny Gas Transport Limited (BGT), is facilitating the training of 180 young Nigerian technicians by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea.

These 180 young Nigerians will be trained to acquire requisite competencies and skills in ship building, as part of Nigerian Content Development activities agreed between BGT and HHI as contained in the contract for the construction of two new LNG Carriers for Bonny Gas Transport.

Of the 180 technicians traveling to South Korea for the three-month programme, the best 28 will remain to join in the construction of the six new vessels.

BGT in 2013 ordered six new vessels at a cost of $1.6billion from both Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) – two Ships and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) – four (4) ships to boost its shipping capacity.

As part of the agreement signed with the ship builders, 580 Nigerians will be trained in different aspects of ship building and construction in fulfilment of Nigerian Content Development for the ‘BGT Plus Project’.

Funding to close Nigeria’s power generation gap – FCMB Capital Markets

The new owners of the power plants carved out from the PHCN will require huge capital injection to stay afloat. The role played by the investment arm of FCMB is a step in the right direction, reports Alvin Afadama

FCMB Capital Markets Limited, a highly respected financial institution, has again demonstrated its power sector credentials by being sole arranger for the Naira component of the financing package for Nigeria’s first large-scale, privately-funded and project financed Independent Power Plant (IPP).

FCMB Capital Markets was sole arranger for the Naira equivalent of US$150 million, as part of an international group of investors and banks working on the US$750 million Azura-Edo IPP. The Azura-Edo IPP project is a Greenfield, 450MW Open Cycle Gas Turbine, power station near Benin City in Edo State. It is the first phase of a 1,120MW power plant facility that is targeted to begin producing electricity in early 2017. The project, which will lead to further economic development, is also forecasted to create over 1,000 jobs.