Double explosions rock oil depot in Lagos

A twin explosion involving two petrol tankers yesterday rocked Ibafon Oil depot. Though no life was lost in the incident Daily Trust learnt that the explosion which was followed by a huge fire outbreak consumed property worth millions of Naira.

The explosions reportedly occurred around 7.30 pm yesterday during a trans-loading of petrol between two trucks.

The explosions sent both staffs of the various tank farms scampering for safety.

The fire was later put out by fire service men from the various tank farms who quickly deployed their equipment.

The South West Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Ibrahim Farinloye confirmed the explosion to Daily Trust on phone.

He said both trucks involved in the Trans-loading of petrol were completely burnt down.

He added that that the fire was contained by the joint effort of fire men from Isheri fire station tank farm owners within the Ibafon axis.

SEPLAT Petroleum raises $500 million in Initial Public Offer

Foremost independent Nigerian oil and gas company with a strategic focus on Nigeria, SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company, said Wednesday that it raised 300.9 million pounds, or about $500 million, in its initial public offering, a dual listing in London and in Nigerian Stock Exchanges.

The company priced its offering at 210 pence a share on the London Stock Exchange and N576, or about $3.52, a share on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos, giving it a market capitalisation of £1.14 billion, according to The New York Times.

Shares were down about 2.4 percent to 205 pence in conditional trading in London yesterday morning, while unconditional trading of the company’s shares in London and trading in Nigeria is expected to begin on Monday.

Seplat is the first Nigerian company to have a dual listing in London and in Nigeria, having listed 26.4 percent of its share capital as part of the offering.

The New York Times quoted the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Austin Avuru, as saying that the money from the offering would put the company in a strong position to make further acquisitions as international oil companies divest their onshore assets in the Niger Delta.

Part of the proceeds, according to Avuru, will also be used to reduce the company’s debt.

“We are already a leading indigenous independent in our home market but the opportunities opening up in Nigeria for companies like ours are significant,” Avuru said in a statement.

SEPLAT was formed by two Nigerian Exploration and Production (E & P) companies – Shebah E & P and Platform Petroleum Limited for the acquisition of 45 per cent stake in Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 4, 38 and 41.

BNP Paribas, Standard Bank, Renaissance Securities, Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland served as joint bookrunners on the flotation.

The company recently unveiled plans to proceed with an initial public offer of its ordinary shares to raise $500 million.

It also planned to apply for admission of its ordinary shares to the standard listing segment of the official list of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) main market as well as the official trading list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Upon listing, SEPLAT will be the first Nigerian company to have its ordinary shares dual listed on both the LSE and the NSE, according to a statement issued by the company Wednesday.

OML sales: Shell management In dilemma, June deadline unrealistic

The plan by the Anglo-Dutch energy giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to offer seven oil fields for sale in the Niger Delta might have run into a hitch, Leadership has learnt.

Already, LEADERSHIP gathered that the management of SPDC was miffed with the prices being offered by prospective buyers of the seven onshore and offshore oil mining licenses located in the region.

It was gathered that the sale of the oil mining licences- OMLs 18, 24, 25, 29, 71, 72 and 74, which produces 120,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was being frustrated as prospective buyers offered prices considered below the benchmark and target of the managment of the oil conglomerate.

The oil blocks were floated in joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), as the state-owned oil corporation owns 55 per cent, Shell 30 per cent, Total 10 per cent and Eni, having the remaining five per cent.

It was gathered that Total and Eni had sold their shares in previous deals.

The oil fields were offered for sale by SPDC due to increasing crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, oil spills, community unrest and refusal of the Federal Government to renew the operating licenses of some of the fields.

Mobil spends N50m to train 355 health workers

Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPN), an operator of the NNPC/MPN Joint Venture, says it spent N50 million to train 355 doctors and nurses on emergency medical services in Akwa Ibom .

The General Manager, Joint Venture Operations, Mr John Arkley, disclosed this on Saturday at the closing ceremony of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) training programme in Eket.

He said that the training was part of the joint venture’s community development initiatives aimed at assisting government to provide quality healthcare.

Russian oil firms lock horns over lucrative OML29

OML 29, which holds the site of Nigeria’s first discovery, Oloibiri field in addition to Nembe Creek field, Santa Barbara and Odeama Creek fields, all producing is now at the center of tussle between two Russian firms; Lukoil and L1 Energy.

Lukoil is Russia’s second largest oil company. The company was formed in 1991 when three state-run, western Siberian companies merged. That meant vertically integrating the three branches of the industry – exploration, refining, and distribution – that were strictly separate under the old Soviet system

Headquartered in Moscow, Lukoil is the second largest public company (next to ExxonMobil) in terms of proven oil and gas reserves. The company has operations in more than 40 countries around the world. During the Obasanjo administration, Lukoil indicated interest in leading a consortium of international and indigenous investors to acquire and turn around the 210,000 bpd capacity Port Harcourt refinery that was then slated for privatisation but the deal fell flat due to public outcry. Recently, Lukoil outbid Rosneft and Gazpromneft-Noyabrskneftegaz at auction for Siberian oilfields with a $1.66 billion.

Schlumberger unveils new microseismic acquisition system

Schlumberger announced Tuesday the introduction of the MS Recon high-fidelity microseismic surface acquisition system.

The new microseismic system for surface and shallow grid microseismic surveys provides improved imaging of the hydraulic fracture geometry by optimizing the microseismic signal quality.

“The new microseismic surface acquisition system addresses the challenges of detecting small microseismic signals emitted during hydraulic fracturing at the surface and near-surface locations,” said Joseph Elkhoury, vice president and general manager, Microseismic Services, Schlumberger, in a statement.

“The MS Recon system improves signal-to-noise ratio during acquisition enabling the detection of many more microseismic events than conventional systems. This provides our customers with a better understanding of their stimulation operations, allowing them to optimize completion design and potentially increase production.”

Insurgency, non-Passage of PIB leads to rise in cost of oil and gas projects

Heightened insecurity in Nigeria, due to the Boko Haram increased attacks, has triggered an unprecedented rise in the costs of execution of oil and gas projects, THISDAY investigations have revealed.
Oil industry sources hinted yesterday that the spate of violence in Nigeria, particularly in the northern region, plus the renewed attacks on oil facilities and abduction of expatriates who work for oil companies located in the Niger Delta area, have pushed up costs of doing business in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry by about 100 per cent in the last two years, as Nigeria is now regarded a “high risk area”.
Investigations further revealed that most foreign and local firms that signed contracts with firms in Nigeria for the execution of various projects in the oil industry are seeking the renegotiation of contract sums on the grounds that the environment is highly insecure for business.
It was also reliably gathered that some projects have been abandoned, while the execution of others have been stalled because contractors handling such projects are reluctant to continue with the jobs for fear of attacks.
An industry expert confirmed that most contracting firms now turn down oil and gas jobs, while foreign experts develop cold feet once they are assigned jobs in Nigeria owing to security concerns. He said the execution of drilling contracts had suffered major setbacks due to disagreements that arise in contracts renegotiation.

My thoughts on ‘fraud’ allegations in CBN, NNPC – Atedo Peterside

Chairman of the Stanbic IBTC, Atedo N A Peterside is the first bank chairman to speak publicly on the suspension of Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. In a statement made available to MARCEL MBAMALU, he called for urgent forensic audit of the accounts of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as satisfactory answers on the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) queries regarding the apex bank’s 2012 accounts:

“I don’t know if anything is true or false. What I do know is that in a Presidential system, various aides and pressure groups try and pull the President towards the direction that they believe is best. Is that not why they even have lobbyists in Washington DC?

One does not have to jump on the rooftops and sound populist every time in order to be branded “patriotic”. Some times the true patriots are those who apply pressure where it matters most – and some times on some issues, that might be in private.

The facts of the matter are clear and are all now in the public domain and I list some of them sequentially:-

JTF arrests 8 suspected oil thieves in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo

Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta, Operation Pulo Shield, on Sunday said that it arrested eight suspected oil thieves and destroyed 17 illegal refineries in multiple raids.

A statement issued by Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, Media Coordination of JTF in Yenagoa, said the anti-oil theft raids were conducted from Feb. 11 to Feb. 18.

Nwachukwu said that several items were seized during the operation in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo.

He said that the JTF troops in Edo and Delta destroyed five illegal oil distillation sites and 40 boats and seized 300 metal tanks, 64 plastic storage tanks, 72 drums and 68 cooking ovens.

He added that four pumping machines and one Lister Generator were seized at Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta.

The spokesman said the troops also intercepted a locally made tug boat conveying 30 drums of stolen petroleum at Ajide on Benin River in Edo.

He said that six suspects were arrested during the operation and moved to the Tactical Headquarters of the Battalions for preliminary investigation.

Marketers await arrival of fuel cargoes next week to end scarcity

Some independent marketers of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, are selling the products above the official pump price and ex-depot price as queues in filling stations across the country worsen, THISDAY has gathered.

However, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) is certain that normalcy will return to oil distribution by the time the first set of fuel cargoes land in the country next weekend.
The worsening scarcity of petrol, it was learnt, followed the initial delay of the release of fuel import allocation to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Oil Marketing and Trading (OM & T) companies by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).