ORGANISED labour has advised the 7thNational Assembly to be guided by national interest when considering the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, and void all contract confidentiality clauses for information on upstream, downstream, and midstream taxes, royalties, fees , bonus Payments, contractual obligations, budgets, projects and so on.

There are moves by Australia to emerge as a leader in the international gas industry, as it played host recently to investors, operators and other stakeholders in the global gas community.The conference, first of its kind to be hosted by the Australian government was organized in response to industry demand, with a focus on the markets contribution, particularly to LNG, from both a local and global perspective.

The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE has issued Requests for Proposal, RFP, documents to Manitoba Hydro of Canada and Power Grid of India to enable the firms prepare their bidding documents for the management contract for Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.

THE Minister of Power and the two in-house unions in the Power Sector, National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, are scheduled to meet on February 18, after what could be regarded as their interface, in Lagos last month. Few days to the meeting in Lagos, the General Secretary of NUEE, Comrade Joe Ajaero, who could not attend the Lagos meeting, spoke to Sweet Crude Correspondent, Victor Ahiuma-Young, on some issue in the sector.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has insisted that service delivery and compliance with industry regulations and orders will be major indicators for electricity billing by distribution companies under the planned tariff regime expected later in the year.

In its bid to expand the solid mineral sector and harness it for sustainable development and growth, the Federal Government has embarked on far-reaching reforms in the sector. These reforms ranged from the creation of technical departments and agencies in the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to the enactment of Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act 2007, and the development of the new Mining Regulations has ushered in a new regime of transparent mining and mineral titles administration in the country.

Indigenous oil and gas service company, GEMS Global Resources Nigeria Limited, has called on the Nigerian Content Management Board, NCMB, to thoroughly scrutinise the competence of Nigerian companies bidding for jobs in the industry.

Even As the Federal Government works feverishly to wound up the national electricity behemoth, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, debts and liabilities owed by the company to other service providers is said to have accumulated to over N340 billion over the years.

Nigerian/Local Content, as envisaged, means the development of local skills, technology transfer, the use of local manpower, and local manufacturing.

Indigenous marine pilots under the aegis of Escravos River Pilots Nigeria Limited have been rendering marines pilot services for more than ten generations, in this interview with sweetcrude’s Godwin Oritse, Captain Solomon Perebo stated the people of Gbaramatu kingdom first offered such services to Europeans as far back as 1888. He also spoke about the challenges they are currently facing which to a large extent have put their services in jeopardy.
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PORT HARCOURT: NIGER Delta Development Commission, NDDC has stepped up manpower for the oil and gas sector with the graduation of forty of its trainees in far away Turkey as International Welding Inspectors. The programme was handled by its technical partner, the Nigerian Institute of Welding, NIW.

THE Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, weekend debunked claims that the 32 years old Kaduna refinery was moribund and that government was losing N12 billion annually on idle staff of the company.