BY NOEL ONOJA

The recent blackout being experienced by Nigerians in all parts of the country has been attributed facilities maintenance being carried out by Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, leading to shortage of gas supply to the power plants.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who made the explanations at a press conference in [...]

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, said, Wednesday, it had begun the decommissioning of its facilities in Ogoniland, Rivers State, with the commencement of an audit of its assets in the area.

Oil majors, yesterday, said Nigeria’s plan to achieve four million barrels of daily oil production, and 40 billion barrels in reserves by 2020, is not feasible under the new fiscal terms being proposed by the Federal Government in the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB.

KEPCO Energy Resources, a joint venture company between South Korean and Nigeria’s Sahara Energy Group, was yesterday the Supplemental Share Purchases Agreement, SPA for the 70 percent sale of federal government’s shares in Egbin Power Plant at the cost of $407.3million.

The Federal Government in a bid to curtail the epileptic power situation in the country has spent about N5 trillion ($31.45 billion) from 1999 till date. But it has only been able to increase the country’s electricity generating capacity by about 2,500 mega watts over the last 14 years.

WITH the wave of kidnapping in Delta State and his refusal to sign into law the death penalty bill on kidnappers, passed by the state House of Assembly, not a few Deltans were beginning to wonder what the feasible plan, if any, the Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has to combat the menace.

THE Federal Government through the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar last month inaugurated the boards of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) where Chief Tony Anenih and Lt Col Agbu Kefas were appointed to chair the boards of NPA and NIMASA respectively.

The people of Otumara Community, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, have asked the Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited, SPDC, to halt a proposed gas plant project in the area, or, on the alternative, give them adequate compensation to relocate, before the company can go ahead to site its proposed gas plant in the area.

Nigeria is estimated to have lost more than $40 billion or N6.3 trillion investments in the last two years as a result of uncertainties in the oil and gas sector. Specifically, oil companies have held back over $40 billion worth of investment while waiting to see what happens, sequel to regulatory uncertainty. Sweeping reforms to taxes and royalties, transparency, local participation and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, have been promised since 2007.

In the 10th century, the Arabian physician Masawaih al-Mardini (Mesue the Younger) wrote of his experiments in extracting oil from “some kind of bituminous shale”.The first shale oil extraction patent was granted by the British Crown in 1684 to three people who had “found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr, and oyle out of a sort of stone”.

In exercise of its mandate, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, recently developed a customer complaints forum to redress the mechanism for handling such complaints. The Commission also inducted a 25 man members for the forum’s unit in Abuja, to oversee such complaints and effectively tackle them.

Small-scale and artisanal mining, a sector that governments and development agencies often see as only a problem, could be a source of sustainable livelihoods for millions of marginalised people, say researchers at the International Institute for Environment and Development, IIED.

A premium no cover’ s the ‘no directive of the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, gathers steam, stakeholders are of the opinion that the buy-in of oil majors is vital to its success.

With the pending passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the issue of policy reversal proposition that may affect the terms of previous petroleum investment agreements becomes imperative. Frequently, investors in the petroleum sector seek guarantees, contractual or otherwise to protect their investment – through stabilization clauses.

TRADE Union Congress, TUC, has picked holes in the discretionary powers allocated to the President and the Minister of Petroleum in Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, before the National Assembly, saying it is an open invitation for abuse.

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.(Proverbs 10:22 KJV). The above biblical injunction is a promise of GOD to mankind . But in Nigeria and of course Africa generally, the reverse seems to be the case, because there are too many greedy people in governance.

Staco Insurance plc has set in motion all strategies within the ethical limits to gross premium income of not less than N8.5 billion in the current year 2013, as against N6.7 billion generated in 2012.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Group Managing Director, Mr Andrew Yakubu, said Nigeria will rake-in about $10 billion as Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, from gas-based industries as a result of government’s determined efforts to position the gas sector for aggressive growth.

THE Federal Government through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has commenced moves to develop three deep sea ports across the country with a view to growing the economy. Disclosing this in Onne, near Port-Harcourt, Information Minister Mr Labaran Maku, said that the government was partnering with private investors to bring about these developments because, that, according to him is the only way to grow the economy.

Key players and stakeholders in the Nigeria Oil & Gas sector are set to discuss the recent reforms in the industry, particularly in view of the rising profile of indigenous players, as the International Oil Companies, IOCs, divest their stakes from onshore fields.

The Aba Integrated Power Project, Aba IPP, said it will provide 95 percent uninterrupted power supply to the Abia State capital, Aba, a commercial city-center including the over 50,000 small and medium scale businesses SMEs, located there and other surrounding towns.

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board said it has acquired a 10.2 hectare of land in Polaku community, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State for the construction of a proposed pipe mill.

SENIOR Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, is not finding Federal Government’s announcement that N384 billion will be used to settle the terminal benefits of workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, ahead of the privatization of PHCN’s assets, funny.

Indigenous downstream operator, Nipco Plc has expanded its operations to the upstream sector, with the establishment of a new subsidiary, Nipco Upstream Limited.

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has empowered 20 youths drawn from the disputed oil rich communities of Nembe in Bayelsa and Kula in Rivers State, with life-sustaining skills as part of measures aimed at boosting capacity and increasing wealth portfolio in the Niger Delta.