The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Temisan Omatseye paid a courtesy visit to Vanguard’s corporate headquarters in Lagos recently where he fielded questions from some of the Editors.

YEARS after complaining of domination of the coastal trade by foreign shipowners, a window for active participation in the oil and gas sector of the nation’s economy seems to have opened for Indigenous Shipowners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) with the proposal by the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to lift crude by sea to the nation’s refineries.

Barely one week after mounting the saddle, the new Customs Area Controller of the Kano/Jigawa Command, Oyeyemi Rafiu Oyeniyi have appealed to officers and men of the Command to ensure that the issue of revenue leakages are addressed so as to realise its N1.5 billion revenue target this year.

A group under the aegis of Unified Customs Licensed Practitioners (UCLP) has decried the continued revocation of Customs licences without recourse to the 21 days grace period provided for in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA)

THE Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, (CRFFN) has concluded plans to commence the registration of freight forwarders practising in Nigeria.

Stakeholders in the gas sub-sector have disagreed with the Federal Government over the pre-qualification of 13 investors to accelerate the development of gas production facilities in the country contrary to prequalification of 15 companies as core investors in Nigeria’s Gas Master Plan.

ABUJA – The Minister of Mines and Steel, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has disclosed efforts by government to ensure increased exploration of gold and other minerals in the country in the next couple of years.

Afren has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with Oriental Energy Resources Limited and Energy Equity Resources (EER) for participation in the exploration, appraisal and development of OML 115 offshore South-East Nigeria, adjoining the Ebok and Okwok development area.

A group, Delta Elites Association, has called on oil prospecting companies to be more realistic in their dealings with indigenes of host communities.

Aberdeen-based Containental Offshore (Containental) has strengthened its presence in West Africa following a series of contract wins in the region.

As non-Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil supply experienced a minor decline of 90 thousand barrels per day (tbd), and OPEC crude increased slightly, it is on record that the wake of the preliminary figures indicated that global oil supply remained steady last month from the previous month to an average of 85.57million barrels per day (mbd). Supply from most OPEC member countries remained relatively steady with Nigeria and United Arab Emirate (UAE) showing individual increases of more than 40tbd, while Venezuela and Angola crude production exhibited declines of more than 20tbd.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) today agreed to transfer its interest in three production licences and related equipment in the Niger Delta to a consortium led by two Nigerian companies, adding however that the transfer was subject to government approval.

By Festus Ahon UGHELLI—A group, Movement  for Good Governance (MGG), has endorsed Dr. Braduce Amazaki Angozi for Delta State’s governorship in 2011.

ONE Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation in the South-South, weekend, urged the Federal Executive Council to take an unbiased resolution in consonance with the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on ailing President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

FOLLOWING insinuations from different quarters that the state owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has been operating a covert account which is neither audited nor accessible to the government the Group Managing Director of the company Dr Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo has debunked these claims saying that the corporation’s accounts are open, current and is always made available to relevant government agencies.