Worried by the huge debt owed the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, and the company’s inability to meet its basic obligations to key suppliers, the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, has summoned the chief executives of the 11 distribution companies created out of the state-owned power utility.

The Federal Government Sovereign Oil & Gas Company II, LLC has received approval of the farm-in by Oriental Energy Resources Limited of Nigeria into the Okwok Marginal Field located in Oil Mining Lease, OML 67, which is owned by Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

…as Ukraine seeks investment in power generation in Nigeria
The Federal Government said it was very committed to investing in the development of renewable energy as alternative source of power to complement the existing thermal and hydro power plants in energy generation in the country, even as efforts are on to resuscitate ailing power infrastructure and bring them to operate at installed capacities.

Nigeria is in dire need of Infrastructure renewal, upgrading, modernisation and expansion. Of all the infrastructural facilities in need of radical development, electricity stands out. The quantum of power consumed in a country by the citizens is considered a good indicator of the country’s socio-economic performance.”

The Federal Government’s plan to attain over 7,000 Mega watts, MW, of electricity before the end of the year now appear feasible with the planned injection of over 3,540 MW of electricity into the national grid through the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPP.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has flagged off the public hearing on metering problems bedeviling the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, with a view to finding lasting solutions for them. The flag off followed the inauguration of a 13-man committee by NERC in December 2011.

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has concluded plans to probe the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

Nigeria Civil Society Groups, CSOs, have warned the Federal Government against politicizing the appointment of membership into the National Stakeholder Working Group, NSWG, of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.

The Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has raised the red flag on what it termed as sustained nefarious activities of oil pipeline marauders whose activities are posing a potent threat to the successful operation of both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry.

Oil and gas industry regulator, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, said it is possible for the country to hit the 10 per cent gas flaring mark in the nearest future by stopping the issuance of licenses on projects that has capacity to flare gas.

The Federal Government has awarded over $2.5bn contracts for various gas pipeline projects in the country. This is in line with its policy on gas monetisation, as laid out in the Gas Master Plan, GMP.

One of the most topical issues at the just-concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas, NOG 2012, international conference and exhibitions is how far indigenous participation has grown in the nation’s oil and gas industry since the enactment of the Nigerian Content Act 2010.

NIGERIA Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has called on Small and Medium Enterprises, SMES, in Nigeria to tap into the business opportunities in the Oil and Gas sector, saying from the N888 billion provision made by the Federal Government to subsidize importation of fuel, a new set of billionaires will emerge in the country.

The Federal Government has insisted that power generation in the country increase by about 40 per cent in the recent times, according to the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji. Nnaji disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos when he commissioned the Egbin Power Plant Gymnasium Centre, saying, “Since the Jonathan led administration can into power, power supply has increased by 40 per cent and this is a tremendous achievement on the part on the part of the president and the government to have increased power supply.”

The Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, has said it will open the financial bids of prospective investors for the privatisation of the successor companies created from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, between September 25 and October 10, 2012.