Indigenous companies have begun to lay off workers and cut salaries as a way of coping with the challenges of the crude price crash at the international market. Those who cannot cope with the downturn in the industry have also had to close shop, pending when the fortunes of the petroleum industry improves. Dropping the hint in an exclusive chart with Vanguard, the Chairman, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN, Mr. Emeka Ene, argued that indigenous companies are the most affected in the current crises facing the industry.

In a move to get local shipping firms to participate in the movement of 1.6billion litre of petroleum products within the nation’s coastal water, the Nigerian Indigenous Ship owners Association, NISA, has called on its members to begin preparation to position their vessels for loading.

“U.S. production growth is beginning to slow down and demand is looking quite good for the year, so the combination of all of that means that probably price, if anything, moves up a little bit,” Taylor said. Prices “overreacted to the downside” and the slump is now “behind us,” Torbjorn Tornqvist, the chief executive officer of Gunvor, said at the same Lausanne event. The company handles more than 2.5 million barrels of crude and fuels each day, meaning it’s among the world’s five largest independent traders, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Tony Hayward, the former BP chief executive who runs Iraqi Kurdistan-focused Genel Energy, said oil prices are set to soar as OPEC has taken just six-months to stop the US shale oil boom in its tracks. Speaking at the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland, Mr Hayward said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had shown itself to be “the most successful cartel in history”, predicting oil prices would soon return to near $80 a barrel.

INDUSTRY leaders at the World Economic Forum on East Asia have said they expect oil prices to rise further. The leaders, meeting in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, said the long-term view was that demand for oil is growing. Oil prices are around their highest levels for the year. The price of Brent crude was at $63 a barrel on Tuesday, up 40% from its January low of $45 a barrel and near its high for the year of $65.