The era of cheap oil may soon come to an end, if the prediction of the International Energy Agency, IEA, is anything to go by. The IEA said that there will be rise in oil price due mainly to unplanned outages and disruptions in places like Canada, Nigeria, and Libya. According to the Agency, it is expected that the oil market will be balanced for the rest of the year, meaning the world will pump roughly as much oil as it consumes. That should nudge prices higher. Oil is currently trading around $50 a barrel, double the nadir reached earlier this year.

Century Power, a subsidiary of the Obijackson Group, has announced plans to boost Nigeria’s electricity generating capacity by 500 megawatts (MW). In a statement by the company, Chief Executive officer and Group Managing Director of The Obijackson Group, Mr. Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi , who was speaking on the Powering Africa panel, at the third annual London School of Economics Africa Summit, however, expressed worry about the numerous hurdles prevalent in Nigeria which had led to delay in the delivery.

Regulatory agencies in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector are worried that efforts to grow local technology and human capital through the Nigerian Content Development law could be hampered by the prevailing lull in the industry. In the last three years, there has been apathy by investors to commit to new projects in Nigeria owing to the inability of the government to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law and spell out clear fiscal terms for investors, especially on deep offshore projects.

Nigeria’S earnings from crude oil and gas, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Royalties declined by 34.1 percent, to N205.05 billion in the first quarter of 2016, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The CBN, in its Economic Report for the First Quarter of 2016, indicated that the country earned N396.47 billion from the sale of crude oil and gas, PPT and Royalties, as against N601.52 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Speaking on the sidelines of Africa’s power sector, which was a major discuss, Vice Chairman, General Electric, GE, John Rice, said that there were some well-intentioned initiatives geared towards meeting the energy gaps, but challenges related to financing, bureaucracy, traditional risk analysis, and decision-making based on election cycles have led to delays.