Indigenous and marginal field operators have said that contrary to media reports, the five-year tax holiday granted them was not a fraudulent act but a policy by the Federal Government to empower them.

BY MICHAEL EBOH other arrangements and deductions, BarringNigeria earned $74.512 billion, about N14.902 trillion, from crude oil export in 2014, according to data released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The NNPC, in its 2014 Annual Statistical Bulletin, revealed that the amount was earned by NNPC and other oil and gas companies in the country, […]

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, has announced plans to establish a research and development centre for biofuels and other alternative energy sources in Nigeria. Speaking at the Close Out seminar of the 2012/2013 Annual Oil and Gas Research Grant Competition in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Mr. Femi Ajayi, said the centre is in response to the global drive for environment-friendly energy sources.

He noted that effective gas sector development is a catalyst for growth and will have a multiplier effect on the country’s economy, while insisting on the need to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB into law. He said the PIB underpins ongoing sector reforms, adding that gas sector policies will provide Nigeria with the opportunity to harness and get maximum value from its stranded gas resources.

Current data on refineries production in Nigeria indicate that more heavy or fuel oils (low and high fuel oil/black oil) are being produced from the four refineries than other high demand products like premium motor spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol. The revelation comes despite assurances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which said last week that two of its refineries were working between 60 and 80 percent of their installed capacities.

The data from the NNPC’s Monthly Petroleum Information, MPI, from January to March 2015, disclosed that oil and gas companies produced 668.247 billion standard cubic feet, SCF of gas. They however, utilised 548.58 billion SCF and flared 119.67 billion SCF, representing 17.9 per cent of the total gas produced in the period under review.

We are doing Turn Around Maintenance-Rehabilitation, TAM-Rehab, while the refinery is running. We try as much as possible not to shut down the entire refinery while this is going on. The whole essence is to say, Look! The TAM that you have neglected for a while will be done; at the same time, those equipment that have been troublesome, and need complete rehabilitation, we will make procurement orders for them.

In general, the report said, “In the gas sector, a total of 2.524 trillion Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) of natural gas production was reported by 28 companies. This shows an increase of 8.56 per cent when compared with 2013 production. Of the quantity produced, 2.233 trillion SCF was utilised, while 289.60 billion SCF was flared.”

PORT HARCOURT: The first locally fabricated thickest walled pressure vessel has been unveiled in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The asset also known as a separator was designed for Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd, SPDC’s, Soku Field Development plan and is internally cladded with 316L stainless steel, with internal proprietary separation devices and weighs 83 tonnes.

The company said it had continued to fund the NPDC/Seplat JV despite being owed substantial sums in unpaid cash-calls by NPDC. More so, “The outstanding net NPDC receivable as of June 30, was $504million. On July 14, the company entered into a signed agreement with the NPDC on terms for the payment of arrears due to Seplat and for the future structure of joint venture funding to mitigate the risk of the receivable.

Part of the plan for the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigerian, PETAN’s participation in this year’s Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, holding at the Reliant Park, Houston Texas, in the United States, is how to attract more investments in Nigeria’s gas sector. The refocus on gas development follows the recent crash in the price of crude at the international oil market.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, becomes the last fully-functioning public institution. It is forced into a severe devaluation of 70-80 per cent as the majority of planned Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, projects are cancelled and capital outflows accelerate as some foreign multinationals start to wind down local operations.” Many of these predictions are now a reality and weighing down heavily on Nigeria’s economy, even as it is reputed as the fasted growing in Africa.

The Chairman, Seplat Petroleum Development Company, Dr. Ambrose Orjiako has come out to say that shareholders who bought shares in naira or foreign currency would be paid dividend as such., except otherwise which is applicable to exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as at the time the register of the company closes. Shareholders in this interview argue that the company is paying the current dividend in naira while the initial dividend paid in dollar is still pending.

Seven Energy International Limited, an indigenous Nigerian integrated gas Company has commenced the supply of gas to the 560 megawatts, MW, Calabar National Integrated Power Project, NIPP. The commercial delivery of gas to Calabar NIPP commenced in March 2015, and is being executed through Accugas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seven Energy. When operating at full capacity Calabar NIPP will increase national power generation by over 10 per cent.

The Nigerian economy is in dire straits engendered by the low crude oil price in the international market and the significant decline in the country’s oil production. Analysts describe the situation as a double jeopardy, as the twin problem of low oil price and declining volume worsened the country’s dwindling revenue profile. In the last few months, Nigeria’s oil production had been hovering around 1.9 million barrels per day, mbpd, against a projected figure of about 2.3mbpd. This declining volume has put immense pressure on the country’s revenue profile.