Nigerian Businesses Urged By UN To Invest In Renewable Energy

Ms. Amina Jibril Mohammed,  the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on Post-2015 Development Planning has charged Nigerian businesses to invest more in renewable energy in the country, This Day reports.  She has been working in the field of development for more than 30 years both in the public sector and the private sector. Prior to her current appointment, she was the CEO and founder of the think tank Center for Development Policy Solutions.

The need for investment in renewable energy would greatly contribute to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on environment, this call she made in Abuja during a meeting held by Ban Ki-Moon with Nigeria’s business and philanthropy leaders.

She said; “We need to think about finding the innovative ways of greening the economy and it is important we focus on renewable energy. The UN Secretary-General is leading a global initiative – Sustainable Energy for All to achieve universal energy access, improve energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy”. According to Mohammed, SDGs are expected to replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the end of 2015.

TCN Power Transmission Hits 4810.7MW

The giant strides currently being achieved by the nation’s power sector has seen another exciting phase as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Wednesday (26^th August, 2015), announced again its attainment of a new electricity transmission record of 4810.7 megawatts (MW), some 62MW different from what it reported on Tuesday.

The details of the achievement was contained in a statement signed by the Public Affairs General Manager (TCN); Mr. Seun Olagunju in Abuja and from the statement, the success mark was attained at  about 20:45 hours on August 25, 2015. Efforts are also been consciously made to increase the power to 5000MW soon.

TCN’s Managing Director, Paul Stefiszyn  noted in a statement that: “ the success being achieved in the power sector is a combined effort gotten from the proactive synergies between the gas companies, generation companies, distribution companies and the transmission companies”. He also added that the FG has really been supportive in coordinating activities across the power value chain.

Nigerian Oil Export Hopeful To Rise In October

Despite the global oil price fall affecting the exploration and production activities of the oil industry, Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria intends to export crude amounting to at least 2.04 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in October 2015. This export rate would be seen as the highest recorded so far this year according to reports by Reuters.

In September, the planned quantity for exports is below 2 million barrels per day (bopd) and amounts to the highest export recorded so far in this year.

The record however, comes at an unfortunate time for Nigeria, as European refinery maintenance typically peaks in October, limiting the amount of crude oil they consume while Asian demand has also started to wane, with Chinese refineries cutting runs and its shaky economic growth beginning to impact on international commodity markets.

The outlook sees more pressured differentials to dated Brent for West African crude grades as the Brent benchmark on which Nigerian export prices are based are still close to 6-1/2 year lows.

Petroleum Ministry Would Be Handled For 18 Months By President Buhari.

President Muhammadu Buhari has formally declared his intentions to reposition the petroleum sector and hence would head the Ministry of Petroleum for 18 months before appointing a substantive minister for the ministry, The Punch reports.

The President said this while meeting with some members of his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Abuja recently. An attendee at the meeting, who
spoke on condition of anonymity noted that the President said he would use the one and a half years of heading the sensitive ministry to put it back on track.

According to him, “At the meeting we had recently, we discussed the issues of portfolios and other matters, the President said he was going to handle the Ministry of
Petroleum himself for about 18
months”. “He said it was after this that he would appoint a substantive minister for the ministry. He said he would only personally handle the reorganisation of the much important ministry”. “Besides, he said the ministry needed to be reformed and be rid of corruption. He promised to sanitise the ministry.”

It was, however also gathered that the President was thinking of appointing an experienced individual as his special adviser on petroleum.

Seplat, NPDC Seeks N59 Billion To Fund Joint Venture (JV)

The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and Seplat Petroleum
Development Company Plc are hoping to secure loan facilities up to a limit of $300m (N59bn) to fund joint venture cash calls, The Punch reports.

NPDC, which has several joint venture arrangements with other oil companies with regard to specific assets, has found the funding of its cash-call obligations to be a major challenge over the years. The company recently entered into strategic alliance agreements with Septa Energy andAtlantic Energy for the funding of some of the divested assets assigned to it by the NNPC in 2011.

Seplat on its own part, said it had
continued to fund the NPDC/Seplat JV despite being owed substantial sums in unpaid cash-calls from the NPDC. As such, while announcing its half-year results, it said, “The NPDC and Seplat have agreed to jointly source loan facilities, up to a limit of
$300m, to fund joint venture cash calls with effect from January 2015.”

Under the agreed structure, once such facilities are in place, the NPDC and Seplat would each contribute an allocation of crude oil production proportionate to their working interest in order to repay such loan
facilities, it said. “Consequently, the
company (Seplat) has engaged with
potential lenders to implement this
arrangement,” it stated.

Data Tracking Device For Oil Vessels And Cargoes To Be Acquired Soon By The FG.

Rigorous efforts by the Federal Government to monitor activities at Floating, Production, Storage and offloading (FPSO) facilities in the country so as to stop malpractices
relating to crude theft may soon be
successful, with plans for a device capable of tracking all vessels in Nigerian waters in the offing, The Guardian reports.

Under the proposal, all vessels that make any commercial voyages into Nigerian waters would have to key all information about them in a sever to be opened in Belgium. This information must contain, the
country of origin, the ownership, and
capacity in terms of tonnage, among other details which would help the government determine, at any point in time, the value and quantity of goods they are taking in and out of the country.

The Nigerian Shippers Council is said to be midwifing the project and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which is providing the technical collaboration, is supporting it.  Plans are on ground to have a presentation showcasing the ideals of the scheme to all stakeholders, including those in the oil and gas sector.

NNPC Undergoes Corporate Restructuring

Four new Group Executive Directors have been appointed to take up the leadership responsibilities of the newly constituted four directorates of the NNPC, by the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation which have been approved by the presidency.

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointments and the new GED’s include; Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, Group Executive Director, Commercial & Investment, Isiaka Abdulrazaq Group Executive Director, Finance & Services, Maikanti Baru, Group Executive Director, Exploration & Production and Engr. Dennis Nnamdi Ajulu, Group Executive Director, Refining & Technology.

Furthermore, other appointments includes; a new Company Secretary/Legal Adviser and Managing Directors for the Strategic Business Units. They are: Chidi Momah, Group General Manager, Company Secretary & Legal Adviser; Esther Nnamdi Ogbue, Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC); Engr. Chinedu Ezeribe, Managing Director, Warri Refinning & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC); Babatunde Bakare, Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC);  Inuwa Ibrahim Waya, Managing Director, Hyson; Abubakar Mai-Bornu, Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC); and Mr. Ladipo Fagbola, Managing Director, NNPC Retail.

Others are: Rowland Ewubare, Managing Director, Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL); Modupe Bammeke, Managing Director, NNPC Prpoerties; Abdulkadir Saidu, Managing Director, Duke Oil; and Dafe Sejebor, Group General Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).

The Corporation also retired 38 Top Management Staff reducing the number from 122 to 83. Also in line with the aspiration to reposition the Corporation, 12 personnel have been recruited from the private sector into the Top Management cadre to jump-start a new business outlook so as to enhance the operational environment as a profit-driven business as against the current civil service orientation.