Category: West Africa

A Nigerian oil technocrat has emerged as front runner to take the top job at OPEC, with members seeing Mohammed Barkindo as what would be a rare compromise candidate to lead the group amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Barkindo has been a key face of the Nigerian oil industry for the past…

LAGOS, June 1 (Reuters) – Nigeria will hold a non-deal roadshow in London next week, government sources said on Wednesday, as Africa’s biggest economy explores fund-raising options to finance a record budget deficit widened by the fall in vital oil revenues. Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and officials from the central bank and debt office will meet…

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday visit the Niger Delta region, rocked by attacks on oil and gas facilities, for the first time since taking office a year ago, an official said on Monday. The visit was announced as the Niger Delta Avengers militant group, which has claimed a string of recent attacks, issued…

After refusing to change his mind about some core economic issues since his inauguration a year ago, President Muhammadu Buhari has signalled a readiness to shift his ground. Buhari gave the indication last week during an interview with journalists to mark the first anniversary of his administration. The president said, though, he was still not…

Recent attacks on oil pipelines by militants in the Niger Delta region caused Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production to drop by almost 50 per cent from the start of 2016 to around 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd), an official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed. Speaking on the heels of…

The House of Representatives has stated that oil companies granted mining and oil prospecting lease in the country are indebted to the federal government to the tune of $2billion. This was disclosed yesterday by the ad hoc committee investigating all oil prospecting licences (OPLs) and Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) granted by the federal government. Chairman…

Chevron’s onshore operations in Nigeria’s Niger Delta have been shut by a militant attack at its Escravos terminal, sources said on Thursday, and local leaders said military confrontation would not end the violence. A militant group called the Niger Delta Avengers, which has told oil firms to leave the Delta before the end of May,…

Nigeria’s House of Representatives said the country’s telecommunications regulator can restart talks with wireless operator MTN Group regarding a $3.9bn fine even as lawmakers continue an investigation into the penalty. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) fined Johannesburg-based MTN in October, and therefore it should lead the negotiations, Saheed Fijabi, chairman of the House of Representatives’…

Revenue allocation to federal, states and local governments dropped by 6.09 per cent as the three tiers of government shared a total of N281.5 billion for the April. Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said at the end of the federation accounts allocation committee meeting on Wednesday in Abuja that net allocation for the month was…

Oil price went up by more than one percent yesterday, nearing $50 a barrel, but Nigeria will receive less from the 2016 boom due to the lower production in recent times. Reuters said the price of Brent crude Wednesday was up 76 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $49.39 a barrel in late afternoon trading on…