By Adedapo Adesanya

The federal government may approve the $1.3 billion asset sale deal between Shell and Renaissance, which was rejected in the coming weeks.

The Africa Report reported that deal may get approval following the announcement of Shell’s $5 billion investment in the Bonga North project.

According to the publication, the final investment decision (FID) served as a pavement for the oil major to get approval for the sale of its onshore and shallow water assets to Renaissance.

In October, the chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr Gbenga Komolafe, revealed that while the government had processed five divestment applications, only four were approved – leaving out Shell’s asset sale to Renaissance, a consortium made up of four indigenous companies including Aradel Holdings, ND Western, First Exploration and Production (E&P) and WalterSmith as well as the international energy group, Petrolin.

These assets, initially at $2.4 billion and now at $1.3 billion, include an estimated 6.73 billion barrels of crude oil and condensate, along with 56.27 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The FG rejected the transaction because the consortium did not have the financial, experiential, and technical capacities to take over the assets.

On Monday, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), a subsidiary of Shell Plc announced the FID on Bonga North, a deep-water project off the coast of Nigeria.

President Bola Tinubu welcomed the move, lauding it as a good investment into the nation’s oil and gas sector.

Bonga North will be a subsea tie-back to the Shell-operated Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility which Shell operates with a 55 per cent interest.

The Bonga North project will involve drilling, completing, and starting up 16 wells (eight production and eight water injection wells), modifications to the existing Bonga Main FPSO and the installation of new subsea hardware tied back to the FPSO.

Bonga North currently has an estimated recoverable resource volume of more than 300 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and will reach a peak production of 110,000 barrels of oil a day, with the first oil anticipated by the end of the decade.

Bonga North will help ensure Shell’s leading Integrated Gas and Upstream business continues to drive cash generation into the next decade.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira improved in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, December 17 after it appreciated against the US Dollar by N1.05 or 0.07 per cent to settle at N1,544.05/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,545.10/$1.

However, the local currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.75 to sell for N1,946.63/£1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,940.88/£1 and against the Euro, it slumped by N2.86 to finish at N1,611.73/€1, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,608.87/€1.

In the parallel market, the Nigerian currency maintained stability against the US Dollar on Tuesday at N1,660/$1, according to data obtained by  Business Post.

A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that profit-taking dominated yesterday as investors look forward to the decision by the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, a move that could impact riskier assets like crypto.

Ethereum (ETH) slid by 4.2 per cent to $3,842.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 3.7 per cent to sell at $0.3849, Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.5 per cent to trade at $1.03, Bitcoin (BTC) slumped by 2.6 per cent to quote at $103,838.00, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 0.9 per cent to $710.31, and Ripple (XRP) dropped 0.3 per cent to finish at $2.51.

On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) appreciated by 4.8 per cent to close at $122.42, and Solana (SOL) jumped by 0.6 per cent to trade at $216.11, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat $1.00 apiece.

By Dipo Olowookere

The strong appetite for domestic shares by offshore and local investors further strengthened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.13 per cent on Tuesday.

The growth recorded during the session pushed the benchmark index, the All-Share Index (ASI) above the 100,000-point threshold after it increased by 128.31 points to 100,050.94 points from 99,922.63 points as the market capitalisation grew by N78 billion to N60.650 trillion from N60.572 trillion.

Business Post reports that the consumer goods and industrial goods sectors witnessed profit-taking which made them slide by 0.15 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.

However, the insurance counter improved on Tuesday by 1.56 per cent, the banking index appreciated by 0.19 per cent and the energy space went up by 0.06 per cent.

Unlike the preceding days, investor sentiment was weak yesterday after the bourse finished with 26 price losers and 25 price gainers, representing a negative market breadth index.

MRS Oil appreciated by 10.00 per cent to close at N145.20, Coronation Insurance increased by 10.00 per cent to N1.54, Caverton flew by 9.68 per cent to N2.38, Lasaco Assurance gained 9.41 per cent to trade at N2.79, and Royal Exchange soared by 9.09 per cent to 72 Kobo.

On the flip side, Cutix lost 10.00 per cent to settle at N2.25, Tantalizers declined by 9.73 per cent to N1.67, DAAR Communications slumped by 7.02 per cent to 53 Kobo, Oando deflated by 6.10 per cent to N68.50, and FTN Cocoa waned by 5.88 per cent to N1.76.

At the market yesterday, eTranzact topped the activity chart after it transacted 70.2 million stocks valued at N474.0 million, Transcorp Hotels traded 70.0 million shares for N7.4 billion, Oando exchanged 26.4 million equities for N1.8 billion, Veritas Kapital sold 21.3 million shares valued at N25.7 million, and Sterling Holdings traded 19.4 million stocks worth N94.8 million.

At the close of business, a total of 478.1 million equities valued at N22.5 billion exchanged hands in 9,578 deals compared with the 740.9 million equities worth N16.9 billion traded in 10,430 deals a day earlier, indicating a rise in the trading value by 33.14 per cent and a decline in the trading volume and the number of deals by 35.47 per cent and 8.17 per cent, respectively.