Economy
NNPC Secures $700m to Achieve 40b barrels Oil Reserve Target
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A funding support of about $700 million has been secured by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the development of the Anyalu and Madu fields in the Niger Delta under Oil Mining Licence, OML 83 and OML 85, offshore Nigeria.
This is expected to help plans by the state-owned oil agency to grow the nation’s crude oil reserves to about 40 billion barrels by the year 2020.
On Thursday, in Abuja, the NNPC entered into a tripartite agreement with FIRST Exploration & Production Joint Venture as well as Schlumberger for oil fields.
Under the agreement, Schlumberger will provide the $700 million funding support that will help generate 193 million barrels of crude oil from the Anyala and Madu fields into the current reserves of 37.2 billion barrels and an additional 800 billion cubic feet of gas into the nation’s proven gas reserves which currently stand at 197 trillion cubic feet of gas.
In terms of daily production, the fields will yield 50,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 120 million standard cubic feet of gas per day by early 2019.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, said the innovative approach to funding JV operations in response to the challenging economic environment was novel and aligned wholly with the government’s aspiration to increase crude oil and gas production, reserves growth and monetization of the nation’s enormous gas resources.
He added that apart from serving as a test case for future funding mechanism, the approach adopted was in sync with the realization of the corporation’s 12 Business Focus Areas (BUFA) which is to ramp up crude oil production and reserves growth, amongst others.
He said the projected increase in production of gas would come in handy as the Corporation strived to sustain the supply of gas to the existing power plants as well as the planned power projects billed to come on board within the period.
Also, Managing Director and CEO of FIRST E&P, Mr Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, who signed on behalf of FIRST E&P, remarked that the partnership between the NNPC/FIRST E&P JV and Schlumberger would infuse a novel asset development model which combines FIRST E&P’s local knowledge and market position as an indigenous operating company, with Schlumberger’s financing and broad technical capabilities.
He added that the joint project team would strengthen FIRST E&P’s project delivery abilities and the model would offer the upstream subsector a credible alternative funding and technical partnership model for growing production and adding reserves.
On his part, Mr Patrick Schorn, Vice President, Schlumberger, who signed on behalf of Schlumberger traced the advent of the multi-national oil fields service company in Nigeria to the first commercial oil find in Oloibiri when Schlumberger played a role in Shell’s drilling effort.
He noted that the partnership with NNPC and FIRST E&P would provide Schlumberger the opportunity to leverage on its reservoir knowledge, oilfield services and project management expertise to lower development costs and maximize value for the partners.
The OMLs 83& 85 are located in shallow waters 40 km offshore in the Niger Delta, NNPC holds 60 percent interest in the licences while, FIRST E&P, the operator of the JV, holds the remaining 40 percent interest.
Apart from providing funding for the development of the fields, Schlumberger would also provide other Oilfield Services to the JV on a limited exclusive basis.
A joint project team would be established to drive technology transfer whilst leveraging on the global technical expertise of Schlumberger and the extensive local knowledge of the JV partners.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.
The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.
The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.
Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.
During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.
The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.
Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.
As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.
However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.
With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.
Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The oil market was up on Friday on increasing expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which could boost economic growth and energy demand.
Brent futures rose by 49 cents or 0.8 per cent to $63.75 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 41 cents or 0.7 per cent to $60.08 per barrel.
Investors digested a US inflation report and recalibrated expectations for the Federal Reserve to reduce rates at its December 9-10 meeting.
US consumer spending increased moderately in September after three straight months of solid gains, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at the end of the third quarter as a lackluster labor market and the rising cost of living curbed demand.
Traders have been pricing in an 87 per cent chance that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points next week, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Investors also focused on news from Russia and Venezuela to determine whether oil supplies from the two sanctioned members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will increase or decrease in the future.
The failure of US talks in Moscow to achieve any significant breakthrough over the war in Ukraine has helped to boost oil prices so far this week.
A loss of Venezuelan oil production in case of a US military intervention will materially impact global benchmark prices as the market will have to replace Venezuela’s heavy crude.
Venezuela is estimated to pump about 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil at present, so if the US-Venezuela tension escalation into an invasion in the South American country, this volume of crude would be at risk.
Reuters reported that the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Any deal that could lift sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer after the US, could increase the amount of oil available to global markets, weakening prices.
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