Economy
FG Signs Deals to Boost Revenue by $16b
By Dipo Olowookere
Two sets of alternative financing agreements on Joint Venture (JV) projects to boost reserves and production in line with government’s aspiration were executed in London on Monday between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and two of its JV partners: NNPC/Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) JV and NNPC/Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) JV.
The two projects are expected to generate incremental revenues of about $16 billion within the assets’ life cycle including a flurry of exploratory activities that would generate employment opportunities in the industry, boost gas supply to power and rejuvenate Nigeria’s industrial capacity utilization.
The agreement with Chevron would see the development of the NNPC/CNL JV Sonam Project (Project Falcon), hitherto financed through cash calls, to incremental proven and probable oil/liquids reserves of 211 million barrels and proven and probable gas reserves of 1.9 trillion cubic feet within in Oil Mining Licences (OMLs) 90 and 91.
The project is expected to begin to bear fruits in next three and six months.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the project is envisaged to achieve an incremental peak production of about 39, 000 barrels per day of liquids and 283million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscf/d) of gas respectively over the life cycle of the asset.
The Joint Venture partner, he said, had already expended $1.5 billion representing 97 per cent of project completion costs, adding that the agreement would cover the remaining $780million to complete the project’s scope.
Providing a breakdown of the expected funding requirements of the Sonam Project, Dr. Baru said $400million is to fund the development of seven wells in the Sonam field (OML 91), the Okan 30E Non-Associated Gas (NAG) well (OML 90), and associated facilities including completion of Sonam NAG Well Platform.
The GMD added that $380million would also be required to reimburse the JV partners for the 2016 portion of the funds committed to lenders that had been cashed and paid for.
He stated that the Sonam Project alone, on fruition, would net the Federal Government cumulative incremental earnings of $7.3 billion over the project’s life.
The agreement with SPDC, on the other hand, would facilitate the development of the NNPC/SPDC JV Project Santolina which comprised of 156 development activities across 12 OMLs (OMLs 11, 17, 23, 25, 27, 28, 32, 35, 43, 45, 46 and 79) and 30 different fields in the Niger Delta.
The GMD said the development of the Sonam Project would be carried out in two phases, with the first phase focused on short term activities involving Oil and Gas Generation (STOGG) programme comprising 128 rigless activities and 10 workovers, while the second phase would focus on medium term activities that would involve further development of EA/EJA fields by drilling 14 new well and three workover ones.
He said the first phase of the project is estimated to deliver incremental liquid reserves of about 202.9 million barrels of oil and 161.8 billion cubic feet on Proven and Probable (2P) basis.
The GMD put the total third-party financing for Project Santolina at $1billion, inclusive of financing cost of which, he said, co-lending amounted to $420mm with NNPC’s portion of $850million.
He stated that Project Santolina would generate about $9billion of incremental revenue to the Federation Account over the project’s life cycle and a Net Profit Value (NPV) of $5.2 billion over the loan life at 8 per cent discount rate.
Dr. Baru explained that NNPC’s objectives in securing third-party financing for the two sets of projects aligned with government’s aspiration to increase reserves and crude oil and gas production as well as monetize the nation’s enormous gas resources.
He emphasized that the financing option underscored the realization of one of the Corporation’s 12 Business Focus Areas (BUFAs) that is: Increasing crude oil and gas reserves and production to support government’s Seven Big Wins aspiration.
In his presentation, Mr Andy Brown, Shell Global Upstream Director, stated that the alternative funding arrangement was an innovative financing plan that would enable SPDC commence exploration activities hitherto stalled due to funding challenges.
Mr Jeffrey Ewing, Chairman and Managing Director of CNL, said Chevron Nigeria Limited was committed to supporting Nigeria’s aspirations of sustaining oil and gas production through innovative strategies as typified by the alternative financing arrangements over which agreement was executed.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the consortium of banks involved in the project namely Access Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Union Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) and some foreign financial institutions.
Economy
FAAC Disburses 1.727trn to FG, States Local Councils in December 2024
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.
The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.
At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.
According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.
It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.
The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.
The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.
As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.
Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.
Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
Economy
Okitipupa Plc, Two Others Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 0.65%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.
On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.
In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.
Economy
Naira Trades N1,533/$1 at Official Market, N1,650/$1 at Parallel Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.
The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.
Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.
In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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