By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil prices settled lower on Tuesday after Israel agreed to a ceasefire deal with Lebanon, reducing oil’s risk premium, with Brent crude futures down by 20 cents or 0.27 per cent to $72.81 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate(WTI)  crude futures trading at $68.77 a barrel after a decline of 17 cents or 0.25 per cent.

Israel’s security cabinet has agreed a ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Tuesday. The accord was expected to take effect on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister of Israel, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, said he was ready to implement a ceasefire deal with Lebanon and would “respond forcefully to any violation” by Hezbollah.

Prices had fallen more than $2 on Monday following multiple reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

A ceasefire could pressure crude oil prices because the US administration would likely reduce sanctions on oil from Iran, a supporter of Hezbollah.

Also, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ are discussing a further delay to a planned oil output hike that was due to start in January.

Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iraq, the three biggest producers in the OPEC+ alliance, met on Tuesday to discuss the state of the global oil market.

This happened days before the wider group will meet on December 1 to decide how to proceed with the production cuts.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al-Sudani held on Tuesday a joint meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud.

The meeting focused on discussions regarding global energy market conditions, crude oil production, and its flow to markets to meet demand.

The group pumps about half the world’s oil and had planned to gradually roll back oil production cuts with small increases over many months in 2024 and 2025.

However, a slowdown in Chinese and global demand, and rising output outside the group, have put a dampener on that plan.

Plans by incoming US President, Mr Donald Trump, have also created jitters for the market after he said he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on all products coming into the US from Mexico and Canada.

Crude oil inventories in the US fell by 5.935 million barrels for the week ending November 15, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API).

The official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later on Wednesday.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The much-awaited Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Oando Plc will take place on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, at 10 am in Lagos, a statement from the energy company has revealed.

The day would be used to present the audited financial statements of the organisation for the year ended December 31, 2023, to shareholders.

Oando will also seek the approval of investors to appoint Mr Ken Igbokwe and Mr Bashir Bello to the boards of the company with effect from Monday, November 25, 2024.

Mr Igbokwe is a highly experienced management and consulting professional with over 35 years of expertise in various sectors, including oil and gas, financial services and the public sector.

During his distinguished career at PwC Nigeria, he held key leadership roles in Assurance, Tax and Consulting.

His experience spans a wide range of areas such as statutory, financial and process audits and assurance, business valuations, dispute resolution, financial and information systems risk management, corporate strategy development, corporate performance management, and tax planning.

In his role as Country Leader of PwC Nigeria, Mr Igbokwe was responsible for driving strategic thinking and the visioning that underpinned the growth of the firm.

He was in this leadership position for 10 years during which PwC Nigeria’s business recorded tremendous growth with PwC becoming the leading “Big 4” brand. He led the PwC West Africa business into the Africa-wide PwC merger in 2012.

The new appointee contributes to public discourse and debates on public sector transformation in Nigeria and on matters which focus on corporate governance and the strengthening of the investment climate.

Mr Igbokwe holds a B.Sc. (Eng) degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London University, which he attended as a Shell Scholar and graduated from, in 1978.

He is a current member of the Institutes of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and Nigeria. He is also a current member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.

On his part, Mr Bello is an oil and gas professional with over 32 years of experience in Technical and Executive Management positions across the industry. His expertise spans all sectors, from Downstream (Refining) to Midstream (LNG) and Upstream (Exploration and Production), with a strong focus on Operations, Engineering, Project Management, and Corporate Governance.

He has served as a Board Member for Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Bonny Gas Transport Company, NLNG Ship Manning Company Limited, and various Board Committees of Nigeria LNG.

With a proven ability in Interface and Stakeholder Management, he is skilled at delivering business value in Joint Ventures with diverse shareholder agendas, managing projects with complex interfaces and stakeholder expectations, and overseeing operations with diverse functional requirements and limited resources.

Mr Bello holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. He is a Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), and a Registered Engineer with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the monetary policy rate by 25 basis points to 27.50 per cent to further tackle rising inflation in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, at the end of the 298th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.

This is the sixth time that the country has hiked interest rate this year after it announced a 50-basis-point that brought the previous rate to 27.25 per cent in September 2024.

The rationale for increasing interest rates is that higher interest rates increase the cost of borrowing for individuals and businesses. This creates a ripple effect that reduces loans spent on items like homes, cars, and investments and curbs overall spending in the economy.

Normally, low interest rates can lead to excessive borrowing and investments in assets that will then inflate their prices.

Also, increased interest rates make saving more attractive as depositors earn more on their savings. It is widely accepted that saving reduces the demand for goods and services and thus helps to stabilise prices.

Mr Cardoso also used the opportunity to reiterate that the CBN will continue to employ necessary means to bring down inflation.

He projected that Nigeria’s high inflation should moderate by the end of the first quarter of  2025.

The inflation rate continued its upward trend in October 2024, impacted by rises in the price of food, electricity, and fuels, as it came in at 33.88 per cent, relative to the September 2024 headline inflation rate of 32.70 per cent.