Economy
Global Crude Oil Market Regains Strength After Trump’s Speech
By Adedapo Adesanya
The oil markets wrapped up its worst week in 12 years with a marginal recovery on Friday. During the week, the market witnessed crash in prices of the commodity and an expected increase in production.
The Brent fell in the week by over 24 percent, the biggest weekly loss for the commodity since the 2008 global financial crisis, while the WTI registered a 23 percent drop.
But on Friday night, the Brent crude futures gained 0.73 percent or 23 cents to trade at $35.44 per barrel, while its US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude counterpart registered a 24 cents or 0.68 percent growth to sell at $31.73 per barrel.
On Wednesday, President of the United States, Mr Donald Trump, banned foreign travels mostly from European countries into America and last night, he declared a national emergency for the coronavirus, which has nearly shutdown global economy.
The US President’s speech contained some pointers that boosted the confidence of a waning market, even by a little.
According to Mr Trump, the US government will buy large quantities of crude for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, mentioning that this would save the taxpayer billions of dollars, while helping out the oil industry, and working towards the goal of energy independence.
Prices crashed on Monday by over 25 percent when Saudi Arabia placed discounts on all its crude grades, leading an already affected market into a more dangerous territory. This move was taken after a plan to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels with Russia did not work.
The Kingdom, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates have also made intentions known that when the current deal of 1.7 million barrels per day cut made by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) expires on March 31, they will increase output as part of plans to capture their own market share.
Saudi Arabia is looking to increase its daily production to 13 million barrels per day, while the UAE national oil company, ADNOC, said it would raise crude supply to more than four million barrels per day in April and would accelerate plans to boost its capacity to five million barrels per day, a target it previously planned to achieve by 2030.
The extra oil the two Gulf allies plan to add is equivalent to 3.6 percent of global supplies and will pour into the market at a time when global fuel demand in 2020 is waning.
According to forecast by OPEC, global oil demand is expected to rise by 60,000 barrels per day in 2020 after it has slashed its forecasts by 920,000 barrels per day in February.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) also noted that oil demand was set to drop this year for the first time since the financial crisis due to the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on economies. The IEA now sees global oil demand falling by 90,000 barrels per day, in 2020.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Nigeria slightly surpassed its quota set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in July 2026.
In the month under review, the country produced about 1.57 million barrels of crude oil per day.
It was the third consecutive month Africa’s largest oil-producing nation was meeting its monthly quota, set to stabilise the price of the commodity on the global market by the oil cartel.
Data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednesday showed that the 1.5 million barrels per day ceiling for Nigeria was surpassed last month.
The agency disclosed in a statement today that the country produced 1.505mbpd of crude oil and 0.17mbpd of condensate, bringing the combined daily production to 1.67mbpd.
In the month under review, the daily peak production of crude oil and condensate was 1.78mbpd, while the lowest daily production was 1.57mbpd.
Although Nigeria met its OPEC quota in the month of July, the statistics show that on a month-on-month basis, production fell by 4 per cent.
This was attributed to the decline in production due to operational challenges experienced at the Erha and Akpo fields, which impacted crude oil output during the period under review.
These disruptions constrained production volumes and contributed significantly to the overall reduction in national crude oil output.
Despite the challenges, production operations across most other producing assets remained relatively stable, with operators implementing measures aimed at maintaining production efficiency and minimising the impact of operational constraints, NUPRC stated.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The over 9 billion shares of Lasaco Assurance Plc issued to shareholders of the company via a rights issue have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The equities were brought to Customs Street on Wednesday by the organisation, increasing its total issued and fully paid-up share capital.
Lasaco Assurance, which scaled the recapitalisation hurdle of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in July 2026, raised fresh capital from the capital market to shore up its capital base.
The underwriting firm got about N18.5 billion from the rights issue, which involved the issuance of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares at a unit price of N2.00.
The exercise was on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
Confirming the listing of the additional stocks of Lasaco Assurance today, the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of NGX RegCo, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, announced in a circular that, “Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Lasaco Assurance Plc were today, Wednesday, August 12, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares arose from the company’s rights issue of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N2.00 per share on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
“With the listing of the additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up share capital of Lasaco Assurance Plc has now increased from 11,083,585,855 to 20,319,907,401 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has said the successful recapitalisation of the insurance industry will strengthen the sector’s ability to support financial stability and economic growth.
NIA Chairman, Mrs Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, said a well-capitalised insurance industry would be better positioned to meet its obligations promptly, underwrite complex and large-scale risks and serve as a dependable pillar of the Nigerian economy.
She made the remarks while commending the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for its structured implementation of the new minimum capital requirements under the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.
Mrs Nwachukwu said NAICOM’s clear guidelines, systematic verification process, defined timelines and rigorous supervision had provided operators with a credible framework for navigating the recapitalisation exercise.
She described the outcome as a major milestone for the industry and congratulated the 43 insurance and reinsurance companies that have successfully met the prescribed minimum capital requirements.
According to her, the exercise represents “a major win not just for regulators and operators, but for policyholders, investors and the wider Nigerian economy.”
Mrs Nwachukwu said the association would continue to work with NAICOM and other stakeholders to consolidate the gains of the exercise, with emphasis on sustainable industry growth, stronger market conduct and improved consumer confidence.
The official also expressed solidarity with the eight companies still undergoing final verification and regulatory review, urging them to remain confident as NAICOM completes the process within the 14-day review period.
The NIA chairman assured policyholders and the wider business community that the insurance industry would emerge from the recapitalisation exercise stronger, more resilient and better positioned to contribute to Nigeria’s economic development.
