Economy
NCDMB, Navy Collaborate to Enforce Oil and Gas Act
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Nigerian Navy have reached an agreement to collaborate closely to enforce the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act in maritime operations.
The partnership will help curb the use of non–compliant and non–categorized vessels and intercept illegal vessels and non–compliant crew members on oil and gas locations.
The two organisations would set up a high-level committee that would work out detailed modalities for the collaboration and enable both organizations to accomplish their respective mandates.
These decisions were reached during the visit of the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Kesiye Wabote to the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo in Abuja.
According to the Executive Secretary, the board receives alerts regularly via its whistle-blowing portal and would like to investigate such information and recommend genuine cases to the Navy.
Other possible areas of collaboration include support to the board in assessment visits to vessels and provision of information to the board on vessels and tankers plying the Nigerian waters and oil and gas locations.
Mr Wabote indicated that the Navy is well situated to drive the security aspect of the industry’s operations, particularly in securing the nation’s shores against piracy and illegal oil bunkering.
He said the Navy’s role was critical because the bulk of Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves lie along with the coastal areas of the country including major infrastructure and plants for hydrocarbon processing and exports.
He also commended the Navy for its efforts in promoting Nigerian content, notably by engaging the services of indigenous engineers and service companies in the fabrication and maintenance of Navy boats, thereby boosting local content in the industry.
He highlighted the need for closer ties particularly because of the Board’s long-term vision to increase Nigerian Content levels in the oil and gas sector from the current level of about 40 per cent to 70 per cent by the year 2027 as part of the Nigerian Content 10-Year Strategic Roadmap.
He identified the board’s marine vessels development and categorization strategy as one of the core initiatives that would support the actualisation of the 10-year roadmap.
The goals of the marine vessel initiative are to promote the construction and maintain vessels in Nigerian yards, stimulate ownership of marine vessels by Nigerian entities, grow flagging & registration of vessels in Nigeria, deepen Nigerian manning of marine vessels, and develop world-class ship repairs and shipbuilding yard.
He reported that the board had made progress in the various aspects of these objectives such as support for the acquisition of marine vessels by Nigerians via the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund managed by the Bank of Industry (BoI), provision of sea-time training for marine cadets, patronage of in-country dry-docks, and the completion of the feasibility study and site selection for the proposed development of shipyard.
Listing some of the achievements of the board in the past five years, Wabote stated that it had begun the first phase of developing the Brass Island Terminal in Bayelsa State.
The facility will carry out repair and maintenance of large ships and vessels such as LNG LNG carriers, VLCCs and maritime equipment such as jack-up rig vessels.
In his comments, Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu lauded the Board for the numerous achievements it had recorded in implementing the NOGICD Act and pledged the support of the Nany in deepening stakeholders’ compliance with the NOGICD Act.
He also sought the assistance of the Board in upgrading the Naval shipyard in Lagos, particularly the slipway.
While highlighting the Navy’s milestones in research and development, the Naval chief sought the board’s collaboration in improving the Navy’s R&D capabilities as well as creating a market for their products in the oil and gas industry.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices fell on Friday as traders gained confidence that renewed conflict between the United States and Iran was growing less likely.
The price of Brent crude futures settled at $93.09 a barrel, down $1.94 or 2.04 per cent, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures finished at $90.54 a barrel, down $2.50 or 2.69 per cent.
President Donald Trump said the US will win the conflict with Iran either “militarily or on paper,” referring to the fitful negotiations with the Iranian government, and he suggested he could meet with Iran’s reclusive supreme leader “if it was to make a deal.”
He also said he had no desire to meet with Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen since the outbreak of violence on February 28 and was reportedly seriously injured in US-Israeli air strikes. He, however, added that if the two sides reached a deal, it was possible the two leaders would meet.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected on Thursday a US-brokered agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting. Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with America.
Oman said operations at Mina al Fahal port were unaffected after it was reported that oil loading had been suspended following an explosion near its mooring berths. Oman exports 800,000 to 900,000 barrels per day of crude from the terminal.
As the US-Iran war peace talks dragged on, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil passes, remained limited. Gains have been capped by oil inventories lasting longer than expected, rerouted exports and falling demand.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC) is sticking to its oil demand growth forecast of 1.2 million barrels per day for this year, its Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said, despite the Middle East conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
OPEC crude output fell last month, hitting its lowest level in decades as the US blockade of Iran and disruption in the Persian Gulf continued to curb production.
Output from its 11 current members dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million a day in May, with Iran accounting for more than half of the decline, according to a Bloomberg survey. That was the lowest in at least 37 years. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates, which left the organisation last month after six decades.
Key members of the OPEC+ are expected to nudge up targets by a modest 188,000 barrels again in July during a video conference on Sunday. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its allies are due to hold that day.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude production under the collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) fell in May to its lowest level in at least 37 years as the blockade of Iran by the United States and disruptions in the Persian Gulf, continued to limit output.
According to a Bloomberg survey released on Friday, output from the organisation’s 11 current members, including Nigeria, dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million barrels per day last month.
Iran accounted for more than half of the decline. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which departed the cartel last month after six decades of membership.
War between a US-Israeli alliance and Iran has reduced oil supplies from the Middle East, largely closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait have been forced to cut crude production. Iranian shipments face additional pressure following a US blockade of its ports imposed in mid-April.
Iranian output fell by 710,000 barrels per day to a five-year low of 2.34 million barrels per day in May, the survey showed. Central Command reported that US forces have redirected 127 commercial vessels to enforce the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Kuwait recorded the second-largest decline last month, with production falling by 310,000 barrels per day to 490,000 barrels per day, less than one-fifth of pre-war levels. Saudi Arabia, the group’s leader, saw output decrease by 240,000 barrels per day to 6.57 million barrels per day.
The production reductions have not prevented OPEC and its allies from raising quotas over recent months, continuing a year-long process of restoring output halted several years ago.
This comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 7, where a sub-group of seven members is expected to increase targets by 188,000 barrels again in July. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its partners plan to hold that day.
Delegates indicated the alliance has plans for two additional monthly quota increases in August and September. UAE output rose by 300,000 barrels per day to 2.44 million barrels per day in May, according to the survey.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 2025 third quarter Budget Implementation Report from the Budget Office of the Federation has shown that the federal government exceeded the funds allocation for repayment of debts for the first nine months of the fiscal year by about 18 per cent.
In a report by Punch, the sum of N10.74 trillion was budgeted for debt servicing between January and September 2025, but the government used N12.63 trillion for the purpose, N1.90 trillion or 17.65 per cent more than the allocation for the year.
The funds were spent on domestic debts, foreign debts and sinking fund by the central government in nine months.
Business Post reports that for the whole year, the amount approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu for debt repayments was N14.31 trillion.
Looking at the nine-month figures, domestic debt service gulped N6.23 trillion, exceeding its N5.39 trillion provision, while foreign debt service was N6.30 trillion versus the budget provision of N5.06 trillion.
According to the report, the figures indicated that 67.2 per cent of the federal government’s retained revenue of N18.63 trillion was spent on debt service in the first nine months of 2025. When the sinking fund is included, debt-related payments consumed about 67.8 per cent of revenue.
It was also observed that aggregate federal government revenue underperformed the budget by N12.03 trillion or 39.24 per cent, as actual revenue of N18.63 trillion fell short of the N30.67 trillion projected for the first three quarters.
In the third quarter alone, the government generated N7.70 trillion versus the quarterly target of N10.22 trillion as a result of persistent oil revenue shortfalls, despite stronger non-oil collections.
The debt burden also crowded out capital spending, as total capital expenditure was N3.10 trillion in the first nine months compared with the N17.58 trillion budgeted for the period, indicating that actual debt-related payments were more than four times capital expenditure.
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