Economy
DPR Okays Waltersmith Modular Refinery for Production
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has given the green light to the 5,000 barrels per day Waltersmith Modular Refinery to kickstart operations.
This stamp of approval was given by the Director of the regulatory agency, Mr Sarki Auwalu, during a pre-commissioning visit to the project site located in Ibigwe, Imo State, saying that the purpose of the visit is to confirm that the refinery is ready to start operations.
“We can confirm that the refinery is very much ready to commence operations. We have seen all the preparations. To us, the plant is alive. The commissioning is just symbolic. Everywhere is ready to start off. My overall assessment is excellent.
“We have been to other modular refineries but we have not seen anything like this – the space, the way it is arranged and the way it will work,” Mr Auwalu added.
The DPR director said that people should start seeing the DPR as an enabler and not a regulator as its focus is on how to create opportunities and how Nigeria’s vast oil and gas resources are managed for the betterment of Nigerians.
“The role we play is to enable businesses and create opportunities. When DPR issues you a license, it enables you to invest and as a result, that opportunity we create, that business is enabled,” Mr Auwalu said.
According to the DPR boss, “Waltersmith is one of our success stories. We consider the project as ours. We have been tracking their growth and we are happy to see that our child is growing. It is our plan that they expand, and they have the potential”.
Business Post had reported that the 5,000 barrels per day modular refinery, scheduled for official commissioning on Monday, (October 26, 2020) has a crude oil storage capacity of 60,000 barrels and is projected to deliver over 271 million litres per year of refined petroleum products, comprising of diesel, kerosene, naphtha and heavy fuel oils to the domestic market.
The bulk of the crude supply for this phase will come from Waltersmith’s upstream business with backup from nearby third-party crude, according to Mr Abdulrasaq Isah, Chairman of the company.
He said, “What you see here is a proof of the absolute faith we have in our country. We want to demonstrate that it is practically a waste of resources to produce crude oil and just sell it. It is more impactful to add value and make more significant impact on the GDP of our nation.
“This is the first phase of a series of refinery development which will culminate in the delivery of up to 50,000bpd refining capacity that will expand the product slate to include PMS, LPG and Aviation fuel.”
He added that the expansion plan consists of 20,000 barrels per day crude oil refinery and a standalone 25,000bpd condensate refinery both of which are at early stages of project development,” he added.
On the sustainability of the refinery project, Mr Chikezie Nwosu, Managing Director/Chief Executive of Waltersmith, said that domestic consumption is more sustainable than crude export.
“With export, there are things you do not have control over and for every dollar you gain by exporting crude oil as a commodity, you gain multiples of those dollars in terms of GDP growth by consuming the energy within the economy”, Nwosu said.
Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company obtained a license to establish from DPR in June 2015 and obtained authority to construct in March 2017.
The company partnered with Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, the 30 per cent equity holders, while the Africa Finance Corporation, AFC, committed significant financing to the project. The company signed an EPC contract in June 2018 with a consortium of Vfuels and Lambert Electromec.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has asked retail investors interested in investing in the FGN savings bonds to begin to talk to their financial advisers.
This is because subscription for the retail bonds for March 2026 has commenced and will close on Friday, March 6, according to a circular issued by the agency on Monday.
The debt office is selling two tenors of the debt instrument, with the shorter note maturing in two years’ time and the longer maturing a year later.
Details of the notice showed that the two-year paper is being offered at a coupon of 12.906 per cent, and the three-year paper at 13.906 per cent.
Both notes are sold at a unit price of N1,000, with a minimum subscription of N5,000 and in multiples of N1,000 thereafter, subject to a maximum subscription of N50 million. They can be purchased via approved stockbroking firms in Nigeria.
The FGN savings bond qualifies as a security in which trustees may invest under the Trustee Investment Act. It also serves as government securities within the meaning of the Company Income Tax Act (CITA) and the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) for tax exemption for pension funds, amongst other investors.
It can be used as a liquid asset for liquidity ratio calculation for banks, and is listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for trading at the secondary market.
The bond is backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and charged upon the general assets of the country.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has broken up the OPL 245 oil block into four new assets to be operated by Eni and Shell, potentially settling the future of the field at the centre of one of the oil industry’s biggest historic corruption trials.
According to Reuters, the agreement clears the way for the development of OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s biggest deepwater reserves that has remained untapped for almost three decades amid overlapping lawsuits in multiple countries.
The final contracts are expected to be signed starting Monday, the report said, citing a source familiar with the situation.
The Nigerian government had signalled for years that it was keen to find a solution that would bring the block into production. The source wished to remain anonymous as they are not authorised to comment on government policy before an official announcement.
Located in the Niger Delta’s deepwaters, the field has languished since its initial award in 1998 to Malabu Oil and Gas, a shadowy firm controlled by Mr Dan Etete, Nigeria’s oil minister at the time. The block is estimated to hold up to 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent in reserves—enough to rival Nigeria’s entire proven reserves if fully developed.
Mr Etete controversially awarded the lucrative licence to his own company for a nominal $20 million fee, sparking immediate controversy over conflicts of interest.
The saga escalated in 2011 when Malabu sold its rights to a Shell-Eni joint venture for $1.3 billion.
Italian and Nigerian prosecutors alleged that over $1 billion of that sum was siphoned off through bribes to politicians, middlemen, and Mr Etete himself, including hefty payments to then-President Goodluck Jonathan’s associates.
The two European energy giants and some of their former and current executives, including Eni CEO, Mr Claudio Descalzi, faced trial in Italy but all were acquitted in 2021, having denied all wrongdoing.
Shell and Eni have consistently denied wrongdoing, insisting the payments complied with due diligence.
The anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has pursued parallel probes, recovering over $200 million in frozen funds, but progress stalled amid political shifts.
Operations at the Nigerian oil block have been halted for more than a decade by a series of trials and competing legal claims.
In 2023, the federal government withdrew civil claims totalling $1.1 billion against Eni, ending the long battle.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, has been increased by at least N100 per litre at the pump.
This followed the recent increase in the price of crude oil in the global market as a result of the bombardment of Iran by the United States and Israel over the weekend.
The air strikes killed the Supreme Leader of Iran, Mr Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several others.
Iran has responded by firing missiles at US facilities in some Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, and others.
Crude oil prices rose to about $80 per barrel on the market from about $70 per barrel before the Middle East crisis.
Oil marketers in Nigeria have responded to the tension and have raised the prices of petroleum products.
At most MRS Oil retail stations in Lagos, the new price notice showed an increase of about N100 per litre.
As of Monday, the price of PMS was N837 per litre, but on Tuesday morning, it had changed to N938 per litre, while at NNPC retail stations, it was N930 per litre instead of the previous N830 per litre.
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