Economy
FG Seeks 30% Oil Production from Local Producers
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Federal Government has tasked indigenous oil producers to grow their contribution to the national crude oil basket from the current 10 percent to 30 percent within the next five years.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, gave this charge at the closing ceremony of the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) held in Abuja last week.
According to him, the nation aspires to pump of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day by 2023 and the expectation is that indigenous producers will contribute about 25 or 30 percent of the projected volume.
He also announced that he had directed the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to pursue a strategic plan that will ensure that a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel is constructed 100 percent in-country within the next 10 years.
He acknowledged that a lot of progress was recorded in this regard with the Total Exploration and Production’s Egina FPSO, hence the next level was to achieve 100 percent manufacture in Nigeria, so as to create more employment opportunities, retain spend and domicile technology.
Another strategy that will deepen Local Content in the country according to the Minister is “Project 100” whereby “the Federal Government will identify critical 100 companies that are in the background offering services but do not have the capital to expand and buy the latest technologies and skills. We will work with big oil companies to help provide guaranteed work and financial support for them to grow.”
Mr Kachikwu also reiterated his call for operating companies to lower their cost of producing crude oil, cautioning that government might be forced to stop production from expensive fields.
He said, “I will hate to take a costly barrel to the market when I have a cheap barrel. So everybody needs to drive down cost to the $15 concept we have set as the ideal cost of producing oil in this country and not $22 or $23.
“Two companies have met that and I will like to get other companies to do same. There will be incentives both in terms of access to the market and willingness to produce and incentives in terms of what we are going to give to any company that is the least cost producer.”
He also revealed that Nigeria was targeting about $100 billion investment in the petroleum sector, though the Federal Government had already sealed deals in excess of $40 billion that would start coming in the nearest future.
The committed investments include the Zabazaba deepwater project being promoted by the Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE) in partnership with Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and the Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) deepwater project also developed by SNEPCo.
Vice President, Mr Yemi Osibanjo, who closed the summit, noted that the event had created a platform to examine issues facing the oil and gas industry in Africa.
He emphasized that the Federal Government was determined to remove all encumbrances to the efficient conduct of oil and gas businesses.
Earlier, Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Kesiye Wabote, who was the lead discussant in the panel session captioned, “Local Content and Environmental Issues” had pointed out that the country currently faced a myriad of environmental challenges, including deforestation in the northern part of the country, oil spillage and destruction of aquatic life in parts of the Niger Delta region and loss of natural habitat.
He argued that environmental challenges facing communities and individuals contributed to the security problems being experienced in some parts of the country.
He further canvassed that government and stakeholders of the oil industry and other key sectors should urgently implement Local Content Policies in a bid to create industrial activities and employment opportunities for teeming youths of the country whose environments had been impacted negatively.
The four day summit drew participants from several countries, within and outside the African continent and recorded over 1,000 delegates, exhibitors and visitors.
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.
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.
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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