Economy
Kazakh Supply Disruptions, Positive Economic Data Buoy Oil Prices
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose on Tuesday on the temporary suspension of output at Kazakhstan’s oil fields and expectations of firmer global economic growth that could drive fuel demand.
Brent futures chalked up 98 cents or 1.53 per cent to trade at $64.92 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for February, which expired on Tuesday, gained 90 cents or 1.51 per cent to close at $60.34 per barrel.
Kazakh oil producer Tengizchevroil said on Monday it had temporarily halted production at the Tengiz and Korolev oilfields after an issue affected power distribution systems.
The Chevron-operated joint venture operating the supergiant 700,000 barrels per day Tengiz field onshore Kazakhstan stated that it had suspended production as a “precautionary measure” after a fire broke out at the field’s power distribution systems.
Tengiz could be halted for another seven to 10 days, cutting crude exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).
Market analysts noted that Tengiz is amongst the largest fields in the world and so the outage is certainly disruptive for crude flows.
The oil market also drew support from better-than-expected fourth-quarter Chinese gross domestic product data released on Monday as data showed that the economy of the world’s largest oil producer grew by 5 per cent last year and the country’s refinery throughput in 2025 climbed 4.1 per cent on a year-over-year basis, data showed on Monday. China’s crude oil output also grew 1.5 per cent.
Prices also gained on an upward revision of this year’s global economic growth estimate by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF in its World Economic Outlook update forecast global GDP growth at 3.3 per cent in 2026, up 0.2 percentage point from its last estimate in October. That’s even with 3.3 per cent growth in 2025, which will also beat the October estimate by 0.1 percentage point.
The lender said that globally, inflation was forecast to continue to decline, from 4.1 per cent in 2025 to 3.8 per cent in 2026 and 3.4 per cent in 2027.
Investors continued to monitor US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against European states that oppose his push to acquire Greenland.
The American president said he would impose additional 10 per cent levies from February 1 on goods imported from EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as Britain and Norway, rising to 25 per cent on June 1 if no deal on Greenland was reached.
President Trump’s tariff threats have a negative bearing on crude prices as the levies could lead to lower global economic growth and therefore reduce oil demand growth.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil giant, Chevron, says it submitted the winning bid for a deepwater oil block offshore Nigeria, marking a fresh step in its efforts to strengthen its presence in the country’s offshore energy sector.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) opened commercial bids for its 2025 licensing round, with Star Deep Water Petroleum, a Chevron company and operator of the Agbami field, emerging as the top bidder for Petroleum Prospecting Licence (PPL) 2010.
“Chevron continues to evaluate high-potential exploration opportunities across our global portfolio, with Nigeria long being an important part of our business,” said Mr Kevin McLachlan, head of exploration at Chevron.
On his part, Mr Jim Swartz, chairman of Chevron companies in Nigeria and Mid-Africa, added: “Chevron remains committed to working collaboratively with the Nigerian government and our partners to support the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and contribute to the country’s broader economic growth.”
The super oil major is among the 143 companies that submitted 200 bids for the oil facilities drawn from diverse terrains, including the Niger Delta Onshore, Niger Delta Shallow Water, Niger Delta Deep Offshore, Benin Basin Onshore, Anambra Basin Onshore, Chad Basin Onshore and Benue Trough.
Business Post gathered that investors, however, were only interested in 37 out of the 50 oil blocks put up for sale by the NUPRC. This is the first time in Nigeria’s energy history that frontier basins would attract such a level of investor interest.
The organisations that won the bids included SSonic Petroleum Limited (PPL 2A29), CFP Pipeline and Flowlines (2A30), Dutchford E&P Limited (2A32), Attabanson Global Company Limited (2A33 and PPL 901), Rosem Energy Limited (2A38), Pivot-GIS Limited (2A39), Network E&P (2A40), Asharami (2A41), LexOil (2A42), BVOF (2A43), GupscoEnergy Limited (2A44 and 2A51), Saratoga (2A45), Volante (2A46), Concept-Reel Petroleum Services Limited (2A47 and 2A55), Clinton Oil Field (2A48 and 2A62) and Nuway Oaklane Limited (2A49).
Others were Ramec (2A50), Italia (2A53), Blueridge E&P (2A54), Up Energies Limited (2A56), AYM Shafa (2A57), Blackrock Holdings Limited (2A58), Funtay Integrated Business Limited (2A59), Riparian Development and Production Limited (2A60), Nikstallis (2A61 and PPL 900), Stardeep Petroleum (PPL 2010), Dakoda & U Limited (PPL308 and PPL 800), Southborne Oil and Gas Limited (PPL 902), Lanaka Petroleum (PPL 903) HighbanResources Limited (PPL 700), Eyre Energy Limited (PPL 801).
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange was plunged into the danger zone by 1.40 per cent on Thursday, July 23, by five securities on the platform.
Leading the pack was Okitipupa Plc, which crashed by N20.20 to trade at N248.00 per share compared with the previous day’s N268.20 per share. MRS Oil Plc tumbled by N15.00 to close at N135.00 per unit versus the preceding session’s N150.00 per unit, Nipco Plc weakened by N7.00 to N415.00 per share from N422.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N3.92 to settle at N143.63 per unit compared with midweek’s N147.55 per unit, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc declined by N3.05 to quote at N95.27 per share versus N98.32 per share.
These losses contracted the value of the unlisted securities exchange by N36.77 billion to N2.594 trillion from N2.631 trillion, and decreased the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 61.26 points to 4,322.22 points from 4,383.48 points.
Business Post reports that there were two price gainers yesterday at the market, but they could not salvage the situation. NASD Plc grew by N1.36 to N37.36 per unit from N36.00 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained N1.09 to end at N16.85 per share versus the previous session’s N15.76 per share.
As for the activity chart, the volume of trades crashed by 96.7 per cent to 377,635 units from 1.4 million units, the value of transactions slumped by 6.3 per cent to N40.4 million from N43.1 million, and the number of deals moderated by 20.4 per cent to 39 deals from 49 deals.
At the close of business, the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis remained Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 75.5 million units traded for N5.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated for the seventh straight session against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) by 0.14 per cent or N1.87 on Thursday, July 23, to trade at N1,367.76/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,369.63/$1.
The Nigerian currency also improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.67 to close at N1,824.45/£1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,833.12/£1, and against the Euro, it gained N6.25 to sell at N1,556.78/€1 compared with the midweek session’s N1,563.03/€1.
Similarly, the Naira gained N5 against the US Dollar in the parallel market yesterday to settle at N1,395/$1 versus Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,400/$1, and at the GTBank forex counter, it strengthened by N4 to quote at N1,379/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,383/$1.
The positive outcome for the Naira comes amid a decline in FX turnover at the Nigerian foreign exchange market by 24 per cent to $1.163 billion from the $1.532 billion recorded a day earlier.
Meanwhile, the number of deals cut across the window by a slew of financial institutions in the country acting as market makers surged to 417 from 313 reported the previous day.
However, traders project that the local currency may weaken soon, largely due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers.
Dangote Refinery, which distributes the majority of the country’s petrol supply, resumed the sale of petrol in Naira after it announced last week that it would start selling petroleum products to marketers in Dollars.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was down, as $800 billion evaporated from the biggest US technology stocks, regarded as a rare stretch of independence for an asset that has tracked the AI trade all month.
Market analysts noted concerns that Big Tech is spending on artificial-intelligence infrastructure faster than profits can justify, with Dogecoin (DOGE) down by 4.4 per cent to $0.0693.
Further, Cardano (ADA) also dropped 4.4 per cent to $0.1668, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $1,883.48, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.1 per cent to $75.85, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.0 per cent to $1.11, Bitcoin slipped by 0.4 per cent to $65,415.27, and Binance Coin (BNB) tumbled by 0.3 per cent to $568.41.
But TRON (TRX) gained 0.3 per cent to end at $0.3287, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
