By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil appreciated by 3 per cent on Tuesday as a winter storm in the United States affected crude production and drove US Gulf Coast crude exports to zero over the weekend.

During the session, Brent crude futures went up by $1.98 or 3.02 per cent to $67.57 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures grew by $1.76 or 2.9 per cent to trade at $62.39 a barrel.

US oil producers lost up to 2 million barrels per day or roughly 15 per cent of national production over the weekend as a severe winter storm swept across the country, straining energy infrastructure and power grids.

The severe weather has boosted crude futures, with short-term risks rising on fears of supply disruptions.

According to Reuters, the Permian Basin experienced the largest share of that decline at around 1.5 million barrels per day. Production losses eased on Monday, with Permian shut-ins estimated at about 700,000 barrels per day and production set to be fully restored by January 30.

The exports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas from US Gulf Coast ports tumbled to zero on Sunday amid frigid weather. However, this has rebounded in the last days.

Also boosting prices,  Kazakhstan’s biggest oilfield, Tengiz, is likely to restore less than half of its normal production by February 7 as it slowly recovers from a fire and power outage.

The slow pace of recovery of Tengiz’s production is keeping the oil market tighter while a weaker US Dollar also lended some support.

However, the CPC, which operates Kazakhstan’s main exporting pipeline, said it returned to full loading capacity at its terminal on the Russian Black Sea coast after maintenance was completed at one of its three mooring points.

On the geopolitical front, the US landed an aircraft carrier and supporting warships in the Middle East, adding to the slim chance of a military action against Iran.

President Donald Trump Trump had repeatedly threatened to intervene if Iran continued to kill protesters, but the countrywide demonstrations have since abated. The US president said he had been told that killings were subsiding and that he believes there is currently no plan for the executions of prisoners.

Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) is set to keep its pause on oil output increases for March at a meeting on February 1.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Steps are now being taken by the Republic of Türkiye to increase its trade volume with Nigeria to $5 billion from the current $2 billion.

The President of Türkiye, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a meeting with his Nigerian counterpart in Ankara on Tuesday, said the establishment of a Joint Economy and Trade Committee between the two countries would create opportunities to expand Turkish investments in Nigeria to realise the target.

The bi-continental nation presently exports aircraft, machinery, iron and steel, chemical products, fabrics, furniture and others to Nigeria, while the West African nation exports crude oil and agricultural products to Türkiye.

“Today, we conducted a comprehensive review of our relations with the esteemed President and his delegation in the fields of trade, investments, energy, education and defence industry.

“Firstly, we see that we have significant potential in the fields of trade and investment. In today’s meetings, our commitment is to the $5 billion trade volume target, and we discussed the steps needed.

“We also discussed opportunities to support our investments in Nigeria. We believe that the joint Economy and Trade Committee, which we agreed to establish today, will be instrumental in this regard,” Mr Erdogan told newsmen during a press conference yesterday.

He promised to assist Nigeria in tackling insurgency,  given its history with a similar problem, saying, “Terrorist organisations emerging, particularly in Africa’s Sahel region, unfortunately, pose a threat to the peace of the entire continent. We stand by the friendly people of Nigeria in their fight against terrorism under the leadership of President Tinubu.”

“In fact, today, we addressed opportunities for closer cooperation in the fields of military training and intelligence. We stated that we are ready to share our country’s significant experience in combating terrorism.

“Also, I believe that we will soon see positive outcomes from the meetings that Nigerian officials will hold with our leading defence industry companies during this visit,” he added.

In his remarks, Mr Tinubu thanked the Turkish leader for his willingness to collaborate in promoting global freedom, stability, and prosperity.

“What is very important to the countries being discussed, trade, business, no restrictions, giving opportunity to those who are ready to learn to work and prosper. How do we build an inclusive economy together? How do we reform the economy and involve vulnerable people? How do we ensure peace in the world?” he asked.

By Dipo Olowookere

The performance indices of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited were up by 0.12 per cent on Tuesday amid waning appetite for local stocks by investors.

Data revealed that the activity level was lower during the trading day, with the volume of trades declining by 19.71 per cent to 483.1 million stocks from the 601.7 million stocks recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals down by 28.98 per cent to 41,499 deals from 58,429 deals. However, the value of transactions increased by 0.59 per cent to N17.4 billion from N17.3 billion.

Access Holdings was the most active equity yesterday with a turnover of 26.5 million units sold for N599.8 million, GTCO traded 25.3 million units worth N2.5 billion, Secure Electronic Technology exchanged 24.7 million units valued at N23.8 million, Japaul transacted 21.4 million units for N54.2 million, and Tantalizers sold 20.3 million units valued at N72.7 million.

The market breadth index turned positive on Tuesday unlike the preceding session, as Customs Street ended with 33 price gainers and 26 price losers, implying strong investor sentiment.

SCOA Nigeria gained 9.94 per cent to sell for N28.75, Union Homes REIT also appreciated by 9.94 per cent to close at N86.25, Deap Capital expanded by 9.94 per cent to N8.63, Morison Industries improved by 9.92 per cent to N9.09, and RT Briscoe soared by 9.89 per cent to N7.22.

Conversely, Austin Laz declined by 9.96 per cent to N4.34, Neimeth depreciated by 9.62 per cent to N10.80, Prestige Assurance tumbled by 7.37 per cent to N1.76, Africa Prudential lost 6.96 per cent to N14.70, and Veritas Kapital dipped by 6.86 per cent to N1.90.

Business Post reports that when the bourse closed its doors to trading for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) climbed by 196.26 points to 165,713.82 points from 165,517.56 points and the market capitalisation gained N126 billion to finish at N106.089 trillion compared with the previous day’s N105.963 trillion.