Economy
NCDMB to Launch New Contracting Cycle Guidelines to Boost Oil Production
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has announced plans to launch new Contracting Cycle Guidelines for the oil and gas industry.
This is in line with President Bola Tinubu’s directives for acceleration of oil and gas contract timelines, incentivising investments in the sector and increasing Nigeria’s crude oil production, according to the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Mr Felix Omatsola Ogbe.
He announced this at the two-day Contracting Cycle Guidelines Sensitization Workshop organized by the Project Certification and Authorization Directorate of the Board for international and indigenous oil and gas companies operating in the country.
The workshop provided a platform for NCDMB to explain the provisions of the guidelines and how it would implement them in alignment with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development, NOGICD, Act and the Presidential Directives.
Mr Ogbe represented by the Director of Project Certification and Authorization at the commission, Mr Abayomi Bamidele, emphasised that NCDMB was a business enabler hence the decision to get stakeholders’ feedback before finalizing and launching the guidelines at the forthcoming Practical Nigerian Content Workshop slated for December 3-5, 2024 at the Nigerian Content Tower, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
To further assist the companies, he promised that NCDMB would convene a technical workshop in the first quarter of 2025 to train personnel of operating and service oil and gas companies on how to efficiently complete various technical documents utilized in oil and gas contracting process.
“The three Presidential Directives are the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance, Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Cost and Timelines; and Presidential Directive on Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc).”
Commenting on the objectives of the Presidential Directives, Mr Ogbe canvassed that for Nigeria to deepen local content practice and grow the sector, it must eliminate premium margins charged by some service companies, stop frequent policy changes and ensure that final investment decisions were signed regularly, to catalyse new projects.
He recommended that at least one or two FIDs should be signed at the annual oil and gas conferences, to create activities in the sector.
“The Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance addressed issues pertaining to NCDMB, while the Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Cost and Timelines referred to NCDMB and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company and its investment arm, the NNPC Upstream Investment Services, NUIS.
“NCDMB is working to support oil firms to accelerate their projects and take advantage of the incentives provided by the Presidential Directive on Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission,) etc,”
“The Board was mandated to develop templates to collapse its touchpoints on the contracting cycle to enhance the business environment within the provisions of the law.
“Accordingly the Board has reduced its touchpoints from nine to five for open tenders and selective tenders, while retaining only four touchpoints for single source contract.
“Another goal of the Presidential Directive is to eliminate intermediaries with no demonstrable capacity and to develop structured processes to determine, verify and document in-country capacities and capabilities.
“The Board has adopted robust pre-qualification and technical evaluation process, policy revisions to provide clarity on in-country value addition for OEM representatives and in-country capacity audit every two years.
“Another objective of the Presidential Directive is to target global benchmarks. Thus, NCDMB is proposing the co-creation of tender cost templates/tariffs, the promotion of joint venture of local/foreign service companies, the adoption of robust waiver management system by the Board and conveyor belt of at least two final investment decision (FID) per year.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) agreed to maintain stable oil production at its meeting on Sunday, the group said in a statement.
The agreement comes despite political tensions between key members; Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as the capture of the president of another OPEC member, Venezuela, by the United States.
Sunday’s meeting of the eight OPEC+ members, which produce about half of the world’s oil, came after oil prices fell more than 18 per cent in 2025, their steepest annual decline since 2020, amid growing fears of oversupply.
The eight countries – Saudi Arabia, Russia, UAE, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, and Oman – raised their oil production targets by approximately 2.9 million barrels per day from April to December 2025, which is almost 3 per cent of global oil demand.
In November, they agreed to suspend production increases for January, February, and March.
It was reported that Venezuela was not discussed at Sunday’s brief online meeting.
The eight countries will meet next on February 1, the statement said.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE escalated last month over the decade-long conflict in Yemen, when a UAE-backed group seized territory from the Saudi-backed government. The crisis triggered the biggest rift in a decade between former close allies, as years of diverging views on critical issues came to a head, the publication writes.
OPEC has in the past managed to overcome serious internal disagreements, such as over the Iran-Iraq war, by prioritizing market management over political disputes.
However, the group faces numerous crises, with Russian oil exports under pressure due to US sanctions over Russia’s war against Ukraine, and Iran facing protests and threats of US intervention, the publication writes.
On Saturday, the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and US President Donald Trump said the American government would take control of the country until a transition to a new administration was possible, without specifying how this would be achieved.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, even larger than those of OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, but the country’s oil production has plummeted due to years of mismanagement and sanctions.
By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session of 2026 on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note with a 0.57 per cent growth on Friday.
This was buoyed by renewed appetite for stocks across the key sectors of the market as investors rebalance their portfolios for the new year, especially with the commencement of the controversial tax laws.
Data from Customs Street showed that the banking space advanced by 2.32 per cent, the insurance improved by 2.07 per cent, the energy index expanded by 1.38 per cent, the commodity sector rose by 0.71 per cent, and the consumer goods landscape advanced by 0.21 per cent, while the industrial goods closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 879.33 points to 156,492.36 points from 155,613.03 points and the market capitalisation went up by N562 billion to N99.938 trillion from Wednesday’s N99.376 trillion.
Yesterday, the quartet of FTN Cocoa, Deap Capital, Mutual Benefits, and ABC Transport chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N5.50, N2.09, N3.41, and N4.51 apiece, while Aluminium Extrusion gained 9.93 per cent to settle at N23.80.
However, Abbey Mortgage Bank declined by 6.25 per cent to N6.00, FCMB shrank by 4.56 per cent to N11.50, Seplat Energy depreciated by 3.43 per cent to N5,610.00, Guinea Insurance lost 2.26 per cent to close at N1.30, and Universal Insurance went down by 1.65 per cent to N1.19.
A total of 440.0 million shares worth N25.0 billion exchanged hands in 40,245 deals during the session compared with the 1.2 billion shares valued at N35.1 billion traded in 27,884 deals in the previous session, representing a surge in the number of deals by 44.33 per cent and a shortfall in the trading volume and value by 63.33 per cent and 28.78 per cent, respectively.
Chams topped the activity table after the sale of 120.3 million units worth N455.1 million, Linkage Assurance traded 21.2 million units valued at N38.3 million, Lasaco Assurance exchanged 19.5 million units for N48.6 million, Aradel Holdings sold 15.6 million units worth N10.7 billion, and Access Holdings transacted 14.3 million units valued at N317.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira closed the first session of 2026 positive against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) as it gained N4.91 or 0.34 per cent to trade at N1,430.85/$1 compared to the previous rate of N1,435.76/$1.
This was a similar trend in the spot market against the Pound Sterling and the Euro on Friday session as the Naira chalked up N8.47 on the British currency to close at N1,925.78/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,934.24/£1 and appreciated against the European currency by N9.64 to quote at N1,678.24/€1 versus N1,687.88/€1.
In the black market window, the Nigerian currency firmed up against the Dollar yesterday by N5 to sell for N,475/$1 compared with the previous rate of N1,480/$1 and improved against the greenback at the GTBank counter by N17 to settle at N1,435/$1 versus the previous value of N1,452/$1.
The appreciation at the market came as demand eased as the year commenced with a positive outlook for the FX market in which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said reforms will further enhance efficiency and transparency, narrow the premium between the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market and Bureau de Change rates, and sustain exchange rate stability. In addition, improved domestic oil refining capacity is expected to reduce foreign exchange demand for fuel imports.
The apex bank said that external reserves of Nigeria will climb to $51.04 billion in 2026 from $45 billion in 2025. The reserves are expected to be boosted by reduced pressure in the FX market based on the anticipated rise in oil earnings, sovereign bond issuance, and diaspora remittance inflows.
On inflation, the CBN anticipates that headline inflation will decelerate further to 12.94 per cent in 2026, driven by a combination of factors, and is expected to come down to 10.75 per cent in 2027.
In the cryptocurrency market, Ripple (XRP) rose above $2 for the first time since mid-December, extending a strong start to 2026 as traders pointed to steady spot exchange traded-fund (ETF) inflows and improving regulatory sentiment in the US. However, it closed the day at $1.99 after gaining 6.3 per cent.
Traders reassess the regulatory backdrop after SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, a staunch critic of crypto spot ETFs, departed, which some market participants viewed as clearing the way for a more crypto-friendly policy stance.
Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 9.1 per cent to $0.1400, Cardano (ADA) grew by 7.9 per cent to $0.3856, Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 2.5 per cent to $81.37, and Solana (SOL) added 2.4 per cent to trade at $130.35.
In addition, Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 1.8 per cent to close at $3,077.46, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 0.7 per cent to sell for $871.01, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 0.6 per cent to $89,461.15, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking8 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy3 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn