Economy

Nigeria May Lose $10b from Oil & Gas Lease Renewal—Senate

Published

8 years ago

19/07/2018

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Senate on Wednesday raised an alarm of the possibility of losing about $10 billion from the ongoing lease renewals in the oil and gas sector.

In order not to make the nation loss such a huge amount from the exercise, especially at this time the country was borrowing to fund its budgets, the Senate has summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Ibe Kachiwku.

At the plenary yesterday, the upper legislative arm of government directed its Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) to investigate issues lease renewals.

In a motion titled ‘Irregularities in Ongoing Oil and Gas Lease Renewal and Massive Loss of Government Revenue’ by Mr Omotayo Alasoadura and three other senators, it was alleged that, “The Minister and the Department of Petroleum Resources were proceeding to renew leases of companies that had brazenly and illegally refused to pay royalties from oil and gas lifted by the companies in contravention of extant laws.”

According to Mr Alasoadura, the Committee on Petroleum Resources had since December, 2017 been inundated with petitions and complaints over alleged multiplicity of irregularities surrounding the renewal of oil and gas leases.

“The action of the Minister of State is capable of short-changing the country and denying the Federation the appropriate revenue accruable from the renewal of the leases,” he warned.

The lawmaker said, “Under the provision of extant laws, failure to pay royalties is a ground for revocation of leases and a legal barrier to renewal of applicable leases.”

“There is a subsisting legal framework and due process mandated by extant law for the renewal of leases that are due,” he added.

According to him, the alleged irregularities are capable of denying government revenue in excess of $10 billion as a result of illegal discounts and rebates in the process of lease renewal.

The lawmaker said that efforts by the senate committee to engage DPR on the matter failed.

According to him, the Department of Petroleum Resources wilfully and deliberately refused to provide the committee with relevant information and data related to the lease renewal.

“There is need to thoroughly investigate the lease renewal in view of the potentially alarming impact this will have on government in terms of loss of revenue accruable to the federation.”

In his contribution, Mr Shehu Sani said that the motion was an indication of the rot in the oil and gas industry, adding that $10 billion was huge revenue that the country could not afford to lose.

“From the substance of this motion, it is very clear that the Minister of State has in every possible way been engaged in acts that contravene the law.

“Over a year ago, he wrote an open letter raising issues about transparency and impunity in the oil sector.

“The issue of lease is something that has been on the front burner of national discourse in the last few weeks.

“What this parliament can do is to once and for all bring the minister to make clarification on the actions he has taken as 10 billion dollars is no small amount of money.

“I am of the belief that if we can get to the root of this matter, it will also open other cans of worm,” he said.

On his part, Mr Rafiu Ibrahim stressed the need to expand the investigation.

“The President is the Minister of Petroleum Resources, maybe that is why this motion is not mentioning the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

“We are aware that the Minister of State ordinarily does not have the final approval for this type of case.

“There is a Board of NNPC and the Ministry and it is out there, though yet to be substantiated that the Chief of Staff to the President is a member of the board and is literally in charge of the board and the ministry.

“I will just want the prayer to expand those to be called in the investigation.”

In his remarks, Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, who presided at plenary, charged the committee to carry out thorough investigation on the issue.

He stressed the need for proper oversight by the committee, adding that “what matters most in cases like this is transparency in our oversight functions”.

Economy

Presco, GTCO List Additional Shares on Stock Exchange

Published

3 hours ago

02/02/2026

Aduragbemi Omiyale

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The duo of Presco Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc has listed additional shares on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.

The extra equities of these two publicly-listed organisations were admitted to the local stock exchange last Friday, increasing their respective total issued and fully paid-up shares.

For Presco, it listed fresh 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each on the daily official list of the NGX on Friday, January 30, 2026, increasing its total issued and fully paid-up stocks from 1,000,000,000 units to 1,166,666,667 units.

The additional equities were from the rights issue of the firm allotted to shareholders on the basis of one new share for every existing six ordinary shares held as at close of business on Monday, October 13, 2025.

In a circular issued over the weekend, the NGX said, “Trading licence holders are hereby notified that additional 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Presco Plc were on Friday, January 30, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited (NGX).

“The additional shares arose from the company’s rights issue of 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1,420.00 per share on the basis of one new share for every existing six ordinary shares held as at close of business on Monday, October 13, 2025.

“With the listing of the additional 166,666,667 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Presco Plc has now increased from 1,000,000,000 to 1,166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.”

As for GTCO, it listed additional125,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N80.00 per unit offered through private placement.

The fresh equities taken to Customs Street have raised the total issued and fully paid-up shares of GTCO from 36,425,229,514 to 36,550,229,514 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.

Economy

FG, States, Local Councils Share N1.969trn FAAC Allocation

Published

4 hours ago

02/02/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

A total of N1.969 trillion was shared to the federal government, the 36 state governments and the 774 local government councils from the gross revenue of N2.585 trillion generated by the nation in December 2025.

The money was disbursed to the three tiers of government at the January 2026 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held in Abuja.

In a statement issued on Monday by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Mr Bawa Mokwa, it was stated that the FAAC allocation comprised statutory revenue of N1.084 trillion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N846.507 billion, and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N38.110 billion.

“Total deduction for cost of collection was N104.697 billion, while total transfers, refunds, and savings were N511.585 billion,” the statement partly read.

It was also revealed that from the N1.969 trillion total distributable revenue, the federal Government received the sum of N653.500 billion, and the state governments received N706.469 billion, the local government councils received N513.272 billion, and the sum of N96.083 billion was shared with the benefiting state as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

He said of the N1.084 trillion distributable statutory revenue, the central government received N520.807 billion, the state governments got N264.160 billion, the local councils were given N203.656 billion, and N96.083 billion was shared to the benefiting states as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

FAAC noted that from the N846.507 billion distributable VAT earnings, the federal government got N126.976 billion, the state governments received N423.254 billion, and the local government councils got N296.277 billion.

From the revenue from EMTL, Mr Mokwa explained that the national government was given N5.717 billion, the state governments got N19.055 billion, and the councils collected N13.338 billion.

He added that the companies’ Income Tax (CIT)/CGT and STD, Import Duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) increased significantly in December, while oil and gas royalty, CET levies and fees increase marginally, with excise duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT)/Hydrocarbon Tax (HT), and EMTL considerably down.

Economy

Oil Exports to Drop as Shell Commences Maintenance on Bonga FPSO

Published

6 hours ago

02/02/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria’s oil exports will drop in February following the shutdown of the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel scheduled for turnaround maintenance.

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) Limited confirmed the development in a statement issued, adding that gas output will also decline during the maintenance period.

This comes as SNEPCo begun turnaround maintenance on the Bonga FPSO, the statement signed by its Communications Manager, Mrs Gladys Afam-Anadu, said, describing the exercise as a statutory integrity assurance programme designed to extend the facility’s operational lifespan.

SNEPCo Managing Director, Mr Ronald Adams, said the maintenance would ensure safe, efficient operations for another 15 years.

“The scheduled maintenance is designed to reduce unplanned deferments and strengthen the asset’s overall resilience.

“We expect to resume operations in March following completion of the turnaround,” he said.

Mr Adams said the scope included inspections, certification, regulatory checks, integrity upgrades, engineering modifications and subsea assurance activities.

“The FPSO, about 120 kilometres offshore in over 1,000 metres of water, can produce 225,000 barrels of oil daily.

“It also produces 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day,” he said.

He said maintaining the facility was critical to Nigeria’s production stability, energy security and revenue objectives.

Mr Adams noted that the 2024 Final Investment Decision on Bonga North increased the importance of the FPSO’s reliability. He said the turnaround would prepare the facility for additional volumes from the Bonga North subsea tie-back project.

According to him, the last turnaround maintenance was conducted in October 2022.

“On February 1, 2023, the asset produced its one billionth barrel since operations began in 2005,” Mr Adams said.

SNEPCo operates the Bonga field in partnership with Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, under a Production Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The last turnaround maintenance activity on the FPSO took place in October 2022. On February 1, the following year, the asset delivered its 1 billionth barrel of oil since production commenced in 2005.