Economy

Nigeria’s Content Board Shares $21m NCI Fund to Vendors

Published

6 years ago

06/12/2018

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Maikanti Kacalla Baru, led other industry leaders to commend the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for the numerous achievements recorded in the implementation of Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry.

They spoke Tuesday at the 8th Practical Nigerian Content Workshop, organised by the NCDMB and CWC, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and pledged support to deepen the implementation of policies and initiatives that would increase in country value addition in the oil and gas sector.

According to Mr Kachikwu, the impact of Nigerian Content in the oil industry has stimulated other sectors like Information & Communication, Automobile, Construction and Power to adopt some of the templates in their policy formulations.

“We are also proud that some African countries like Kenya, Congo Brazzaville and Uganda as well as Gabon and Angola have come to Nigeria in the past for mentorship on Local Content initiatives,” he added.

The Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Folashade Yemi, promised the commitment of the Federal Government to promoting robust private sector participation in the oil and gas sector and ensuring ease of doing business in the economy in general.

Also speaking, Mr Baru said NNPC was pleased to see the achievements of Local Content in various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

He noted that in “in 2010, the available in-country capacity for line pipes was 100,000 metric tonnes, just 10 percent of the annual industry demand of one million MT/annum.

“However, today, through the robust collaboration of NCDMB with NNPC and other stakeholders, the capacity of line pipes has been ramped up to 420,000MT/annum, representing 40 percent of industry demand.”

The GMD reaffirmed “NNPC’s commitment to compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act, to increase in-country value addition and support job creation. We will also continue to encourage our partners to do the same.

“NNPC is fully committed to NCDMB’s agenda for the next ten years, to increase Nigerian Content in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry to 70 percent by 2017.”

Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, presented a scorecard of the Board’s performance in 2018, dwelling particularly on the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap.

On the $200 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund) launched to provide funding support to local service companies, Mr Wabote stated that $21 million has been given out as loan to beneficiaries as at the end of October.

“In 2019, we intend to develop and launch our investment policy to further provide flexibility to our funding and investment interventions,” he said.

He also hinted that in 2019 the Board “plans to support the establishment of at least one more modular refinery and participate in the LPG value chain if the condition precedent are in place”

NCDMB had in 2018 taken 30 percent equity in the 5,000 barrels per day modular refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State and commenced the construction of oil and gas parks at Bayelsa and Cross River States.

On the provision of constant power to the parks, Mr Wabote said a thermal power plant was being constructed by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), which would also serve the oil and gas park in Bayelsa state while discussions are ongoing to source electricity from the NIPP station in Odukpani, Cross River State to supply the park situated close-by.

Other plans for 2019 include the finalization of the review of Offshore Rig Acquisition Strategy and posting of 20 trained marine personnel being trained by the Board, for their 1 year international sea time in fulfilment of the requirement for the Certificate of Competency (CoC).

The Executive Secretary also reported that the Board has commenced the forensic audit of remittances to the Nigerian Content Development Fund and fulfilled its promise to put in place 3rd party monitors to enhance compliance monitoring in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry.

He added that, “By 2019, we intend to deepen and widen the roll-out of third party monitoring service providers for effective monitoring of the 51 operating companies and close to 8,000 oil and gas service providers registered on our NOGIC-JQS. In addition, we will further expand our compliance and enforcement framework to cover marginal field operators, midstream and downstream sectors.”

He said the Board have established collaborative efforts with the Nigeria Customs Service, EFCC, NNPC, NAPIMS, Nigeria Immigration Service, FAAN, OGFZA, National Judicial Council and NIMASA and would sharpen those inter-agency collaborations going forward.

In his remarks, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson, commended the NCDMB for being a good corporate citizen in the state and expressed hope that the completion of the Board’s 17-storey headquarters would lead to more oil and gas deals being sealed in the state, so the citizenry would derive maximum benefits.

Economy

NASD Index Appreciates 0.69% to 3,095.00 Points

Published

5 hours ago

14/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.69 per cent appreciation on Monday, January 13, as investors showed renewed interests in unlisted securities.

During the trading session, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased by 21.07 points to wrap the session at 3,095.00 points compared with the 3,073.93 points recorded in the previous session.

In the same vein, the value of the local alternative stock exchange went up by N7.22 billion to close at N1.061 trillion compared with last Friday’s N1.051 trillion.

Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc recorded a growth of N3.78 to close at N42.00 per share versus N38.22 per share, Mixta Real Estate Plc improved by 20 Kobo to end at N2.35 per unit versus the preceding closing rate of N2.15 per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc gained 1 Kobo to finish at 25 Kobo per share compared with the previous session’s 24 Kobo per share.

Conversely, Geo-Fluids Plc lost 29 Kobo to quote at N4.56 per unit compared with the preceding day’s N4.85 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc slid by 75 kobo to end the session at N15.50 per share versus the preceding closing rate of N16.25 per share.

During the session, the volume of securities traded decreased by 27.2 per cent to 3.1 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of securities slumped by 81.5 per cent to N3.2 million from N17.2 million, and the number of deals expanded by 57.9 per cent to 30 deals from 19 deals.

At the close of trades, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and IGI Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.

Also, IGI Plc remained the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.

Economy

FX Supply Pressure Weakens Naira to N1,548/$1 at NAFEM

Published

6 hours ago

14/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recorded a 0.38 per cent or N5.86 depreciation on the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, January 13 to close at N1,548.89/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,543.03/$1.

The local currency weakened further in the official market yesterday as the deadline to cut off Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) built to enhance transparency in the FX system looms.

Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in December opened a 42-day window to allow BDCs to buy FX worth $25,000 per week from the spot market.

However, the domestic currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market on Monday by N11.87 to trade at N1,877.43/£1 compared with last Friday’s N1,889.29/£1 and against the Euro, it improved its value by N4.94 to close at N1,578.87/€1, in contrast to the previous trading day’s N1,583.81/€1.

A look at the parallel market indicated that the Nigerian Naira slumped against the greenback yesterday by N5 to sell at N1,655/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,650/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, large positive outcomes came even as risk assets weighed the possibility of US Federal Reserve rate cuts in the wake of Friday’s hotter-than-expected US jobs report.

The biggest gainer was recorded by Dogecoin (DOGE) as it rose by 3.9 per cent to sell at $0.3422, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 0.9 per cent to trade at $94,843.98, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 0.8 per cent to sell for $687.84, and Solana (SOL) recorded a 0.8 per cent growth to quote at $185.24.

Further, Ripple (XRP) increased its value by 0.7 per cent to close at $2.53, and Cardano jumped by 0.3 per cent to settle at $0.9469.

On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.9 per cent to finish at $3,159.52, and Litecoin (LTC) went down by 0.9 per cent to close at $98.68, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

Economy

Oil Prices up as China, India Seek Alternative Supply After Fresh US Sanctions

Published

6 hours ago

14/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil prices rose on Monday as Chinese and Indian buyers sought new suppliers after the administration of President Joe Biden of the United States imposed toughest sanctions yet on Russian energy.

Last Friday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that traded oil as part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of tankers. The move is expected to cost Russia billions of Dollars per month.

This pushed the price of Brent higher by $1.25 or 1.6 per cent yesterday to $81.01 per barrel and raised the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude by $2.25 or 2.9 per cent to $78.82 a barrel.

As a result, Chinese and Indian refiners are seeking alternative fuel supplies as they adapt to the severe sanctions on Russian producers and tankers that are designed to curb the revenues of the world’s second-largest oil exporter.

The large sanction gives Ukraine and the US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, leverage to reach a deal for peace in the almost three years war.

Market analysts note that these sanctions have the potential to take as much as 700,000 barrels per day of supply off the market, which would erase the surplus that we are expecting for this year.

On its part, Goldman Sachs estimated that vessels targeted by the new sanctions transported 1.7 million barrels per day of oil in 2024, or 25 per cent of Russia’s exports. The bank is increasingly expecting its projection for a Brent range of $70-$85 to trade.

The Vladimir Putin-led government said the sanctions risked destabilising global markets, and Russia would seek to counter them.

Many of the tankers named have been used to ship oil to India and China after previous Western sanctions. A price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 shifted trade in Russian oil from Europe to Asia. Some of the ships have also moved oil from Iran, which is also under sanctions.

Also, six European Union countries called on the European Commission to lower the price cap put on Russian oil by G7 countries, arguing it would reduce Russia’s revenue to continue the war while not causing a market shock.

However, weaker demand from major oil buyers, China, could have an impact on the tighter supply as data showed that China’s crude oil imports fell in 2024 for the first time in two decades outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.