Economy
NLNG Not For Sale—FG
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of State for Petroleum Resource, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, has disclosed that federal government has no intention to put the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) up for sale as being speculated.
Mr Kachikwu made this known on Monday while appearing before an investigative hearing established by the House of Representatives to look into the sale of national assets.
The probe panel is led by Mr Fred Agbedi, a lawmaker from Bayelsa State, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Gas Resources and Allied Matters.
The Minister, who was represented by the Director in charge of Gas Resources in the Ministry, Mrs Esther Ifejika, disclosed that NLNG would not be sold to investors for whatever reason.
“We are not aware of any plans to sell NLNG by the federal government,” Mr Kachikwu emphatically told the lawmakers.
Also at the hearing, Mrs Ifejika, who said the presentation of the Ministry and that of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were harmonized could not proceed further with the presentation as the committee discovered glaring discrepancies in the documents of the Ministry and that of the NNPC as presented by Bello Rabiu, Chief Operating Officer, (Upstream), who represented the Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru.
Having rejected both documents for lack of authenticity and signature as observed by members, the panel further queried the NNPC and the Ministry over what it called some staggering increases in the upgrade contract of OML 58 and the execution of the Northern Option Pipeline.
TOTAL E&P who handled the Joint Venture contract said the initial contract sum was $3.451 billion, but was eventually increased to $4.6 billion after consideration of a number of factors.
Given the revelation, members of the panel expressed displeasure over the huge variation in the contracts amounting over $1.15 billion.
Members were however told that the NNPC entered into a JV with Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (TEPNG) and there was a Modified Carry Agreement and award to TEPNG to execute the OML 58 Upgrade 1 in 2008, Obite-Ubeta-Rumuji (OUR) pipeline in 2010, and the Northern Option Pipeline in 2011 respectively.
Explaining the process which he said followed laid down procurement processes, Rabiu of the NNPC, informed the panel that no money had been paid on the variations.
He said following the variations raised by the contractor, the board of the corporation suspended the procurement with a view to subjecting same to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), approval, adding that same is being waited.
According to Patrick Olinma, who represented Total’s managing director at the hearing, contract for the upgrade of OML 58 upgrade 1 and the execution of the Northern Option Pipeline were awarded to Saipim/Ponipcelli/Desicon (SPD) and Sapim/Desicon (SD) Consortiums as the major contractors at an initial contract cost ceiling of $1.665 billion and $472million with a completion date of 2012 and 2013.
“However, during execution, these projects encountered some challenges which led to delays and an increased cost of over $3.8 billion and $921m respectively as at December, 2015 and an additional $79m and about $921m incurred upon full completion resulting in the expenditure of about $175m and $170m respectively,” he said.
Similarly, the contract for the execution of the Obite-Ubeta-Rumuji (OUR) pipeline project in 2010 was awarded to Zahem/Baywood Consortium as the major contractor at the carrying cost of $269million, $293 million and $469million.
Members however, posited that the reason for the variations was because the contractor engaged by Total was incompetent resulting in the extra cost.
But the Total representative said that they had a duty to comply with the local content act and that they were told there were 14 communities which in reality were 74 communities.
The Chairman of the Committee said though the parliament made the law, it did not say that the contractor should be employed as a learning curve, adding that the cost is too staggering to be ignored.
At this point, the panel demanded that both NNPC and Total produce the board’s resolution on the contracts before it was awarded to ensure they comply with procurement laws.
Other requirements include, love of adherence to section 21 of the procurement Act which provides for the constitution of a Procurement Planning Committee, with staff from both sides of the divide deciding the mode of procurement.
Also demanded are the market survey, financial bid evaluation with emphasis on inflation and variation variables, as well as financial and technical bid analysis.
Panel also asked for financial updates on payment, status reports on the projects, saying that the motion’s primary concern dwells on the procurement process.
Additional information from The Nation.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Okitipupa Plc was the sole price gainer at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, August 7, lifting the trading platform by 0.44 per cent at the close of transactions.
The share price of the palm oil producer appreciated during the trading session by N25.00 or 9.0 per cent to N277.00 per unit compared with the previous day’s N252.00 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation gained N12.29 billion to close at N2,807 trillion, in contrast to the previous session’s N2.795 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) added 93.63 points to finish at 4,678.08 points compared with Thursday’s 4,657.59 points.
The bourse recorded a price loser yesterday, and this was Mass Telecoms Innovation Plc, which crashed by 3 Kobo or 9.4 per cent to settle at 32 Kobo per share versus the previous day’s 35 Kobo per share.
The volume of securities traded by investors plunged by 81.5 per cent to 535,7560 units from 2.9 million units, the value of securities slumped by 93.9 per cent to N6.0 million from N99.2 million, and the number of deals decreased by 41.9 per cent to 36 deals from 62 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 77.0 million units exchanged for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.15 per cent growth was achieved by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, driven by continued buying interest in banking stocks such as First Holdco and others.
The banking index was up by 1.53 per cent during the session, offsetting the losses recorded by the others. The industrial goods segment fell by 0.37 per cent, the insurance counter shrank by 0.21 per cent, and the energy sector contracted by 0.04 per cent, while the consumer goods space closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved up by 364.26 points to 245,573.60 points from 245,209.34 points, and the market capitalisation increased by N235 billion to N158.513 trillion from N158.278 trillion.
Despite the gains printed by Customs Street during the trading day, investor sentiment was weak, as there were 22 price gainers and 24 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UPDC surged by 9.23 per cent to N3.55, CWG soared by 6.56 per cent to N19.50, AXA Mansard appreciated by 4.80 per cent to N13.10, Neimeth advanced by 4.24 per cent to N8.60, and Cutix improved by 4.00 per cent to N2.60.
Conversely, Red Star Express lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N18.00, CAP declined by 9.98 per cent to N115.45, John Holt shrank by 9.82 per cent to N10.10, ABC Transport depreciated by 9.57 per cent to N5.20, and Legend Internet crashed by 8.70 per cent to N4.20.
A total of 1.5 billion equities worth N26.7 billion exchanged hands in 42,580 deals on Friday versus the 531.8 million equities valued at N20.5 billion traded in 44,826 deals on Thursday, representing a spike in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 182.06 per cent, 30.24 per cent, and 5.01 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock during the session was Fortis Global Insurance, with a turnover of 824.5 million units valued at N2.1 billion, FCMB traded 217.9 million units worth N2.8 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 176.2 million units for N4.7 billion, Chams sold 32.5 million units worth N132.1 million, and First Holdco transacted 25.0 million units valued at N3.7 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further closed south against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, August 7, by 81 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to N1,365.69/$1 from N1,364.88/$1.
It was a similar situation for the Nigerian Naira in the official market during the session as against the Pound Sterling; it lost N1.08 to quote at N1,839.17 versus the previous day’s N1,838.09/£1, and against the Euro, it slipped by N1.23 to close at N1,575.73/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,574.80/€1.
Further, at the GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency weakened against the Dollar yesterday by N2 to settle at N1,371/$1 compared with Thursday’s N1,369/$1, and at the black market, it traded flat at N1,400/$1.
The country’s legal tender came under FX demand pressure on Friday, with turnover rising by 304.3 per cent to $399.5 million from $98.8 million the previous day, with the number of deals slightly up to 107 from 106.
Next week, traders expect the Naira to hold steady, buoyed by dollar sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), whose presence in the market could help ease demand pressure.
As for the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) neared the $65,000-mark after it gained 0.8 per cent to trade at $64,968.05, as investors took advantage of recent drops to shore up their holdings.
Previously, the decision by the US Senate to delay a vote on the Crypto Clarity Act until at least September weakened the outlook. The bill, which would set out which US regulator oversees which digital assets, needs 60 votes to pass and it is unclear whether it currently has 50.
Solana (SOL) grew by 2.5 per cent to $74.81, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 1.3 per cent to $0.0702, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 1.1 per cent to $593.80, Ethereum (ETH) expanded by 0.5 per cent to $1,916.08, Ripple (XRP) also soared by 0.5 per cent to $1.03, and TRON (TRX) appreciated by 0.2 per cent to $0.3275.
However, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.1997, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
