Economy
NNPC, Afreximbank Seal $1.04bn Oil Trade Financing Deal
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed a five-year agreement worth $1.04 billion with the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The deal meant for trade financing was signed at the ongoing Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Durban, South Africa.
The oil trade financing deal is for the export of the crude produced by the NNPC, and the repayment process would be through crude supply to the bank.
The arrangement is similar to what the NNPC has with some of the joint venture companies in which crude oil is used to net off its cash call debt obligations.
About 25,000 barrels per day of crude oil produced by the NNPC would be used to net off the loan.
During the signing of the loan agreement, the President of the bank, Mr Benedict Oramah, stated that the deal would benefit Nigeria and promised that the bank would make funds available for similar projects across Africa.
The IATF 2021 kicked off on November 15 with the theme Building Bridges for a successful AfCFTA and has so far attracted thousands of visitors to the Durban International Convention Centre where it’s taking place.
Meanwhile, speaking on Bloomberg Television, the Managing Director of the state oil corporation, Mr Mele Kyari also raised doubts about the ability of the producers’ group known as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) to ramp up production in the short term as an investment in the industry continues to wane.
OPEC has continued to stick with its agreed plan since July, to release an additional supply of 400,000 barrels every month to gradually return the cuts it embarked upon in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, despite promptings from the United States, India, Japan and other countries to supply more barrels.
Currently, the global oil market has a deficit of over 600,000 barrels per day, a development that has led to an increase in oil and gas prices and brought along attendant inflationary pressures.
Despite the over 1.6 million barrels per day allocated to Nigeria in September and October, the country was only to supply 1.399 million barrels per day and 1.354 million barrels in September and October respectively on the back of weak infrastructure and sabotage.
Mr Kyari argued that the plan by the United States to release oil from its special reserves has to be very significant to make any long-term impact on global oil prices, explaining that although Nigeria has faltered in meeting its OPEC allocation, by the end of the year, the country may be able to hit 1.8 million bpd, excluding condensates.
“It’s very obvious that by the close of the year, we will get back to the 1.7 barrels to 1.8 barrels per day of crude oil. When I mention this figure, I am only talking about crude oil because we also produce condensates and when you combine, we can easily hit 2.0 million barrels by the end of the year,” he stressed.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Emerald Holdco has been authorised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to proceed with its mandatory takeover offer (MTO) of shares of Beta Glass Plc worth N6.94 billion held by minority investors.
In a notice to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, it was disclosed that the MTO involves 11,741,509 ordinary shares of Beta Glass at a unit price of N590.94.
Shareholders of the company are required to fill out the MTO form for the exercise, which opened on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, and is expected to close at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, August 4, 2026.
Business Post reports that Emerald Holdco recently completed the acquisition of 100 per cent of the shares of Emerald Nigeria Intermediate Holdings B.V. (formerly Frigoinvest Nigeria Holding B.V), which owns 76.03 per cent of Packaging Industries Nigeria Limited (formerly Frigoglass Industries (Nigeria) Limited) from the Frigoglass Group.
As part of this transaction, Emerald Holdco has assumed indirect ownership of 331,260,999 ordinary shares in the company, previously held by Frigoglass Group, which represent approximately 55.22 per cent of the issued share capital of the organisation.
In accordance with the Nigerian Takeover Rules, Emerald Holdco is required to make a takeover offer to all other shareholders of Beta Glass. It is permitted to make an offer for all or a portion of the shares held by the other shareholders of the firm.
Following this requirement, Emerald Holdco sought and obtained approval from its board and shareholders to launch a takeover offer to all qualifying shareholders for the acquisition of up to 11,741,509 ordinary shares, representing 1.96 per cent of the total issued and fully paid-up share capital of Beta Glass.
The board and shareholders granted this approval on February 5, 2026, and March 3, 2026, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A plunge in the share price of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc purged the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 6.11 per cent on Tuesday, July 7.
The milk producer, famed for brands like Peak Milk and Three Crowns, was the sole price loser during the session, shedding N12.41 to end at N139.41 per unit compared with the previous day’s N151.82 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock market went down by N155.40 billion to close at N2.387 trillion, in contrast to Monday’s closing value of N2.543 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) fell by 258.90 points to close at 3,978.07 points compared with the preceding session’s 4,236.97 points.
Business Post reports that NASD Plc was the only price gainer for the day, gaining 80 Kobo to close at N34.10 per share versus N33.30 per share.
Yesterday, the value of securities surged by 98.3 per cent to N15.9 million from the preceding session’s N2.8 million, the volume of securities increased by 183.6 per cent to 323,780 units from 114.175 million units, and the number of deals grew by 61.1 per cent to 29 deals from 18 deals.
At the close of business, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded security 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 worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 70.7 million units exchanged for N4.9 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira weakened by N7.48 or 0.55 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, July 7, to N1,375.75/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,368.27/$1.
Equally, the local currency fell against the Pound Sterling in the same official FX market yesterday by N14.66 to trade at N1,841.57/£1 versus Monday’s closing price of N1,826.91/£1, and against the Euro, it depreciated by N10.61 to close at N1,573.30/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,562.69/€1.
In the parallel market, the Nigerian currency lost N5 against the US Dollar during the trading day to settle at N1,395/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,390/$1, and at the GTBank forex desk, it remained unchanged at N1,831/$1.
Liquidity fluctuations amidst sustained FX inflows from foreign portfolio investors, exporters, non-bank corporates and other sources weakened the Naira despite rising external reserves. Updated data showed that gross external reserves increased to $ 51.525 billion from $51.549 billion.
Daily interbank FX turnover stood at $54.180 million across 70 deals, from $70.430 million.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) signalled its intention in the first half of the year to slow the Naira rally and avoid capital flight by purchasing US Dollars from the market.
As for the cryptocurrency market, benchmarked tokens dipped following renewed strikes on Iran by the US after an attack on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The US Central Command forces said it began launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose high costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.
The latest exchange of fire will test the fragile ceasefire as Iran struck back by targeting US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. The renewed attacks in the Middle East have doused the flames of the recent rally, with markets losing $50 billion over the past 12 hours.
Cardano (ADA) fell by 5.8 per cent to $0.1695, Solana (SOL) dropped 3.4 per cent to sell at $78.24, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 3.3 per cent to $1.08, Dogecoin (DOGE) declined by 3.2 per cent to $0.0724, and Binance Coin (BNB) slid by 1.9 per cent to $567.58.
Further, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 1.1 per cent to $1,751.40, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.8 per cent to quote at $62,538.88, and TRON (TRX) decreased by 0.4 per cent to $0.3289, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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