Economy
NNPC’s Upstream Subsidiary Records Higher Earnings
By Adedapo Adesanya
The upstream subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), recorded higher earnings, leading to a trading surplus of N37.50 billion.
In the latest report for the month of September 2021, the NNPC said the trading surplus increased by 352 per cent from the N8.29 billion surplus recorded in August 2021.
Details of the figures contained in the September 2021 NNPC Monthly Financial, and Operations Report (MFOR) indicate that in September 2021, NNPC Group’s operating revenue as compared to August 2021 reduced by 29.87 per cent or N191.90 billion to stand at N450.45 billion. Similarly, expenditure for the month decreased by 34.87 per cent or N221.11 billion to stand at N412.92 billion.
Expenditure as a proportion of revenue in the month under review stood at 0.92 per cent, compared to last month’s 0.99 per cent.
The report also shows a total Crude Oil and Gas export receipt of $348.63 million in September 2021 as against $224.29 million in August 2021.
Receipts from Crude Oil amounted to $8.38 million while Gas and miscellaneous receipts stood at $55.25 million and $285.00 million respectively.
Total Crude Oil and Gas export receipt for the period of September 2020 to September 2021 stood at $2.03 billion.
In the downstream sector, to ensure uninterrupted supply and effective distribution of petrol across the country, a total of 1.39 billion litres translating to 46.31 million litres/day was supplied for the month of September 2021.
For the month under review, 21 pipeline points were vandalized, the same as recorded in August 2021. Port Harcourt area accounted for 5 per cent, while Mosimi Area accounted for 95 per cent of the vandalized points.
In the gas sector, a total of 208.35 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas was produced in the month of September 2021, translating to an average daily production of 6,945.15 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).
For the period of September 2020 to September 2021, a total of 2,862.36 bcf of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7,250.16 mmscfd during the period.
In terms of period-to-date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and NPDC contributed about 57.51 per cent, 21.20 per cent and 21.29 per cent respectively to the total national gas production.
Out of the 204.73 bcf of gas supplied in September 2021, a total of 129.74 bcf was commercialized, consisting of 33.18 bcf and 96.51 bcf for the domestic and export markets respectively.
This translates to an average total supply of 1,106.00 mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,218.57 mmscfd to the export market for the month.
The 74th edition of the MFOR highlights NNPC’s activities for the period of September 2020 to September 2021.
Economy
NASD OTC Bourse Declines Further by 0.16%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.16 per cent decline on Tuesday, January 21, extending its loss this week to two.
This further depleted the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange by N1.65 billion at the close of transactions to N1.071 trillion from the N1.073 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slid by 4.79 points to wrap the session at 3,100.33 points compared with 3,105.12 points recorded in the previous session.
The bourse ended with two price losers yesterday led by Geo Fluids Plc, which gave up 32 Kobo to trade at N4.38 per share versus Monday’s closing price of N4.70 per share and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which depreciated by 15 Kobo to close at N39.50 per unit compared with the previous day’s N39.65 per unit.
On the second trading day of the week, the number of deal carried out slightly went up by 8.3 per cent to 13 deals from the 12 deals executed at the previous trading session.
Also, the value of transactions increased by 97.2 per cent to N4.5 million from the N2.5 million recorded a day earlier, while the volume of securities traded in the session declined by 71.6 per cent to 183,780 units from the 767,610 units recorded on Monday.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most traded equity by value (year-to-date) with 4.1 million units worth N162.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units valued at N44.0 million, and 11 Plc with 55,358 sold for N14.5 million.
Also, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 25.3 million units worth N5.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.1 million units valued at N162.9 million.
Economy
Naira Crashes to N1,552/$1 at NAFEM, N1,670/$1 at Black Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, making its value to shrink against the United States Dollar at the close of business.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the domestic currency crashed against its American counterpart during the session by 0.18 per cent or N2.73 to settle at N1,552.78/$1, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,550.05/1.
But against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, the local currency traded flat in the official market yesterday at N1,906.98/£1 and N1,613.48/€1, respectively.
As for the black market segment, the Naira weakened against the Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to sell for N1,670/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,665/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market heaved a sigh of relief during the session as President Donald Trump created a crypto task force dedicated to “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
The task force will be led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, a long-time advocate for the crypto industry, and will work closely with the crypto industry to develop regulations. This is after Mr Gary Gensler, an opponent of crypto, officially stepped down as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Mr Trump’s term started.
The task force will also work with Congress, providing “technical assistance” as it crafts crypto regulations.
Solana (SOL) recorded a 9.2 per cent growth to sell at $257.09, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 7.6 per cent to $0.36789, Ripple (XRP) added 4.0 per cent to finish at $3.18, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 3.7 per cent to $105,515.03.
Further, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to close at $699.01, Cardano jumped by 2.1 per cent to trade at $0.9972, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 2.0 per cent to settle at $3,308.21, and Litecoin (LTC) went up by 1.5 per cent to end at $116.72, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
Economy
Brent Falls Below $80 as US Signals Boost to Oil Output
By Adedapo Adesanya
The price of the Brent crude oil grade went below the $80 mark on Tuesday after it shed 86 cents or 1.1 per cent to trade at $79.29 per barrel after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, signaled the possibility of his country boosting its oil production.
This move raised concerns of higher US output in a market widely expected to be oversupplied this year, with the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures falling by $1.99 or 2.6 per cent during the session to $75.89 per barrel.
On his first day in office, the US President signed an executive order to unleash America’s energy by easing the barriers to oil and gas extraction and production and revoking a series of climate orders by former President Joe Biden.
As pledged in the campaign, the executive order follows the declaration of a national energy emergency.
The declaration includes measures to expedite energy infrastructure delivery, and emergency approvals by agencies “to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands.”
This will likely confirm expectations that the oil market will be oversupplied this year after weak economic activity and energy transition efforts weighed heavily on demand in top-consuming nations the US and China.
President Trump also said he was considering imposing 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico from February 1, rather than on his first day in office as promised.
The delay helped ease concerns of an immediate tightening of the market among US refiners, many of which are geared to process the type of crude oil supplied by these countries.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reiterated on Tuesday its expectations for oil prices to decline both this year and next.
On its part, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) projects robust demand growth in the world both this year and next.
In 2025, OPEC says demand is set to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day leaving its projection unchanged from the December report.
However, losses were also limited after the US president said his administration would “probably” stop buying oil from Venezuela. The U.S. is the second-biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil after China.
Also weighing on prices on Tuesday was the potential end to the shipping disruption in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday they will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.
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