Economy
NUPRC Woos Investors to Explore Nigeria’s Oil, Gas Reserves
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced that the country’s gas reserves currently stand at 208.83 trillion cubic feet, offering potential investors a huge potential.
According to the Chief Executive of NUPRC, Mr Gbenga Komolafe, following the declaration of the year 2020-2030 as Nigeria’s decade of gas, the country became ripe for more investment.
He said Nigeria has a proven reserve of 36.966 billion barrels of oil and condensate, opening a large opportunity for investments in the upstream oil and gas sector.
Mr Komolafe spoke at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF 2023) organized by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, with the theme, Oil and Gas Industry: Catalyst for Fuel for the Industrialisation of Nigeria.
“Nigeria’s role as a major player in the global oil and gas industry is certainly not in doubt, as we are currently the highest oil producer in Africa and the second highest in terms of proven oil reserves with a huge potential for growth.
“As of January 1, 2023, Nigeria boasts 36.966 billion barrels of oil and condensate reserves and 208.83 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, opening a large opportunity for investments in the upstream oil and gas sector.
“You will agree with me that despite the global clamour for decarbonization and energy transition, oil and gas remain relevant in the global energy mix to guarantee energy security for our teaming population.
“In order to deliver on her commitments towards reduction of carbon footprints, Nigeria has adopted gas as a transition fuel and expects to significantly increase gas consumption during the Decade of Gas declared by the President, Muhammadu Buhari.
“This adoption of natural gas as a transition fuel is a boost for Nigeria; our gas reserves can be harnessed to help the country’s transition to Net Zero by 2060 while driving economic growth and development, thereby simultaneously tackling energy poverty and meeting the commission has intensified efforts climate ambition.”
Represented by the Executive Commissioner, Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning, Mr Kelechi Ofoegbu, the NUPRC boss assured of the Commission’s commitment to growing gas reserves, boosting production and eliminating routine gas flares in all upstream operations across the value chain while also dealing with methane capture and other fugitive gas emissions.
“The significance of this is that more gas would be available for domestic utilization as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), feedstock for power generation plants, fertilizer plants and petrochemicals, among others.
“Each of these areas shows that gas would truly be the catalyst and fuel for industrialisation as well as provide unique entry points for willing investors and constitute opportunities to build capacity locally.
“The commission, as the upstream petroleum industry regulator, has embarked on the development of a regulatory framework for carbon-make businesses pay for their emissions and pricing system to incentivize emission reductions through carbon credits.
“Accordingly, a new department called Energy Transition and Carbon Monetisation has been created in the Commission to coordinate the drive towards energy transition in the Nigeria oil and gas sector. The new department will drive the focused implementation of the robust regulatory framework for the decarbonisation of upstream operations.
“It will introduce clean mechanisms in field development, mitigate the impact of energy transition and ensure sustained investments in upstream operations whilst improving the environmental credentials of oil and gas. It is our hope that in months to come; we should be able to share the vital lessons from the Nigerian transition success story with the global community.”
Also speaking, the Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr Richard Kennedy, announced that the company had spent over $1 billion on Nigerian suppliers and service providers in the last few years.
Mr Kennedy, in his goodwill message, said CNL had made significant investments in Nigeria in the last 60 years, assuring that the company remains committed to the NOGICD Act and will continue to build local capacity.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three stocks stretched the bearish run of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.21 per cent on Friday, December 19, with the market capitalisation giving up N26.01 billion to close at N2.121 billion compared with the N2.147 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropping 43.47 points to 3,546.41 points from 3,589.88 points.
The trio of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, and NASD Plc overpowered the gains printed by four other securities.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N6.00 to sell at N54.00 per unit versus N60.00 per unit, NASD Plc shrank by N3.50 to N58.50 per share from N55.00 per share, and CSCS Plc depleted by N2.91 to N33.87 per unit from N36.78 per unit.
On the flip side, Air Liquide Plc gained N1.01 to close at N13.00 per share versus N11.99 per share, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 70 Kobo to N7.68 per unit from N6.98 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc added 39 Kobo to sell at N5.50 per share versus N5.11 per share, and IPWA Plc rose by 8 Kobo to 85 Kobo per unit from 77 Kobo per unit.
During the trading day, market participants traded 1.9 million securities versus the previous day’s 30.5 million securities showing a decline of 49.3 per cent. The value of trades went down by 64.3 per cent to N80.3 million from N225.1 million, but the number of deals jumped by 32.1 per cent to 37 deals from 28 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc finished the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was still InfraCredit Plc with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira at the two major foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as it suffered a heavy loss against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.
In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,485/$1, in contrast to the N1,475/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank forex counter, it depreciated by N2 to settle at N1,467/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,465/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, which is also the official market, the nation’s legal tender crashed against the greenback by N6.65 or 0.46 per cent to close at N1,464.49/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,457.84/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency tumbled against the Euro in the spot market by N2.25 to sell for N1,714.63/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,712.38/€1, but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 73 Kobo to finish at N1,957.30/£1 compared with the N1,958.03/£1 it was traded in the preceding session.
The market continues to face seasonal pressure even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still conducting FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. Also, there seems to be reduced supply from exporters, foreign portfolio investors and non-bank corporate inflows.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the government’s N58.47 trillion budget plan aimed at consolidating economic reforms and boosting growth.
The budget is based on a projected crude oil price of $64.85 a barrel and includes a target oil output of 1.84 million barrels a day. It also projects an exchange rate of N1,400 to the Dollar.
President Tinubu said inflation had plunged to an annual rate of 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while foreign reserves had surged to a seven-year high of $47 billion.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was dominated by the bulls but it continues to face increased pressure after million in liquidations in previous session over accelerating declines, with Dogecoin (DOGE) recovering 4.2 per cent to trade at $0.1309.
Further, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to $1.90, Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.5 per cent to $0.3728, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $126.23, Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 2.9 per cent to $2,982.42, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.0 per cent to sell for $853.06, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.7 per cent to $88,281.21, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 1.2 per cent to $76.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices edged up on possible disruptions from a US blockade of Venezuelan tankers as the market waits for news about a possible Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
Brent futures rose 65 cents or 1.1 per cent to $60.47 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 51 cents or 0.9 per cent to $56.66 per barrel. Both Brent and WTI were down about 1 per cent this week after both crude benchmarks fell about 4 per cent last week.
US President Donald Trump said he was leaving the possibility of war with Venezuela on the table, noting that there would be additional seizures of oil tankers near Venezuelan waters after the US seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week.
The American President this week ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in the US’ latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro’s government, targeting its main source of income. The pressure campaign on President Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed at least 90 people.
President Trump has also previously said that US land strikes on the South American country will soon start.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said that the US is not concerned about an escalation with Russia when it comes to Venezuela, as the Trump administration builds up military forces in the Caribbean.
This development comes as President Trump seeks an end to the unending war between Ukraine and Russia that is heading towards its fourth year.
European Union leaders decided on Friday to borrow cash to loan 90 billion Euros to Ukraine to fund its defense against Russia for the next two years as Russian President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on Friday on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine and accused the European Union of attempting “daylight robbery” of Russian assets.
Ukraine, meanwhile, struck a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea with aerial drones for the first time.
Earlier this week, the US and Ukraine both signaled progress in negotiations about a peace agreement during talks in German capital city of Berlin. The US is now reportedly offering Ukraine security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense pledge.
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