By Adedapo Adesanya

The oil market was elevated on Wednesday as investors worried about escalating ‌tensions in the Middle East, with the United Arab Emirates suspending all financial and economic transactions with Iran.

Brent crude futures settled at $91.62 a barrel after soaring by 60 cents or 0.7 per cent, while the US West Texas ​Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose by 89 cents or 1.1 per cent to $85.83 a barrel.

The UAE has halted all trade, financial, and commercial ties with Iran until further notice, after saying Tehran had fired ballistic missiles targeting its territory.

Late on Tuesday, the UAE’s Defence Ministry said that “assessments revealed the two ballistic missiles detected, originating from Iran, were targeting maritime navigation and fell into the sea.” One of the missiles fell outside the Emirates’s territorial waters, while the second fell within its territorial waters, the ministry added.

In light of these missiles fired from Iran, the UAE halted all economic ties with Iran.

This development comes after US President Donald Trump ​said no talks were taking place with Iran and that the Strait of Hormuz was open. Iran, however, said the waterway remained shut.

The oil market remains focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through ‌which about ⁠one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed before the US-Israeli war on Iran began at the end of February.

Available data from Kpler showed that only six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine a day earlier and below the 10-day daily average of 11.

Meanwhile, oil shipments from Russia’s western ports have fallen to about 2.3 million barrels per day in the first half of ​August, 15 per cent below the initial loading plan, because of disruptions at the Black Sea ​port of Novorossiysk.

Crude oil inventories in the US saw a massive increase of 4.4 million barrels during the week ending August 14, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday.

The EIA’s data release follows figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had fallen by 328,000 barrels in the period.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, said the removal of petrol subsidy saved Nigeria N15.8 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.

Mr Oyedele disclosed this on Wednesday at a press conference, where he provided a breakdown of the financial impact of the federal government’s economic reforms under President Bola Tinubu, the same day that the campaign for the 2027 presidential elections commenced.

He said the subsidy savings were reflected in the resources available to the federation, although they did not appear as a separate credit to the federation account under the description “subsidy savings”.

“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised the sum of N15.8 trillion in resources for the federation.

“Many people will say, where is the subsidy savings? As a matter of fact, there wasn’t any alert to the Federation Account with the description ‘subsidy savings’,” Mr Oyedele said.

According to the minister, the federal government received N5.4 trillion of the N15.8 trillion, while N10.4 trillion was shared among state and local governments through the Federation Account.

Mr Oyedele said the government’s overall financial position during the period also reflected increased independent revenue and borrowing to fund its expenditure.

He said the federal government generated N3.1 trillion in incremental independent revenue, largely from remittances by government-owned entities and increased surpluses from government agencies.

The government also borrowed an additional N11.9 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.

“People will say, you said you have exceeded your revenue, why are you still borrowing?” Mr Oyedele said, “The additional borrowing that the federal government took for that period of time, June 2023 to December 2025, amounted to N11.9 trillion.”

According to him, the combination of incremental independent revenue and additional borrowing brought the Federal Government’s incremental resources during the period to N20.4 trillion.

However, he said total incremental expenditure stood at N30.64 trillion.

Mr Oyedele said the figures demonstrated the fiscal implications of the reforms, which were introduced to address long-standing economic distortions and reduce pressure on government finances.

“The administration of President Bola Tinubu has embarked on major reforms to address age-long economic challenges,” he said.

He identified the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market as key measures undertaken by the administration.

“The removal of fuel subsidy, which was quietly bankrupting the country, and the unification of an exchange rate system that had become a source of distortion and corruption rather than stability.

“Those decisions came at a cost, and we are not here to implement otherwise. What does reform cost?” Mr Oyedele questioned.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange weakened further by 1.75 per cent on Tuesday, August 18, triggered by losses recorded by the duo of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and Food Concepts Plc.

CSCS Plc, the Nigerian securities depository company, lost N8.48 to settle at N90.02 per share compared with the previous value of N98.50 per share, while Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of fast food franchise, Chicken Republic, dropped 15 Kobo to end at N2.35 per unit versus N2.50 per unit.

Consequently, the NASD Security Index (NSI) further declined by 77.26 points to 4,348.76 points from Monday’s 4,426.02 points, while the market capitalisation dipped by N46.37 billion to N2.610 trillion from N2.656 trillion.

During the session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors slumped by 82.6 per cent to 113,728 units from the previous session’s 652,081 units, and the value of securities slid by 12.4 per cent to N9.4 million from the preceding day’s N10.7 million, while the number of deals increased by 47.6 per cent to 31 deals from 21 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.7 million units transacted for N5.8 billion.

GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units exchanged for N415.7 million.