SEC Gives Capital Market Operators Deadline to Regularise Registration Status

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) and the unregulated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and the parallel market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, November 29 as President Bola Tinubu reiterated his administration’s promise to meet its obligations. Speaking during the presentation of his administration’s N27.50 trillion 2024 budget proposal to the joint session of the 10th National Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said, “Despite the challenges, we continue to meet our obligations.” In the official NAFEM segment of the market, the value of the local currency went

By Adedapo Adesanya The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) on Thursday asked Nigeria to produce about 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2024, lower than the 1.78 million barrels per day benchmark it proposed in the 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday for passage. The output ceiling was around 1.8 million barrels per day before it was cut down to 1.5 million barrels yesterday at the group’s virtual meeting, a huge blow to Nigeria’s revenue target for the fiscal year. OPEC had tasked three consultancies – IHS, Rystad

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Zacch Adedeji, has asked his counterpart in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, to support his agency to achieve the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, who appointed both of them. Speaking during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the anti-money laundering firm, Mr Adedeji said the EFCC has a role in ensuring that taxpayers’ funds are “judiciously utilised in line with the social contract with the people.” He assured that the FIRS would continue to strive to raise the revenue

By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi Even when there is no codified word or structured documentation adequate enough to evaluate a public office holder, there exists presently, a compelling need to evaluate the present administration in the country, via a broader view of the people’s paramount concerns and legitimate expectations in order to unravel its values of fiscal discipline, prudent management, robust and continuous community engagement, effective and efficient public communication, and excellent public service delivery for the benefit of this generation and the next. This logical, rational and practical belief is predicated on the current unpalatable happenings and failures recorded in

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has been asked to immediately suspend the four companies accused of importing adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, into the country recently. Long queues had resurfaced this week in Lagos and Abuja and the cause was because of substandard fuel in circulation and on Wednesday, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, accused Oando, MRS Oil, Duke Oil and Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium of bringing the bad product into Nigeria. However, MRS Oil, in a statement, denied the allegation, emphasising that as a responsible corporate citizen,

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The chief executive officer of Seplat Energy Plc, Mr Roger Brown, has expressed his desire to work with the company’s new Independent Non-Executive Chairman, Mr Basil Omiyi, and the new Senior Independent Non-Executive Director, Mr Charles Okeahalam. The appointment of Mr Omiyi followed the stepping down of the founders of Seplat Energy Mr ABC Orjiako and Mr Austin Avuru, from the board. While commenting on the development, Mr Brown said he was excited with the appointments, especially with the transition into the next chapter of the firm. “Mr Basil Omiyi has been a leading figure in the

By Dipo Olowookere The stop rate of 364-day treasury bill was reduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday a week after it was increased at the primary market auction (PMA). Two weeks ago, the apex bank surprisingly pushed the rate higher to 3.20 per cent from 1.15 per cent, giving many analysts the intention that the action was to retain the interests of investors in the market. But yesterday, when another T-bills sale occurred, the rate went down to 1.14 per cent, though the amount the central bank auctioned was very low. Three tenors of the debt

By Adedapo Adesanya Former president of Nigeria, Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, has said Africa must take charge of its own energy destiny and use its rich resource assets for the benefit of its own people. His comments come in support of the Africa Oil Week (AOW), which is necessitated as the world scrambles to find new sources of oil and gas to meet its energy needs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In this context, Mr Obasanjo noted that African countries cannot be beholden to the unrealistic ideals of the Global North for an exclusively renewables-driven economy, saying this is particularly true

By Adedapo Adesanya The rehabilitation of the three local refineries which include – the Warri, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna refineries, are expected to bring an output of 360,000 Metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) by 2023. This was said by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Timipre Sylva, at Nigeria LPG Summit 2019 in Lagos on Wednesday. The Minister, who was represented by his Technical Adviser on Gas Business and Policy Implementation, Mr Justice Derefaka, said this was in line with the National Gas Policy of government. He said government was looking to deepen LPG

By Dipo Olowookere A heavy duty vehicle conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol, has exploded in Lagos. The unfortunate incident occurred on Thursday evening along the busy Lagos/Ibadan Expressway. Business Post gathered that the fuel-laden tanker specifically exploded along the Otedola Bridge axis of Berger in Lagos. The fire has reportedly engulfed many other vehicles on the axis with many people believed to have been feared dead and injured. According to reports, the tanker was heading inwards Lagos towards Alausa when the crash occurred, causing panic and fear. Traffic has been stopped on both side of the

By Dipo Olowookere It was a bad day for Cadbury Nigeria Plc at the nation’s stock exchange as its shares depreciated by 65 kobo to close at N7.10 per unit. The fast-moving consumer goods producer was among the 19 price losers recorded at the close of business on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday. The market lost 0.19 per cent when trading activities were paused for the day. The other major price decliners yesterday were Lafarge Africa, which lost 50 kobo to settle at N13 per unit; NEM Insurance, which declined by 22 kobo to sell