Energy Worth

*NNPC GMD, Dr Maikanti Baru (right), during the inauguration of the board at the NNPC Towers, in Abuja, on Wednesday. The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has urged the new Board of one of its downstream subsidiary companies, the Nigerian Pipeline Storage Company (NPSC), to partner with the private sector to build more pipelines parallel to the corporation’s existing ones. Dr. Baru who gave this charge while inaugurating the new Board of the company at the NNPC Towers, Wednesday, in Abuja, said such partnership would enhance NPSC’s profitability. He said: “Your work also is to look at refurbishing these pipelines and storage along a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement by getting willing private companies to invest in these pipelines. NNPC Management is very much disposed to supporting your efforts in this regard,” the GMD stated. Dr. Baru further urged the company to double its pipeline network in the next 10 year...

By Energy Worth In a bid to strengthen the network and improve power supply to customers across its network, the management of Ikeja Business Unit last week commissioned three (3) transformer substations to relieve overloaded transformers. Olowu II 300KVA transformer, one of the newly commissioned transformers will relieve Medical and Olowu transformers, bringing the heavy load- shedding experienced by customers in Mobolaji Bank Anthony way, Ajoke Apena Street and Unity Street to an end. Alhaji Adewale, a resident of the community expressed gratitude to Ikeja Electric for making the project a priority, noting the effect of the load- shedding had almost crippled commercial activities in the area. Other transformer substations commissioned are Sule Abore 300KVA transformer which supplies electricity to Ojodu area to relieve overloaded Akinyemi Substation and  Wakati Adura II 300KVA transformer to relieve Wakati Adura I transformer which supplies River Valley Estate respectively. Spea...

The Board of Directors of  Exxon Mobil Corporation has declared a cash dividend of $0.77 per share on the Common Stock, payable on March 9, 2018 to shareholders of record of Common Stock at the close of business on February 12, 2018. This first quarter dividend is at the same level as the dividend paid in the fourth quarter of 2017. Through its dividends, the corporation has shared its success with its shareholders for more than 100 years and has increased its annual dividend payment to shareholders for 35 consecutive years

The oil and gas giant, Total has announced a major oil discovery in the Ballymore prospect, located deep offshore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (Eastern GoM). The well was drilled to a final depth of 8,898 m and encountered 205 m of net oil pay in a high quality Norphlet reservoir. A sidetrack well is now ongoing to confirm the upside potential. “This major discovery gives us access to large oil resources and follow on potential in the emerging Norphlet play. It also demonstrates all the interest of Total’s GoM farm-in agreement with Chevron, where we acquired a 40% interest in Ballymore. While already deemed commercially viable, we will work together on the appraisal of this discovery and a cost-effective scheme to ensure a rapid, low break-even development”, said Arnaud Breuillac, president of E&P at Total. Located in water depth of about 2,000 m and 120 km from the Louisiana coast, the Ballymore prospect covers four blocks in the Norphlet play, including Block MC 607 where the disc...

*Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (middle) and other stakeholders at the event. By Energy Worth The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has stated that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had improved its capacity to transmit electricity from 5,000mw to 7,000mw. He disclosed this in Abuja at the presentation of a 20-year transmission master plan by the Fitchner of Germany. Fashola described the event as a milestone in the journey to uninterrupted power supply in the country. He stated further that the Federal Government is committed to synergy that will make power stable and accessible in Nigeria.

*NNPC GMD, Dr Maikanti Baru. By Energy Worth The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ((NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru has disclosed that more than 3,000 vehicles are now powered with the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Benin-City, Edo State. Dr Batu stated this while addressing newsmen at a town hall meeting with the staff of the corporation in Abuja as part of the progress made by the corporation to enhance the use of the CNG to power vehicles across the country. He added that efforts are being made to explore other source of energy that could substitute petroleum. "We are working hard to ensure that we proffer alternative to Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petroleum to let Nigerians have easy access to energy," he said.

*Dr Ibe Kachikwu By Energy Worth Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr I've Kachikwu has disclosed that Nigeria is now 70 per cent gas flaring compliant. The minister was said this at the latest edition of the Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Bulletins for December 2017 to January 2018. Kachikwu said the plan by the Federal Government is to take away the remaining 30 per cent within the 2020 deadline. While assuring communities affected by pollution arising from gas flaring, that the government ensure that they are protected. He...

As part of its drive to impact society and improve the lot of teeming Nigeria youth through various CSR initiatives, IE has embarked on a youth empowerment project that will provide vocational training for youths from various communities while inculcating a step-by step guide to starting a small-scale business. At the end of the training, participants through the skills acquired in culinary and catering entrepreneurship are expected to start a small scale business and most of all gain financial independence. Speaking on the objective of the project, Head Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric, Felix Ofulue said the initiative will not only alleviate poverty but also empower the youths to acquire transferable skills through which economic stimulation will occur within their constituencies. “Ikeja Electric is committed to touching the lives of members of communities in our areas of operation, and this initiative is a clear expression of that commitment” Ofulue remarked.

  Tag Oil has announced that its Founder, Chairman and Director, Alex P. Guidi, has resigned to pursue other opportunities, effective immediately.   Alex P. Guidi commented, “I have sincerely enjoyed working with TAG Oil, but after an exciting thirty plus years in the international oil and gas industry, I am going to focus my attention on interests outside of this industry.” Mr. Guidi further stated, “At this time, I wish to thank everyone at TAG Oil and I am very grateful for the long-standing working relationships and friendships that were forged along the way.”   Toby Pierce, TAG Oil’s CEO commented, “Our entire team at TAG Oil would like to sincerely thank Alex for his vision, leadership and countless efforts over the years, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”

ExxonMobil  has  announced that it plans to triple total daily production to more than 600,000 oil-equivalent barrels by 2025 from its operations in the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico. Tight oil production from the Delaware and Midland basins will increase five-fold in the same period. Recent changes in the U.S. corporate tax rate create an environment for increased future capital investments, including ExxonMobil’s plan to spend more than $2 billion on transportation infrastructure to support its Permian operations. Through capital efficient production growth, the increased volumes will be driven by reduced drilling costs, technology improvements and expanded acreage. ExxonMobil has amassed a large, highly contiguous acreage position, located in the prolific, multi-layered oil zones of the Delaware and Midland basins. Combined with operating experience gained through drilling more than 5,000 horizontal unconventional wells, and a leading-edge technology organizati...

Governor Aminu Tambuwal cutting the tape during the inauguration of the project By Energy Worth with Agency Report Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State has commissioned the 80KWp solar mini – grid electricity project which will provide uninterrupted power supply to Kurudla Village in Gudu Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Friday 19th January, 2018. Tambuwal said more than 500 households would benefit from clean electricity supply. In his words, he said “today’s event marks the beginning of a great collaborative effort towards ensuring sustainable growth through renewable energy sector development. It has now become absolutely necessary to take advantage of the ongoing renewable energy effort to ensure self – sufficiency in energy for economic development”. He added that “mini – grid powered by renewable sources is the best option for us to expand electricity access in the rural areas where the national grid is not available”. The governor used the occasion and appealed...

The Transmission Company of Nigeria regrets to announce that activities of wood loggers in Ukana town, by Nineth Mile-Nsukka road, Enugu, have damaged the transmission line between Oji River and Nsukka in Enugu State, cutting off electricity supply to the 2x 7.5MVA 66/11KV transmission Substation in Nsukka, which supplies electricity to Nsukka town in Enugu State. In a statement signed by the General Manager (Public Affairs) Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, TCN said that when several attempts to transmit electricity through its 66kV transmission line failed, it dispatched its lines patrol team who discovered that loggers fell an Iroko tree which damaged three spans of conductors and cross arms of towers 60 to 64. TCN’s technical crew have already visited the site and assessed the extent of damage to the line and towers and materials are already being sourced from the company’s stores to repair the damage and restore service. Replacement works is however expected to be completed within four days. Accor...

The enthusiasm in the oil markets is breaking records. Hedge funds reported record wagers on continued price increases for both U.S. and global oil benchmarks, along with gasoline and diesel. Meanwhile, producers are hedging production at record rates as oil experiences its best January since 2006. “There is a lot of interest in the direction of crude oil,” Rob Thummel, managing director at Tortoise Capital Advisors LLC, which handles $16 billion in energy-related assets, said by telephone. “The long oil trade continues to be the place to be.” The tailwinds propelling futures to three-year highs increasingly converge: OPEC has shown unprecedented discipline in sticking to output cuts, Russia and Saudi Arabia are doubling down on their commitment to wipe out the global supply glut, U.S. stockpiles are on their longest downhill slide ever, and last week a boost from a weaker dollar was added to the mix. Another significant sign the oil crash is behind us, is the clear shift in the future...

By Energy Worth The chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Water Resources, Hon. Aliyu Ahman-Pategi, on Monday hinted that the protracted crisis in the downstream sub-sector of Nigeria’s oil economy which led to the current fuel scarcity in the country would not be abated for now as it has gone beyond the federal government power to resolve it He however said if there was any solution in sight at all, it would not be effective in the life of the present administration. Ahman-Pategi, who represents Edu/Paitgi/Moro federal constituency of Kwara State at the National Assembly, dropped the hint in Ilorin yesterday while speaking with journalists on the state of the nation, declaring that Nigeria was at the crossroad of fuel crisis if truth be told. He, however, identified total deregulation of downstream sector as one prong solution to end the perennial short supply of fuel in the country. The lawmaker said the rise in the crude oil price in the international market was a curse fo...

Exxon Mobil Corporation will release fourth quarter and full year 2017 financial results on Friday, February 2, 2018.  A press release will be issued via Business Wire and available at 7 a.m. CT at  www.exxonmobil.com . Jeff Woodbury, vice president of Investor Relations, will review the results during a listen-only conference call at 8:30 a.m. CT. The earnings presentation can be accessed via  webcast  or by calling (800) 401-3551 (United States) or (323) 994-2083 (International). Please reference confirmation code 9331464 to join the call. 

*NNPC GMD, Dr Maikanti Baru, exchanging pleasantries with the investigating team. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Monday in Abuja revealed that the Nigerian Federation was indebted to the corporation to the tune of  N 170.6 billion outstanding subsidy payments due from January 2006 to December, 2015. Leading a team of Top Management of the NNPC to the ongoing Investigative hearing on  N 5 trillion subsidy payments from 2006 to 2016, the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the figure was arrived at after deduction of  N 4.950.80 trillion received as payments from the  N 5.121.40 trillion approved subsidy claims of the corporation from January 2006 to December 2015. Providing details of the accruals, Chief Financial Officer of the corporation, Mr. Isiaka AbdulRazaq, traced the advent of the subsidy regime to October, 2003 when NNPC was directed by government to commence the purchase of domestic crude oil at internation...

By Energy Worth The Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) has opened discussions with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to forge closer ties on a range of issues from use of land in the ports where oil and gas free zones are located to strategic cooperation. The strategic engagement move between the two government agencies began at the weekend when the Managing Director of OGFZA, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, paid a courtesy call on the Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, at the NPA head office in Lagos. Briefing Usman on the series of reforms and progress in the free zones since he took over as Chief Executive Officer in September 2016, Umana said more would be achieved with greater support and cooperation of the NPA. He proposed a partnership agreement in which the NPA would cede lands to OGFZA in the nation’s seaports hosting oil and gas free zones to free up access to land for investors in the form of subleases. Suggesting that the proposal should be formalised with a memo...

The once-giant crude nation whose output plunged in the past decade is enticing the world’s richest explorers with cut-rate prices for drilling rights to its most coveted offshore fields. The Jan. 31 auction for access to 29 deepwater tracts comes as $70/bbl crude lifts foreign drillers from the worst market slump in decades. ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. are among the 21 entrants registered to bid next week, the National Hydrocarbons Commission, known as CNH, announced Thursday in a webcast. The sale will be Mexico’s biggest, in terms of fields and expected investment, since government-controlled Petroleos Mexicanos’s monopoly ended in 2013. Mexico’s demand for low upfront bonus payments probably accelerated interest in the auction, Horacio Cuenca, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie Ltd., said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro. The blocks also don’t require large initial investment commitments. “Mexico has done all it could to attract companies,” he said. “It’s g...

By Energy Worth with Agency Report The Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) shut down operations on January 15 due to the non-availability of crude oil. The Executive Director, Services, of KRPC, Abdullahi Idris, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna. He said the refinery, whose fuel plant was inaugurated in 1980, was functioning at 60 per cent capacity “but shut down on January 15 due to unavailability of crude oil.” ris responded to an e-mail NAN sent to him to provide details of the company’s operations as part of a national survey on the state of the country’s refineries operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He said the lubes plant was inaugurated in 1983 and the petrochemical plant in 1988. According to him, before it was shut down, the KRPC produced four million litres of petrol per day. Idris explained that the plant was also producing 2.5 million litres of diesel and 1.6 million litres of kerosene per day. The officia...

*Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President, Dangote Group. Kano State government has handed over 150 hectares of land to Dangote Group for the development of a United States $150m Dangote/Black Rhino solar power plant in Zakirai, Gabasawa local government area. Managing Director, Stakeholder Management Dangote Group, Alhaji Bello Danmusa received the land on behalf of Aliko Dangote. The handing over of the land was in the presence of the District Head of Gabasawa local government, Alhaji Abubakar Bello Bayero and Surveyor General of Kano state, Alhaji Dayyabu Dandikko Rogo respectively. Alhaji Bayero thanked Aliko Dangote for the 100 MW project and added that it will enhance small businesses of women and youth for their empowerment and curb restiveness.” Increased Electricity According to the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, the move focuses towards increasing electricity supply and enhancing economic development of the state. Alhaji said the state government had agreed to...

By Energy Worth Africa’s top oil producer is learning to ignore crude prices, Nigeria’s Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said. “We’ve gotten to a point where we don’t care,” whether oil prices will be sustained at the level that they have recently risen to, Adeosun said during an interview in her office in the capital, Abuja. “We’ve been able to balance our budget at $45-$46/bbl and we’ve got to learn to live comfortably at that level.” Brent crude has rallied almost 60% since the middle of last year as OPEC and allied producing nations stick to agreed output curbs. The global benchmark traded at about $70.80/bbl in London on Thursday morning. The OPEC member is recovering from a contraction of its economy in 2016, the first in a quarter century, after a decline in oil prices and in the nation’s output due to unrest in the key Niger river delta. The country can’t afford to rely so much on the commodity anymore, Adeosun said. Limit exposure “Yes, it’s at $66-$67/bbl today, but we’ve been h...

By Oke Peter President Buhari has pledged to spend the income accruing to the country from the rising oil prices in the international market on infrastructural development.  Receiving a delegation from Eni Group, led by the Chief Upstream Officer, Antonio Vella, the President said extra funds outside the provision of this year’s budget “will be deployed to infrastructure projects, like roads, rail and power for the good of our people and for the development of the country.” Buhari recalled this year’s budget provisions had been predicated on $45 per barrel by the executive, which the senate had adjusted to $47 per barrel, compared to $70 per barrel this week.  The President also appreciated Eni for its upcoming investments in the oil industry, which include rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery and the building of a new one. “In my first coming, all our refineries were working. Port Harcourt used to refine 60,000 barrels per day and it was later upgraded to 100,000 bar...

The Gulf Quest LLC has announced that Total’s Benoit Ludot, V.P. of deep water and subsea, upstream, will deliver a keynote presentation at the Marine Construction Engineering Deepwater Development (MCEDD) conference on April 10, 2018 in Milan, Italy. Ludot’s presentation is titled “The future, beyond today, for ultra-deep offshore, ultra-harsh metocean environments through achievements in cost reductions, in both drilling (total wellcost), capex & opex.” Ludot is a 1992 graduate of Ecole centrale de Paris and began his career with Total in 1994. MCEDD is the world’s leading deepwater conference and is now in its 15th year. It will take place at the  Milan Marriott Hotel.  MCEDD is owned and managed by Gulf Quest LLC, a joint venture company of Quest Offshore and Gulf Publishing Co.

*The President, Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, By Energy Worth Senior Director, Research and Development Nigeria Country Office of African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr. Faal Ebrima, has said that the bank will focus mostly on the power sector in 2018. Faal said this at an interactive session with newsmen at its first regional office in Abuja on Thursday. The AfDB Chief disclosed that a solar power project in Jigawa State with a cost of about $200 million as well as a 56 megawatts solar project in Sokoto valued at $100 million are to be executed. “The biggest project that we are working on in the power space this year is called the Qua – Iboe Power project in AkwaIbom and that’s a 540 megawatts power project (about $900 million”).He said the essence was to supplement the generation of more power that would allow the bank to have additional sources to support both the building and the premise.

By Energy Worth Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has emerged overall first position in the 2017 Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) Safety ranking; a remarkable leap from its fifth position in the 2016 NEMSA Safety ranking.The ranking was released by NEMSA in its Disco & TCN Ranking Trend for the year 2017 at the Monthly Power Sector Meeting held at Lafia Nasarawa State on Monday, January 8, 2018. It is worthy of note that in the year under review, EEDC consistently maintained the first position in eight out of twelve months, this underscores the passion and conscious effort put in by the Management of the company in ensuring that safety rules are strictly adhered to, and safe environment is consistently maintained.The criteria used for the ranking ranges from, fatalities (that is the number of deaths within the network), major injuries as well as network resolved. Ag. MD/CEO of EEDC, Paul Okeke attributed this feat to the commitment and conscious e...

By Energy Worth The Federal Government has concluded plans to involve more Nigerians in meter manufacturing in order to boost revenue for the power sector to be able to expand capacity most especially in the distribution aspect in the electricity value chain. The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, BabatundeRaji Fashola SAN, stated this in Lagos recently during an official inspection of the National Meter Test Station in Oshodi. According to the Minister, metering is a big issue and government hopes to address it more vigorously this year with regulations that will open up the business to many more Nigerians. He said that this would reduce the pressure on Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) on meter supply. “The core business of energy, their business is not to supply meters.  The government will address metering more vigorously this year with regulations which will open up business in metering to more investors.  This will reduce the pressure on DisCos so that ...

From left,, Governor Aminu Masari of Kastina State ; Governor Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari of Zamfara State and Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State responding to questions from State House Correspondent shortly after the meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa , Abuja on Thursday. The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Thursday in Abuja, accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of short-changing the country by failing to remit to the entire joint venture proceeds from the sale of crude oil to the Federation Account for a period of five years. Briefing State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the NGF Chairman, and governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, who led six other governors to the meeting, alleged that NNPC short-changed the country on the remittances between 2010 and 2015. He said what was most irksome was that this non-remittance occurred when the joint v...